[zjfisher]

Hi guys, it's been awhile! Hope everyone is doing well. I'm running into a problem on my 2009 2500hd. When using plow to power up or move wings lights dim, blower slows and this morning every thing went crazy it didnt kill the engine. I have checked all my grounds covered every thing in dieelec grease. Have replaced the solenoid and still same problem. Gauge in truck drops from 14vdc to I'd say 11vdc when hitting buttons. Tested battery and alternator while functioning plow and it's still above 12.3 vdc on the battery and at like 13.6 vdc on alternator. Anybody have any idea what I'm missing here? Thanks in advance and stay safe out there guys

 

[seville009]

About 5 or 6 years ago, my mvp all of the sudden starting really drawing down the truck power - much more than normal. Eventually killed the truck; couldn’t start it until about three hours later.

Turned out to be a bad plow battery cable. Was overheating and drawing way too much power. That’s why I could restart the truck after it cooled down.

No problems after the cable was replaced.

For what it’s worth......

 

[zjfisher]

Was the cable physically damaged, you could see it melted down?

 

[JFon101231]

Sounds like either weak battery or motor is drawing too many amps, both will show similarly.
1) For starters, truck battery should be load tested, not just looking at voltage.
2) I'd check is amp draw on the plow motor as dictated in Fisher mechanics guide.

 

[zjfisher]

Good point about the load test! Didnt even think of it. The amp draw on motor would be reading from the terminals?

 

[cwren2472]

About 5 or 6 years ago, my mvp all of the sudden starting really drawing down the truck power - much more than normal. Eventually killed the truck; couldn't start it until about three hours later.

Turned out to be a bad plow battery cable. Was overheating and drawing way too much power. That's why I could restart the truck after it cooled down.

I saw you mention this in another thread. I have no idea how that is possible. For the bad cable to draw so much power to kill the truck, it would have to be, quite literally, on fire. A bad cable can only cause a bad connection and not allow power through. A bad connection can cause a motor itself to overheat by arcing away, but that isn't the same situation and doesn't actually result in more power being drawn.

 

[JFon101231]

The amp draw on motor would be reading from the terminals?

Need to have a good multimeter with a clamp, usually they are rated up to 400a. Then you just slide the clamp around the positive lead and perform test with the plow 'against the relief'. Do that by putting the plow all the way in a direction, then push button again for the test. Spec is 250 amps but usually they start being noticeably slower once they hit 220ish.

 

[seville009]

Was the cable physically damaged, you could see it melted down?

I couldn't see (or smell) anything. Took it to the Ford dealer first thinking it was a truck issue. They didn't see anything wrong, so stopped by the plow dealer and they found/fixed it.

 

[seville009]

I saw you mention this in another thread. I have no idea how that is possible. For the bad cable to draw so much power to kill the truck, it would have to be, quite literally, on fire. A bad cable can only cause a bad connection and not allow power through. A bad connection can cause a motor itself to overheat by arcing away, but that isn't the same situation and doesn't actually result in more power being drawn.

It's possible because it happened.....

 

[cwren2472]

It's possible because it happened.....

Wasn't disputing that. Just confused by it.

 

[zjfisher]

Need to have a good multimeter with a clamp, usually they are rated up to 400a. Then you just slide the clamp around the positive lead and perform test with the plow 'against the relief'. Do that by putting the plow all the way in a direction, then push button again for the test. Spec is 250 amps but usually they start being noticeably slower once they hit 220ish.

 

[zjfisher]

Need to have a good multimeter with a clamp, usually they are rated up to 400a. Then you just slide the clamp around the positive lead and perform test with the plow 'against the relief'. Do that by putting the plow all the way in a direction, then push button again for the test. Spec is 250 amps but usually they start being noticeably slower
once they hit 220ish.

Would this be what I'm looking for?

 

[JFon101231]

Would this be what I'm looking for?

Yessir

 

[zjfisher]

Any way to do it with out a clamp meter?

 

[JFon101231]

As long as you find a MM that can handle min 300 amps DC you would be fine, usually when you step up to that level they have the clamp. Roughly $100 give or take, available most hardware stores etc.