Hey,
My sled is a 2008 Venture MP. It new to me so I don't know its history. Looking for some advice (maybe this has happened to someone before?) before I go blinding digging.
I took it out for a ride last weekend. Not very far, 10k. And the next morning the battery was too dead to start the sled. It was a new battery.
I've since charged it, and i'm pretty sure it is still good. If I let it sit for a week, it still reads 12.7v. I can start and stop the sled a few times, and it still reads 12.7v when the sled is off.
I've done some digging, and this is what I see so far. When the sled is running, the battery only reads 12.3. So something is drawing too much power or is shorted. And the sled is basically running off the battery. Which explains why it went dead.
If I disconnect the two headlights, everthing goes back to normal (i think). With the lights disconnected and the heated grips on high, the battery is reading over 14v. So the charging system appears to be working. And when I reconnect the lights, its right back to 12.3.
Someone mentioned offhand that a bad bulb could cause problems. Is that true? I dont see now the could. Unless the bulbs themselves could have a short to the ground/frame in them?
The wires that run from the main wiring harness to the lights don't appear to have any shorts... I measured them with a meter.
Old sleds are normally all grounded to the frame. Is that still true for this generation of sled? I'm asking, because the ground wire running back from the lights does have 0 resistance when measured against the frame. Would that mean there is a short? Or is that normal because the entire system is grounded to the frame?
Thanks
My sled is a 2008 Venture MP. It new to me so I don't know its history. Looking for some advice (maybe this has happened to someone before?) before I go blinding digging.
I took it out for a ride last weekend. Not very far, 10k. And the next morning the battery was too dead to start the sled. It was a new battery.
I've since charged it, and i'm pretty sure it is still good. If I let it sit for a week, it still reads 12.7v. I can start and stop the sled a few times, and it still reads 12.7v when the sled is off.
I've done some digging, and this is what I see so far. When the sled is running, the battery only reads 12.3. So something is drawing too much power or is shorted. And the sled is basically running off the battery. Which explains why it went dead.
If I disconnect the two headlights, everthing goes back to normal (i think). With the lights disconnected and the heated grips on high, the battery is reading over 14v. So the charging system appears to be working. And when I reconnect the lights, its right back to 12.3.
Someone mentioned offhand that a bad bulb could cause problems. Is that true? I dont see now the could. Unless the bulbs themselves could have a short to the ground/frame in them?
The wires that run from the main wiring harness to the lights don't appear to have any shorts... I measured them with a meter.
Old sleds are normally all grounded to the frame. Is that still true for this generation of sled? I'm asking, because the ground wire running back from the lights does have 0 resistance when measured against the frame. Would that mean there is a short? Or is that normal because the entire system is grounded to the frame?
Thanks