YAMAHEATER Nice Warm Hands for 03 - Current Yamaha 4 Strokes

[Rockmeister]

Rock-do you think there is any connection?

Anyone know what code 46 means on a '09 XTX?


Code #46
"snowmobile system power supply, (monitor voltage) power supply to ecu not normal."


Got 7 miles into a ride today when it started sputtering and died. Then it wouldn't start. Fuel pump runs and then makes a squealing sound near the relays when I turn the key.
Checked all the fuses and all were good. Luckily it died at a road crossing where I was able to get it loaded back onto my trailer. Dealership wants to look at it tomorrow morning. Only thing that has changed from last season is I added the Yamaheaters. First ride with the Yamaheaters.
_________________

Hey Rumble,

Would almost bet that your start relay or key stuck on, then the starter kept running and drained the battery.
(You can't hear it when the sled is running.)
Look at the wiring into the starter solenoid on the right side.
May show signs of melting due to high constant current.

Starter relay, solenoid, the starter itself & possibly the key switch are probably bad now.

There isn't any connection between the grips & the starter directly.

Hope this isn't it, but bet it is...

 

[Flipper]

Rock,

First good ride of the season tonight with my kit installed.

The install itself was very simple. Took me more time to take the headlight pod etc off than it did to install the kit.

I am very pleased with the results. I found myslef for the first time on this sled turing down the heat on the bars when riding. Having the bars warm when you start out makes a big difference. It was about -10C here tonight.

Looking forward to see how I make out without gauntlets when it dips to -20C or below.

Thanks for making this product available.

 

[GIMME SNOW]

Had the opportunity to give the "Yamaheater" a good workout last weekend. In below 0 temps....I actually for the first time while owning my Apex, had nice warm hands!!!! This kit is worth its weight in gold. Thanks again Rock!!

GS

 

[nytro addict]

Hey Rock

Went out on the first ride with the heaters on and WOW my hands where burning up within 500 yrds. I had to turn them down some and they where still too hot. I had to put them all the way to 1 bar to be comfortable. Granted the weather was around 20 degrees around here but still WOW. I'm very impressed and can't thank you enuff for nice toasty hands.

Big thanks again and I don't think I need gloves no more...LOL

 

[Rockmeister]

Awesome Guys!

Just arrived in Muni for the TY ride, it's about 5am, will answer questions when I am alive again in the am. lol

Rock

 

[SLEDSTART]

Jimo posted this in another thread, was a good question!
Figured may of you guys may have had the same question and would like the info.

Ever since I bought a Vector last year with grips that dont work, I have been following this thread with great interest. So far, I am still sitting on the fence and trying to decide which way to go. I am sure the Yamaheaters work as advertised and have many satisfied customers, but when I see a 3 amp fuse being replaced with a 15 ampere unit, alarm bells go off and I really wonder about long term reliability. In the mean time I will be carrying a big pair of mitts for when the temp drops and see how this pans out.

Hi Jimo!

Lol @ the alarm bells, it is good you think about the stuff!

Some info about Current, Wires, Ampacity, Fuses etc may help a bit.


Some general background:

WIRE & AMPACITY:
The Ampacity of a wire (Current it can safely carry) is determined by many factors, the main ones being:
1) Type of material the conductor is made of. (Conductance, or inversely the internal resistance)
2) The diameter of the wire. (Size or gauge)
3) The type of insulation used to cover the wire. (Temperature rating.)
4) The installation conditions of the wire. (Is it in a chase, bundle, free air, etc?)
5) Ambient temperature the wire is used in.

There are more factors, but these are the main ones we are concerned with.
All these factors will increase or decrease(derate) the Ampacity of the wire.

As a wire carries more & more current, it gets warmer(or hotter) due to the internal resistance of the wire.
The real limiting factor of how much current any one wire can carry (before it burns in half anyway) is the temperature rating of the wire.
The temperature rating of the wire is actually the temperature rating of the Insulation.
The higher the temperature rating, the more current the same size wire can safely carry before burning or melting the insulation.

Fortunately the factory used pretty good wire in our sleds with a reasonably high temperature rating.
Most of the wires in our sleds are capable of 20A maximum, due to their good ratings.

FUSES & PROTECTION:
A fuse is a current limiting device used to lower the risk of fire/damage by protecting the circuit, & mainly wiring, against shorts & other overloads.

A fuse does a very poor job of protecting electronics as most any electronics will fail much faster than a fuse can blow (open).
For this reason, fuses are almost never used to protect electronics except to protect against overloads caused by shorts.

A fuses current rating is a general rating, It is NOT an absolute rating.
Meaning a 15A fuse operated at 13 or 14A for a few hours WILL most likely blow.
At the same time, you may be able to use a 15A fuse at 25A for a few seconds and it may not blow.
Fuses have a tolerance like anything else, the general range they work in is their amp rating.

For this reason, Fuses are generally spec-ed to be only loaded up to 75 to 80% of their Amp rating under normal conditions, otherwise the fuse will blow after a while, even though the circuit is operating perfectly fine.
This is called nuisance blowing, or tripping in circuit breakers.

This means that a 15A fuse should only be used in a circuit with 11.25 to 12A Maximum normal load current.

The current used in the circuit you mentioned above is MUCH lower than 3A, less than 1 A actually.
The problem any factory has, is that smaller fuses are very failure prone, they are easily blown by static electricity.
That is why most manufacturers rarely use smaller fuses.

There are many different models of sleds and the SIG fuse on them vary from 3A to 10A.
To insure that the Grip Warmers always work, while still protecting the circuit, we use a 15A fuse to replace the factory fuse.

If we used a 10A or lower, the fuse would eventually fail in many cases even though the circuit is operating perfectly & with-in safe limits.

If you used say a 30A fuse, it may not protect the wiring when it was most needed, for example; if it had a short in the wiring.

The fuse in any electrical application is selected to allow proper & safe operation of the circuit while protecting against overloads & other operation beyond safe parameters.

Hope this helps!

Rock

You guys keep asking questions & you will end up knowing more about electricity than you ever thought you would! (Or maybe wanted to! lol)

Also...Just some FYI...
When I did the homework on the SledStart, The SIG fuse that is being reffered to here ranges between 3 amps and 20 amps depending on the sled. (I know Rock mentioned 3 to 10 but the Phazer actually uses a 20)
3 amp in the Nytro, 7.5 amp in the venture GT, 10 amp in the Apex and a 20 in the Phazer) I'm not positive what it is in the Vector but I think it is a 7.5 also. This info is right out of the 2009 Yamaha tech update book.
Anyhow, Yamaha uses the same gauge wire for all these sleds so if they are running a 20 amp in the Phazer, you know that wire will be fine with a 15 amp in there. Nothing to worry about there...

Hey rock...enjoy the ride up there in Muni. Wish I could be there but duty calls...and besides...we have great snow down here right now. Plan on heading into wisconsin tomorrow morning...
See ya on the next ride for sure though. Also...I think were doing that lower MI ride soon. There is GREAT now over by my buddies place...LETS GO!

 

[CaptCaper]

Just got mine installed today. Tomorrow will be below zero a good day to try it out.
How does that thumb warmer react when the Yamaheater is on? What can I expect the thumbwarmer to act like now?
Should we turn the bars down as well? Or is the thumbwarmer independent of Yamaheater and works just as it did before?

 

[04rxw10]

Thumb warmer is separate from the hand warmers BUT many of us has noticed the thumb warmers do get warmer.

 

[newyorker_79]

Finally got my Yamaheater installed today, and put about 70 miles on. Worked GREAT. I got a code 81 a couple times. When it happened, the sled was only shut off, for a couple minutes; not enough for bars to cool off. If I let it sit long enough to cool off, it did not return. When it was happening, the sled would turn off the warmers, and Yamaheater would still work anyway. Very happy with the product.

 

[nb-attak]

I installed my yamaheater last saturday. Its one of the easiest instals i have done so far. two tie downs, one bolt for the ground, three plug in to connect and voila. In three years my sleds handwarmer has been left at wide open and i never felt any heat. I should have turned them off in those three years because there was no difference. With the yamaheater now installed i nearly burned my hands yesturday. I was so glad to feel the heat, i left the warmers wide open until my hands couldnt take the heat anymore. Thank you Rock im one hell of a happy customer.

 

[CaptCaper]

Mine worked good too. No codes.

 

[cmharcou]

Hey Rock,
Why would the right side hand warmers not feel as warm as the left? Any idea? Thanks

Chris

 

[Rockmeister]

Hey Rock,
Why would the right side hand warmers not feel as warm as the left? Any idea? Thanks
Chris

Hey Chris!

Mine is that way also, most I have seen are also that way.
Because the resistance of the bars is so low, even a small change in resistance of the heat element creates a relatively larger change in heat output to each grip.
(Low resistance loads are normal for low voltage power circuits.)

Try switching which plug the grips plug into on Your YamaHeater, sometimes it helps even them out a bit because the wires are longer on one side.

Rock

 

[Rockmeister]

Finally got my Yamaheater installed today, and put about 70 miles on. Worked GREAT. I got a code 81 a couple times. When it happened, the sled was only shut off, for a couple minutes; not enough for bars to cool off. If I let it sit long enough to cool off, it did not return. When it was happening, the sled would turn off the warmers, and Yamaheater would still work anyway. Very happy with the product.

Glad you like the heat!

Beats freezing!


On the code 81.
(Minor error code, meaning ECU thinks the handwarmers are dis-connected. The YamaHeater will default to High Heat if this happens, so you still have heat.)

There are a few reasons you may get this.
1) Bad or loose connection on one of the wires.
2) Bad unit. (The odds are very low of this, yet is always possible.)
3) Relay contacts haven't fully mated yet.
(The contacts will "mate" much like a piston does in a cylinder, this usually happens pretty quick with all the vibration from riding.)
4) Can happen from the "G" forces experienced when hammering down a rougher trail. (This is rare, but have seen it.)
5) Low Idle. Can happen when first starting due to low idle & erratic ECU output. (Especially on carbed models.) (Common)
(Mine is carbed, I switch to Zero bars right away & let it pre-warm the bars, no error due to low idle that way either.)
Warm idle should be 1400 or so RPMs on most sleds.
6) Low battery charge.
If the battery has a low state of charge, it will usually start the sled, but can still be low, causing erratic ECU function. (Also common)

Try charging the battery overnight on a trickle charger, then send me a PM with your number if that doesn't correct the error code.

Rock

 

[cmharcou]

Thanks Rock I will try switching them. Heading to the UP Tuesday.