Hey guys I was out plowing today for a couple hours today with the heated grips/ thumb warmer and headlights on.....I shut the machine off for a couple minutes and when I tried to start it back up it would hardly run without giving it throttle...If I gave it too much throttle it bogged and spit and sputtered....So what I think happened is that the battery got drained down a bit which fooled with the computer which made the idle erratic....So I help the rpm's steady at 2200-2400 for about 5-7 min. to charge the battery and sure enough it cleared right up and ran fine without a problem....So this thread really isn't a question but more of an informative thread because I know there's alot of us plowing now....If any of this is misinformation please feel free to correct me.....



John

 

Sportsmans won't run at all with a dead battery, and will run erratically with a weak one. Hopefully folks who plow will stick the battery on a charger to 'top it up' when they finish plowing.

 

just to add to this post, is that the charhing system can NOt keep up w/ a high demand of out going current of the such things as you mentioned as it only puts out 500 watts @3,000 rpm and if you add all the products pulling juice, you were maxxing out what it can do and WILL not be able to keep up and you are right about needing to maintain a certain voltage(12.5) to be able to keep the bike ruuning correctly.

 

I knew I was pushing my limits....Running low rpm's and multiple units pulling juice don't mix...

John

 

Maybe you could run with just one headlight, that might help out.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: sheepdogMSP8117

Maybe you could run with just one headlight, that might help out.</end quote></div>

Actually sheep I was only running the lows but I guess it caught up with me after a while...
John

 

Yep,like Heftylefty it is a good idea to put a charger,regualr or tender type on it to top it off if you know you are going to be doing alot of low rpm with high electrical load. And about 1 time a month even for normal riding. Most machines charging systems will not keep the battery fully charged even with normal riding,but especially if you do alot of low rpm riding.
Remember ATV's use magnetos,not alternators like out vehicles use..
Magnetos are alot more RPM dependant ..And while the breakeven RPM is farily low,usually around 2000..how often is the machine below 2k?
I dont plow,but how often do you use the winch to raise and lower the plow at idle?
While it might not be a big load on the winch,iand only a short length of time still is a pretty good load on the system I suspect.
If you have to raise and lower it at idle try bringing up the RPM while you do it. Not only will it help keep the battery charged,the winch will be faster also.

Here is a pretty good read on ATV charging systems..
https://atvconnection.com/Depar...V-Charging-Systems.cfm

 

Being cold the battery was maybe down to 80% already. Then putting all that load on it. + the winch which will really pull it. Having a Battery minder on before you would have started out @ 100 % or very close to it.

Still waiting for a good enough snow to use mine, have maybe 4" out there now but may crank it up a lil later since thermometer said -16 last time I looked.

 

Good info and things to think about for sure. Stendori - thanks for the info on the output. 500 watts is not really a lot - especially is you have three headlights running - handwarmers - worklights - etc.

Anybody know what the typical handwarmers draw on low and what they drwa on high?

 

My manual shows the 08 700/800 to be 500w@6000,likely half that or so at 3000.
Pod light-50w
Grill lights 2x37w
Tail 2x29.6w

One set of handwarmers I saw drew 20w on low and 30w on high...it didn't say if that was each or for the set...I'm guessing the set?
Not to mention..ECU,Fuel pump,ignition system,fan,winch(intermittenly) ect....
Biggest drain at low RPMs IMO will be the fan and the winch when you are using it...