Hello, John Talley here with Partzilla.com. Today we're going to be
looking at the electrical system on our 2011 Polaris Ranger 800 Crew. It's been
sitting up for a while, and it doesn't even want to turn over. So let's look at
some of the tools we're gonna need to pick this apart. Now chances are this is
going to be battery oriented, so that's what we're gonna focus on first. So
there's just a couple of pieces of equipment that we're gonna use to take a
peek. First thing we're going to do is look at the voltage, and we're gonna use
a voltmeter to do so. Now you don't need one this high end to pull it off,
and we actually carry one that'll get the job done. Second, once we establish
what the voltage is, we're going to take a tester and actually test the condition
of the battery. Now if it turns out the battery is bad and it will not take a
charge, then we'll have to do something about replacing it. As far as charging,
what is actually in there and then potentially a new battery we have a
couple of different chargers that you can use. Now one's, you know, pretty much
professional grade, and it'll charge basically any battery that's out there
and do it accurately because it is a smart charger. Now if you don't want to
get carried away with the expense of this unit, we offer a smaller one that it
has two benefits. One, it can charge the battery as well-- it'll just take it a
little longer, but its benefit is it is a trickle charger and that will help keep
the battery up when you're not using your unit. Now if it turns out that we do
need to replace the battery, chances are we've got one in stock. So if you would,
check us out at Partzilla.com, drill down to your year, make, and model. It'll carry
you to the exact battery that's gonna be required for your machine. So we've got
all our test equipment and potential parts lined up, let's jump into this
thing and get it figured out.
Let's start by opening up the hood and taking a look at the battery. We're gonna
start with the volt-ohm meter, and you want to make sure whichever model that
you're using that you bring it over to DC volts, and that's signified by these two
lines above the V. Any of the other ones, if they have a wavy line that has to do
with AC and that's not what we're interested in at this particular point.
So we've got it set to DC volts, now let's take a peek. And what we're looking
for here is a voltage more than 12.5. I can pretty much guess this one's going to be
a lot less than that. So this one's nominal voltage at rest 6.8 volts. So
that's basically half of what we're supposed to have. So what we're gonna
attempt is to actually put a charger on it, see if we can break the battery loose.
Because what has happened, more than likely, the battery is set long enough to
where it's starting to sulfate and that's basically just a hardening of the
cells. Sometimes you can break them free by putting a good charger on there, other
times they're just too far gone. But we're still gonna give it a shot. We're
gonna bring over the larger charger, hook it up, and then let it charge for a
couple of hours. See if it makes any headway as far as bringing this battery
back, retest it, and then we'll make a decision from there. It's been charging
for a couple hours. Let's remove it and then take a peek. I can tell you from
experience, the chances of this battery coming back are very low. Take a look at
it with the multimeter first. It did manage to bring it up to 11.5, but look
at it dropping already. Even if we could get it to twelve and a half, I'm betting
it's just gonna fall right right back down. But to absolutely be sure, let's
bring over the actual tester and test the condition of it. This tester
actually tests by displacement, or capacity in this case. And we're gonna
set it to 30 amp hours. Is the battery charged? Yes. And just like that: boom. It
says bad and replace. So, we're gonna spool up a new battery
and get it installed. Now I've already taken the battery to the dealership and
had them fill it up with electrolyte, because when we ship these they don't
have electrolyte with them. Especially this particular type, which is a lead
acid, and you actually had to pull these caps and then fill it up. And being a 30
amp hour battery, this is one of the biggest that you're gonna find used in
any side-by-side or ATV for that matter. It's gonna take a little bit longer to
charge. Because at 30 amp hours, we're gonna be charging at 4 amps, so that's
gonna take about 6 hours to get a full charge. Don't rush this. Let it get that
first initial charge all the way. That way it's gonna last the longest.
So we're gonna go and flip this on, got it in quick mode, charging. Now we're
gonna let it sit for about 6 hours, then we'll come back, let it rest, and then
actually do a test on it and make sure it's good to go. Now one of the tell-tale
signs if you don't have any testing equipment, is your actual unit. It's gonna
tell you when the battery is in trouble by virtue of being hard to start. It'll
turn over but when it gets to that compression stroke, it doesn't want to
push it all the way through. Not without a couple of tries of the key.
If your unit's doing that, you need to go ahead and test it and then possibly
replace it. Our green light is solid, so that means
she is finished charging and we're gonna check it with our voltmeter real quick.
It's gonna be north of 13 volts, guarantee you. Just a tick, 13.1. Now
we're gonna test it with our Yuasa tester, and that's going to give us the
condition of the battery and that way we'll know we're good to go.
And that's predicted, it's good to go. so let's get that old one out and get the
new one installed. Whenever you're removing or installing a battery, you
want to make sure that the negative is the first thing that you pull off and
the last thing that you put on. That alleviates the possibility of grounding
out the positive side anywhere on the vehicle. You'll notice on a lot of the
Polaris vehicles, they actually have a location if you wanted to add in a
second battery if you had a lot of electronics attached to your particular
machine. Some of the stereos can get pretty
power-hungry now. Out with the old, in with the new.
Get our strap back in place. Now unless you're using your machine every single
day for work, this is probably the best move you can make. That trickle charger
that I showed you earlier? It actually has a harness that you can permanently
connect to the battery, that way you can just plug it in and easily unplug it
when you're ready to use it. So let's go ahead and get this one in place. Now
depending on how many wires you're trying to sandwich in place, you may need
to get a longer bolt than the one that they gave you with the battery. When
you're tightening these down, you need to use something more than just the the
Philips or the flat blade-- depending on which type of battery bolt you're
using. Always put a wrench on it, make sure you get not an excessive amount but
enough to hold it in place. Because with the screwdriver, that's not enough and
it's going to loosen up. Now we can take our connection for the trickle charger,
just spool it up and lay it right next to the battery.
That way when you're ready to put it in storage for a little bit of time, pull it
out, pull off the cap, plug it in, turn it on, then you're good to go.
Let's see if she'll start now.
Well there you go. Not that tough of a project to get done. Well listen, if you
need any of these or other parts or tools for your machine, why don't you come see us
at Partzilla.com and we can get you taken care of. If you like what you see,
why don't you go and hit that subscribe button, that way you can keep up with
whatever I'm working on next. We just want to say thanks for shopping here
with us at Partzilla.com, and we will see you in the next video.
Y'all have a great day.