Dead Vector, any ideas?

[smokeless1]

This is an interesting thread. I have 04 rx-1 Mt. and when I picked up the spring order in October 04, it ran fine. I left it sit until november when I hauled it around up north, I started up but the battery was a bit weak. I let it run for a bit and then shut it down and waited for snow. When snow finally came in early January, I went to start it and the engine cranked fine but the machine would not start. Would not even fire. I stored the unit in the trailer with my friends sled which was identical and his also would not start. Finally I got the idea of boosting the battery with a car battery I had along and as soon as I boosted it, the machine fired right up.

I had forgotten about this until I read this thread. Now we had more trouble with the sleds running rough for the short trip to the cabin, and after I got there I hooked up the optimate to the genset used to power the cabin and charged the battery for several hours. My friend did not. In the morning, my sled started up and his did not until we put new plugs in. HIs had only 6 miles on it.

Now it gets even more interesting, because my friends sled had to be boosted again before it would start back in early January, and I used my articat battery and jumpers to get his running. We drove to the gas station and topped off the tanks, started the sleds back up and one mile or so later his sled caught on fire and the seat burned.

The tech last week looked at the sled and approved fixing the sled, but never found out why the sled failed. The tech did say that the charging system is very weak and asked if the cig lighter on the sled was being used. I told him that it was for gps, and shield heater, and he said that if you run all that on the battery it will take the battery down to a point where the machine will not run right.

Here is what I now believe is happening.

If you run your machine with a weak battery, you chance having the machine either not run at all, or having the machine run poorly and perhaps catch on fire.

Keep those batteries charged up. Once up it will maintain, but these charging systems are not designed to recharge a very discharged battery very quickly. I forget what the rep said about the low power of the charger but he said "it was not designed to have visor heaters and other electrical equipment running off the machine."

BE CAREFUL

 

[Thumper1000]

Hmmm, imagine that. I was correct in my first statement, CHARGE THE BATTERY!

 

[QCRider]

Hmmm, imagine that. I was correct in my first statement, CHARGE THE BATTERY!

Right you were. Bad design it still is. How can there be enough left in the battery to actually start the sled, but not enough to run it? Lame.

 

[QCRider]

I think one day when I am bored, I will start the sled up and disconnect the battery to see if it will run without it. Otherwise, a dead battery on one of these sleds will leave you truly stranded.

 

[stevenknapp]

One thought, the engine runs thru a wide operating range. And the alternator spins thru that as well. At idle the output of most alternators is much lower than when the motor is running in it's normal operating range. So maybe at idle there isn't enough, but when moving it does charge the battery?

For those who keep the batteries charged when being stored, do you have problems starting during the day when getting gas or food? It would seem that if the sled didn't keep the battery topped off you would need to plug it in every night. Otherwise after a few starts, the sled would be dead....no?

 

[Nice Rumble]

[/quote]For those who keep the batteries charged when being stored, do you have problems starting during the day when getting gas or food? It would seem that if the sled didn't keep the battery topped off you would need to plug it in every night. Otherwise after a few starts, the sled would be dead....no?[/quote]

No. Once the battery has been fully charged, no problems. It's when you attempt to ride the machine with a low battery that you will have issues.

 

[stevenknapp]

Ok, so if I keep the sled in my garage on a charger/tender....load it up, take it up north, ride the heck out of it for days....no problems.

 

[Nice Rumble]

A battery maintainer is the best way to insure no power problems when you are ready to ride. It's primarily for long term off season storage but if you have one and it's convenient to use, why not. It's cheap insurance.

 

[vector_1]

This little gadget
http://www.yamaha-motor.com/accessories ... etail.aspx
has saved several of my batteries(sled and non-sled). Snowtech has written articles about it and I have used it for the past 3 years.
It is not only a charger, but also will discharge and desulfate a battery then slowly bring it back up to full-charge. It will also tell you when a battery is compleelty shot.
I have not priced a battery for my vector, but I know that it has probably saved me $ even though it costs $50.00

Look into it, you will find yourself charging every 12v battery you can find. It really is a cool tool to have.

 

[Komo]

I would believe what the dealer is telling you. They obviously did not charge the battery befor delivery and/or the battery was run down (key left on, started to listen to engine and run very little).. I have 29 years experience in the automotive field. A low voltage condition can raise havoc with electronics. If the battery is low it has a high resistance and will take all the juice the alternator has to try and recharge it, causing the electronics to go crazy. A 30 amp alternator is not that big. A battery is used to start a vehicle period. Then the alternator is used to maintain the battery and run all of the electronics. If the alternator is using all it has to try and recharge the battery the electronics will not operate as designed. Not a Yamaha design flaw, just the way the system works and electronics. Cars and light trucks have been this way for years. A buddy of mine just got his Polaris out of storage a few weeks ago. It started up great, but every time you went to accellorate it, it would die. It has electronic fuel injection. Code flashed on the dash. Bad battery! Replaced battery, no more problem. The first thing when you are having problems with electronics is to check for proper voltage and grounds. In your case ther was not enough votage to operate all of the electronics due to a low charged battery. Just my opinion.

Very well said!