2005 Polaris 500. 3000 lb winch. Was working great. All of a sudden if I try to raise or lower the blade, the engine dies. If I hook a battery charger to the winch, it lifts and lowers no problem. In other words, if I idle the atv with the charger hooked to the battery, no problem. If I try to run the winch from the power of the atv, it idles good until I try to use the winch. Battery voltage is 12.5 volts so I think the sealed battery is ok. What could cause this?

 

Take the key out and try raising/lowering the blade. Can you do it?

 

What's the voltage at the battery when it's running but not doing anything?

 

12.5 volts.

 

No. That does seem odd because the winch is wired directly to the battery. Whoops, sorry. I guess I never tried that. It does try to activate with the switch off.

 

That might be because the battery is dead. Can you start it now?

Did you just install this winch?

 

No. The winch is about 3 months old. Worked fine till the other day. I took the battery out and tested the voltage and it is still 12.5 volts. It will NOT run with the battery unhooked. As soon as I disconnect the charger from the battery the bike dies. I'm going to load test the battery. Maybe I have a bad charging system AND a bad battery.

 

probably a dead battery, i know if mine gets too low the winch will easily kill the engine. try charging over night or if it's an old battery it's most likely wore out and should be replaced

 

Also, the battery light does not come on except for the self test and after it dies.

 

try hitting the throttle a bit while moving the winch, the magneto should put out enough juice to run the winch without stalling, if it doesn't then it most likely needs replaced