All lights including dash and tach die when hand warmers are turned on

[Dkoop]

2001 Polaris Edge 600
Headlights dim, taillights dim, dash lights and Tachometer die when I turn my hand warmers on medium or high. On low everything works and the hand warmers seem to work.

I thought it was a bad voltage regulator so I bought a used one and the symptoms didn’t change. It is the single wire VR.

All bulbs work, high beams work everything is good unless I turn the hand warmers on more than low.


It’s my wife’s sled and I noticed on previous rides the headlights would occasionally cut out.

 

[whoisthatguy]

Since the power comes from the stator to power all of the above, you might have a short in the hand warmers when they are in the medium or high position, and that short pulls power away from the accessories. Or you have a bad stator. The coils on the stator that run the engine and run the accessories, are different.

 

[High Voltage]

Since the power comes from the stator to power all of the above, you might have a short in the hand warmers when they are in the medium or high position, and that short pulls power away from the accessories. Or you have a bad stator. The coils on the stator that run the engine and run the accessories, are different.

This!

 

[Dkoop]

Since the power comes from the stator to power all of the above, you might have a short in the hand warmers when they are in the medium or high position, and that short pulls power away from the accessories. Or you have a bad stator. The coils on the stator that run the engine and run the accessories, are different.

Thanks, that’s what I was Thinking, I should be able to verify handwarmers by just unpluggin them right? If no change most likely the stator being bad?

 

[High Voltage]

Thanks, that’s what I was Thinking, I should be able to verify handwarmers by just unpluggin them right? If no change most likely the stator being bad?

Unplugging won’t tell you anything if everything is working on low heat. The problem is adding load. Either the warmers are defective or stator is bad.
I ran into the same situation and I had a bad stator. Doing test on a stator that is acting like that won’t give you a definite answer. The only true way to test a stator is on a test bench.

 

[Dkoop]

Well I was

Unplugging won’t tell you anything if everything is working on low heat. The problem is adding load. Either the warmers are defective or stator is bad.
I ran into the same situation and I had a bad stator. Doing test on a stator that is acting like that won’t give you a definite answer. The only true way to test a stator is on a test bench.

well I was thinking I would put them on medium or high, lights would dim and if I unplugged the handwarmers at that point if the lights came back on that would point to a short in the handwarmers, if they didn’t then it would be a short in the switch itself or a possible bad stator?

 

[High Voltage]

Well I was

well I was thinking I would put them on medium or high, lights would dim and if I unplugged the handwarmers at that point if the lights came back on that would point to a short in the handwarmers, if they didn’t then it would be a short in the switch itself or a possible bad stator?

If you have an ohm meter you can take a reading of the hand warmers and see if they are in specs. Hand warmers usually open/don’t heat vs short to ground. Unplugging them isn’t going to give you the answer you need.
To me it sounds like a weak stator the more load you put on it fails. Try warmers on low then headlights to high, and then put on the brakes and see if it acts up.

 

[High Voltage]

Well I was

well I was thinking I would put them on medium or high, lights would dim and if I unplugged the handwarmers at that point if the lights came back on that would point to a short in the handwarmers, if they didn’t then it would be a short in the switch itself or a possible bad stator?

Did you do any testing?

 

[Dkoop]

Did you do any testing?

I didnt have an ohm meter,

But tired high beams low warmers and brake and nothing happened everything still worked

Unplugged the handlebar switch and everything came back on.

Going to try a new switch before I dig into replacing the stator

 

[High Voltage]

I didnt have an ohm meter,

But tired high beams low warmers and brake and nothing happened everything still worked

Unplugged the handlebar switch and everything came back on.

Going to try a new switch before I dig into replacing the stator

A cheap ohm meter can make life easier. Whatch a couple YouTube videos if you’re not familiar with one. Good luck.

 

[whoisthatguy]

You may have rubbed all of the insulation off of the medium and high heat wires, so when you switch them on, you short it out.

 

[Dkoop]

Just to update, it was a bad control block, switched it out with a new one and the problem went away, seemed to be some corrosion in there.