PRO RMK Cold Thumb Warmer Issue!

[towny]

My thumb warmer doesn’t get very warm. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to work at all. Doesn’t matter if the headlight is on high or low! The wire connecter looks fine and added dielectric grease.
Checked ohm readings. White/Grey wire = 7.4 ohm, Orange/Grey 10.6 ohm. Ground wire has good continuity.

Checked voltage of the high and low settings at the wire plug.
OK this is the weird thing!!! When checking the voltage as the engine is idling, I was seeing the meter bounce around between 12 to 14 volts. Then I revved it up to around 3500 rpm then the voltage settled in to 8.8 to 9 volts???? Is this normal?

Hot-wired a 12v battery to the thumb warmer and it does get warm to the bare hand but by no means hot!! Jumped both high and low circuits together and it would get warm enough to make it uncomfortable to hold the bare hand on it.
Checked the warmer switch and its set up to turn on only one circuit at a time. High or low.
The hand warmers seem to work fine.

Taking the throttle flipper assembly into the dealer today to have them check it out.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[tbeaton]

the warmers on my pro suck. coming off the etec with the adjustables, these warmers don't cut it. i'm thinking i will either get the rsi heaters or try and spray foam my bars. when they do get hot my thumb warmer will work, but its hit or miss. they should be on a seperate switch anyways.

 

[Oregonsledder]

My thumb warmer doesn’t get very warm. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to work at all. Doesn’t matter if the headlight is on high or low! The wire connecter looks fine and added dielectric grease.
Checked ohm readings. White/Grey wire = 7.4 ohm, Orange/Grey 10.6 ohm. Ground wire has good continuity.

Checked voltage of the high and low settings at the wire plug.
OK this is the weird thing!!! When checking the voltage as the engine is idling, I was seeing the meter bounce around between 12 to 14 volts. Then I revved it up to around 3500 rpm then the voltage settled in to 8.8 to 9 volts???? Is this normal?

Hot-wired a 12v battery to the thumb warmer and it does get warm to the bare hand but by no means hot!! Jumped both high and low circuits together and it would get warm enough to make it uncomfortable to hold the bare hand on it.
Checked the warmer switch and its set up to turn on only one circuit at a time. High or low.
The hand warmers seem to work fine.

Taking the throttle flipper assembly into the dealer today to have them check it out.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks

I have owned several Polaris sleds, and they never are real warm, not like a Skidoo.

 

[turbolover]

i'm thinking i will either get the rsi heaters or try and spray foam my bars.

How much does this help with holding heat in the bars?
If I am going real slow picking my way around they will get pretty hot.
Half throttling down a trail they are pretty cold even on the high setting.

 

[richracer1]

How much does this help with holding heat in the bars?
If I am going real slow picking my way around they will get pretty hot.
Half throttling down a trail they are pretty cold even on the high setting.

It acts like insulation - with the foam, you not trying to heat the air space in your bars - it should hold the heat a little longer too. Another possible side effect would be a reduction in vibrations as the foam would absorb it.

 

[tbeaton]

alot of guys do it to aluminum bars and it doesn't hold heat like steel. like mentioned, it acts as an insulator. did it back on my 04 rev and it worked, but the **** can make a mess, so don't use to much. a little goes a long way.

 

[Hrt Offroad]

Another thing that I have done on previous sleds - is to put a layer of foil tape under the heater elements. It helps to reflect the heat up into the grips rather than sync it into the bars.

 

[yep]

They also make a cork like material that goes on under your heater elements to insulate them. It has a sticky side and glues on a lot like your hand warmers. It works pretty well, and makes your grips a little bit bigger around. For me it seems to make them a little bit easier to grip. The only place i've found them is at the skidoo dealer.

 

[Oregonsledder]

Guys keep in mind, he says "thumb warmer" not grip warmer. They are related, but different elements.

 

[towny]

If I am going real slow picking my way around they will get pretty hot.
Half throttling down a trail they are pretty cold even on the high setting.

Ya know now that I think about it, mine does that too! When I'm ripping around, climbing, boondocking or going down the trail keeping the RPM's up is when my warmers don't seem to work very good.
Was comming back down a really wooped out road a couple weekends ago, about 5 miles of it and was going really slow. Noticed my hand warmers getting uncomfortably warm.(on high) Thumb was aready to frozen to notice the warmer getting hot!!!

Rechecked the voltage again with the same results. At idle, 12+ volts. Rev it up to 3000+ and volts drop off to 9???
Maybe this is why the warmers cool off as you ride???? Re-atach the hood and the headlight brightens as the motor reves as it should! Doesn't make sense?

There is a unused plug that says AC on it. Checked the voltage there with the same results.

Is there such a thing as a PRO with a good working thumb warmer?

 

[Doonut]

and here I thought I was just getting old and my circulation was going to chit
Compared to the Gade I came off, the thumb warmer o my Pro is a joke. Bars get too dam hot and thumb is cold numb. Turn bars down and thumb goes into frost bite mode.
Anyone use the RSI seperator kit with any success ?

 

[towny]

Here's some pic's

Here's some pictures of checking the voltage.

This is with the hood/headlight unpluged so I could get to the AC PWR plug.

The 13volt reading is at idle and the 9 volt is at 3000+ RPM.
Got the same reading in checking the Thumb warmer circuit!

 

[towny]

A lot of others having problems to!

Check this link out. The issue is bigger than I thought!

http://www.hardcoresledder.com/foru...hassis/569716-polaris-hand-thumb-warmers.html

Coming from Doo. This is my 1st Polaris and man what a great machine! I love it so far.
This thumb warmer thing is such a pissy little complaint, I hate to even bring it up but if no one does then the issue will never get fixed! Seems this is something Polaris needs to address!
These sleds are so fun to ride, Polaris could have the 1st ever law suit for someone losing a thumb from frostbit because you don’t want to take the time to stop and unthaw it every few minutes!!

 

[BYOB]

I thought I just had a weak one. Compared to the Dragon I came off of the 2012 pro is terrible. My thumb is always frozen, even if the grips are hot. Guess I'm not the only one.

 

[KAWGRN]

I put the RSI supper dupper hot ones on and they are marginally better and Yes I filled the bars with foam,I think that the Polaris power output is LAME!!!!!wish I had a battery E start I would hook them up to the batery direct and let the lame charging system just charge the battery

 

[towny]

RSI Warmers.

Yeah I was looking at getting this one. (Check out the link)

http://www.rsiracing.net/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=29

If there is an issue with supplied voltage? Then one could only expect marginal gains. Makes sense!

My dealer has acknowledged on his own sleds 2011 & 2012s that he noticed the same deal when running higher RPMS the warmers seem to cool off! There working on it right now. Hope something comes of it!