Ok, this is the second time in two months. First time it happened, I had just trailered my 700 and needed to restart it. Would not restart and when I checked the battery the positive cable had melted off the battery.

Replaced started solenoid,battery, and the positive cable. Everything was fine. Did a few small rides and no problems. Took it to Polaris for a TSB and asked them to check the electrical while it was there. They only saw that the fan switch needed replaced( it quit working on a ride and we had to override it). Paid to replace the switch.

Now, Hubby took the 700 on a ride this weekend and it melted the cable again!!This time he was using the winch when it happened.
Does anyone have any ideas where to start looking or have had this problem??? Hate to pay Polaris again when the did not see a problem just last week!!

 

Melting can only happen in a high current situation (like when using a winch), and where there's resistance. The battery connection should be low resistance. For the cable to be melted there means a bad connection between the cable and the battery. Someone did not make a proper connection when they replaced the battery.

 

it would take a pretty big load to make a heavy battery cable to melt unless it's exhaust heat doing it. a dead frame short might do it, but should be pretty noticable for sure. if the winch was drawing that much juice then the battery should be dead as the charging system only puts out maybe 500 watts and isn't really strong enough to stay up w/ a big draw of current. imo

 

Power = Current Squared * Resistance. No resistance, no power. No power, no heat. No heat, no melting. A good clean connection where there's lots of current is critical. Batteries can put out enough juice to start a fire. I agree the charging system ain't gonna do it, but the battery can. Whatever caused the high current, that connection was bad. Short, winch, I don't know. But the connection was bad. Winches draw loads of current, on/off cycles of the winch switch would cause arcing, which would only make the connection situation worse.

 

Could be shorted plates in the battery itself.............This would happen while shut off and just sitting there..........As you did say after trailering....so to me the Quad was turned off and parked?....Correct.........Check the battery out also IMO.....Caper............

 

Sorry you did say the battery was replaced.............Caper........

 

Thank you for the suggestions. Husband told me correct that the battery cable did not melt but that the connector terminal on battery is what melted.

Caper- Yes, I did replace the battery after it happened the first time. Husband reminded me that the battery was replaced by previous owner right before we bought the quad in March also. 90.00 batteries are not cheap and I hate to keeep replacing them until I figure out the problem.

 

Be sure to scrape and wire brush the battery terminal so that it is shiney and clean.
After tightening the bolt holding the caable to the battery post try twisting and turning the battery cable to make sure it is tight.
Sometimes the battery cable terminal can appear tight but when You take hold of it and wiggle it it could be loose.
The only thing that could cause the battery post terminal to melt is a loose connection or something is shorting against it and grounding it out.

 

I like to put a little grease on the battery cables after I clean them, keeps them from corroding and makes a good connection

 

Just for discussion's sake, for those interested. I checked Warn's website, and their XT30 winch draws 67 amps with a 1000 lb load. Let's imagine a poor battery connection of .1 ohm. 67 * 67 * .1 = 448.9, nearly 500 Watts! That's like 5 100 Watt light bulbs - hot hot hot. Worse yet, 6.7 volts will be dropped there, leaving about 6V for the rest of the system. Now, it's a little more complicated than that, but you'll get the idea.

Worst of all, arcing will also occur, each arc will 'eat' a bit more of the connection. And, yes, the lead alloy of the battery post will melt at a lower temperature than the copper cable or steel connector.

I just want to drive home how critical this connection (and the connection on the negative terminal, as well) is, for high current situations such as winching or starting. Keep it tight and clean. I hope I haven't bored everybody.