The sound is reminiscent of a relay chattering. They tend to do that when they do not have full operating voltage or current available to them.

I'd suspect that your battery is not fully charged or may have reduced capacity, for one thing. A fully charged battery that has bull capability should read right at 12.6 volts once any surface (residual overcharge) is removed.

Your voltage reading while "using the plow" may need further explanation. What electrical loads are active when you see that reduced voltage?

 

So is the .2 enough to justify trying a new battery .the one in there has been in it for awhile , it doesn't even have a sticker of any sort on it .

sorry. When I said using plow that would be me pushing my controller to move the plow left or right , up and down .

I've uninstalled hooked everything on the plow and still have the problem. One thing , the plow controller has a remote wire that taps into a fuse. I did have it on the #8 fuse that controls the radio and pcm I think .do you think that could of fried something?

 

Not yet. However, I would recommend a complete charge cycle of the battery using a good external battery charger so as to ensure it is fully and properly charged. The alternator, assuming no defects, will thank you for that anyway.

First off, I have zero hands-on experience with plows and how they are wired, what electrical loads that they may have, or how they're controlled. However, I do have over forty years experience chasing electrons and fixing electrical and electronic stuff so my analysis is based on what I do know and what I can hopefully guess at. Take it for whatever it might be worth.

It is unlikely that anything was "fried". However, that may not be an optimal place to tap for power for an optional device.

For the power for the controller, I'd suggest moving it to a non-critical fuse. Fuse F3 runs the cigar lighter (not the power point, they are different ports with different fuses) and the OBDII port and would be my first choice, assuming nothing critical is plugged into either of those ports. Connect the ground for the controller to a confirmed good chassis ground, perhaps one of the ground studs behind the left hand kick panel. If you are using one of those "add-a-tap" fuse taps, watch out for stretched contacts in the fuse box causing poor or intermittent connections when they're removed.

Similarly, ensure that the ground for all the "big" electrical loads on the plow are done as close to the battery negative terminal, if not directly to it, as possible. I'd have to assume (guess?) that there's also a large diameter power feed wire for the plow that should go to the positive terminal of the battery or to a connection intended for high currents.

 

 

11.31V when using the plow concerns me.

While it may not be the cause of your issue, this indicates that you might want to rewire the plow with heavier electrical cables.

 

first off I just want to thank you guys for all the advice and help that you gave him so far and I really appreciate it.

I'll throw the battery on the charger tonight when I get home. It was having a problem draining there for a while but I think I fixed that that was this summer. I'm going to change the fuse tap over to #3 like you suggested and also check #8 for stretched out contacts . I was thinking pulling the main ground wire that goes to the engine then the start and clean up the connection points . They look good but it won't take much time to do .I pulled the gem and fuse box out last night to see if they looked water damaged and didn't see and obvious signs , just alot of dust .


As for the plow.... It's a newer style plow so it has a full wiring harness made just for the truck by the plow manufacturer. The negative and positive connections for the plow are both connected to the battery. I'd say the main power cord to the motor of the plow is less than 5 feet . It's a Blizzard speed wing 8600 , just in case you wanted to look it up . Sometimes I feel like the motor on it isn't getting enough power , as it's slow to lift every once and awhile.


If there is anything else you can suggest I try while I'm working on it today let me know .Thanks again .


Edit . Sorry I didn't see the other 2 replies. Redford , 11.31 concerns me too . The cables that are on it now are all part of the wiring harness and quick connect plugs . Hopefully charging the battery completely will show some improvement.

Tedster , I'll try everything you suggested too and report back

 

That would only be a valid concern if that voltage reading was taken out on the plow (at the load) while the load was pulling maximum current. We don't know where he actually took those measurements.

 

I took the reading from a 8 gauge positive wire that was ran inside to the cab for my sander . The sander isn't hooked up I just used the power wire and for ground I clipped on to a 2 awg ground that goes to my frame for my inverter . I tried cleaning up the contact on the main ground that goes from the battery to frame then starter , Also checked the fuse contacts and moved the tap to fuse #3 no improvement yet . I have the battery charging and will see if that makes any improvement in the morning. Thanks

 

Since power for the plow wasn't passing through the cables you used to make your measurements, it's safe to assume you were essentially measuring the voltage present at the other end of those two wires.

 

It sounds like too much load and not enough battery.

The intermittent cutting out & relay clicking is sounds like not enough power to run things and/or a bad connection that is going open on bumps.

First thing I would do is make sure the battery and alternator are rated to handle all the load that is being drawn. Some installers may tend to gloss over the drop across circuits such as the large cables you need to run down the whole length of the truck from the plow to the spreader.
This adds significantly to the load as well. You may need to do some math.

Next is a thorough visual inspection of the main power connections and cables, especially the added gear, to make certain all the connections are clean and tight and the power wires are not damaged.

 

Sorry guys I was supper busy yesterday and was only able to try the fully charged battery and still no difference. Im going to go to a buddies and try his snapon scanner and see if the engine is misfiring. And also try reving up and measuring the voltage from the battery to the alternator. I'll keep you guys updated thanks .