Dealer Says Hid Fog Is Draining Our Battery Your Thoughts - Can-Am Spyder Forums: The Y-factor Community

credspyder · #1 (**permalink**) 06-29-2009, 07:17 PM

I need everyone's thoughts & opinion on this matter? I have a 09 SE5 bought on 6/11 and I've been having problems with gears sticking. I told my dealer I installed HID Head/Fog. I also told them I read on the forum that one of the techs aid that BRP sent a update for the Solenoid w/ground now. He avoided the question and said nothing has been told to them. The only problems their seeing are HID's & installing fog lights are bad for the spyder. It drains the battery and then affects the bike's ability to shift well being that the power is less than 100%. I'm new here so what's your take on this?

Thanks in advanced.

Spyderman · #2 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 08:27 AM

A little electrical theory.... Solenoids convert electrical current into motion (of a rod). Remember the experiment you did in High School where you ran a magnet through an electric coil to generate electricity? Well a solenoid is that in opposite. Current in, motion out

Solenoid

Industrial Work Solenoid Construction and Basic Operation

from the latter article, the important info is:

"The force generated by a industrial work solenoid is dependent upon the current flowing though the coil windings. The average current in the coil of a DC industrial work solenoid is the simple result of average source voltage divided by the resistance of the coil."

So, although the service tech did not likely know the theory, he is "sort of" right. Adding a lot of accessories "sucks down" the voltage available and if it gets to low, and the alternator cannot keep it up, there may not be enough juice for the solenoid to operate consistently if the ground is poor. Hence BRP's solution to address the issue.

Also, with that little lesson in mind, it is VERY possible the new solenoids have a "wired" ground to make them more electrically efficient (because they are not depending on a "floating ground" which comes from the mechanical mounting only) and so they operate when you want them to..... floating grounds are not there there 100% of the time

I'd carry in printouts of the posts (or email him links), and gently nudge your tech on the fix..... he'll find it, and fix it

.

I hate to say it, but a higher output stator, something that folks do when more accessories (specially high watt radios and CB's) are added, may be the end all solution, and one everyone hopes is not needed. An old motorcycle trick to prevent stator burnout is to solder the stator output led into the harness instead off depending on the plug/spade/whatever connector. Over time corrosion can affect the quality of the connection causing the stator to burn out. But that's years down the road.

credspyder · #3 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 11:28 AM

thanks a lot for the reply, I spoke to a tech that when installing a foglight along with HID Headlight u need a combination harness? well what I did is install HID on both head&fog & run power straight to the battery. I also installed a swithch for the headlight so I can manually turn it on & off. after what the tech said I ordered the combination harness & I'm going to have the dealer install it & remove the manual headlight switch. tech said everything needs to run thru the harness cause it minimizes the amount of power drawn to the battery is this true? the hid I have use for the past 5yrs is rikensports which is 35W & 10A Current per manufacturer.

Spyderman · #4 (**permalink**) 07-04-2009, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by credspyder

thanks a lot for the reply, I spoke to a tech that when installing a foglight along with HID Headlight u need a combination harness? well what I did is install HID on both head&fog & run power straight to the battery. I also installed a switch for the headlight so I can manually turn it on & off. after what the tech said I ordered the combination harness & I'm going to have the dealer install it & remove the manual headlight switch. tech said everything needs to run thru the harness cause it minimizes the amount of power drawn to the battery is this true? the hid I have use for the past 5yrs is rikensports which is 35W & 10A Current per manufacturer.

I need to find out exactly what is included in the combination harness.....Let me do some searching.... I'll let you know what I find.

I am GUESSING it is one that the light switch runs a relay that turns on a fused power circuit to the light/accessory. If this is what it is, it's safer, and less likely to "cook" anyithing, but power is power, and it is all coming from the same place (the Battery), so my humble opinon is it would not draw less power.

I have a Dodge Ram Diesel that used top cook the lighting switch because all the power went though it to the headlights. I installed a harness like this to take care of that problem.

credspyder · #5 (**permalink**) 07-08-2009, 12:39 PM

Thanks for the response again. I took my spyder in to the dealer yesterday with 504 miles and brought the combination harness for them to install. I get a call 2hrs later telling me that it's more complicated than they thought. They said the combination harness is for a OEM HID Headlight Kit and OEM Foglight. I installed 2 HID Kit on the bike that are not OEM. His worried that this is drawing too much power and it will fry the combination harness. He was charging me a 12hr job for $900 to install the harness. My main issue is I have been charging my spyder everynight on a CTEK 800 just to make sure it's ok to drive everytime so it does not affect the bike's performance. I was told by a tech that if the battery is not at a 100% the bike's computer system will not perform well. That got me worried. My installer did not want to use the harness so instead he ran power for both HID kit direct to the Battery and installed 2 seperate power switch for both Head/Fog so I can manually turn it on at night so it does not consume power during the day. Have you heard of anyone in the forum using 2 HID kits for both Head/Fog? Thanks

LonnieD · #6 (**permalink**) 07-13-2009, 10:36 AM

Okay, there's one main hitch in the giddy-up here. HID lights consume LESS power than "regular" lights. You can go strictly by the wattage consumed. HID's typically take about 35 watts while non-HID's take 55 watts. This depends upon exactly what type of bulb you're comparing to. Sounds to me like the dealer is simply blaming your HID addition for the problem because he doesn't know how to fix it. All he has to do is check the voltage across the solenoid.