I have a 97 Sportsman 500 which until tonight has been flawless. I started it to move it out of the way and it ran fine. When I was done I tried to start it again and it would not start. Acted like the battery was dead. The starter would only spin slowly and the indicator lights would dim when I pushed the starter button. I checked the voltage on the battery and it was 13 volts but would drop to around 8 when I would try to start it or turn the head lights on. I put a charger on it but the battery was not taking much of a charge so thought that battery might be okay. I manually started it and it ran fine. I notice that all the lights on the thing were very bright but only for a very short while. They are all burned out, headlights, tail lights, etc.
I've seen this problem here in the forums before but can't seem to find it. Anyone else have this problem or know what happened and how to fix it?

 

Is it possible that you forgot to reconnect the battery before you pulled on the recoil starter rope to start the machine? All of the lights will burn out if the battery is not connected.

 

Check the acid level in your battery. My dealer told me to keep an eye on it because if you run it out then it will blow out all the bulbs.

 

AND them bulbs ain't cheap!!!!!!

 

I talked to my Polaris dealer today and he informed me that the voltage regulator is run from the battery and if the battery is bad or disconnected the voltage regulator will not function hence the blown bulbs. I tested my battery and the fluid level was at normal to find it bad must have shorted internally. I bought a new battery today not from Polaris I might add. They wanted $65.00 for one. Runs great now. I'm out to hunt for bulbs. I know the high beam is a H3 60 watt but am not sure about the low beam bulbs. Are they available elsewhere besides Polaris?
This whole thing is a bad design by Polaris to have a battery problem cause this much trouble.

 

Lo,

Go and read this thread....."What's the part # for the 100W headlight bulbs?" Might as well increase your candlepower.

 

I heard for '99 they fixed that problem. The other day when my contacts were dirty, I thought I lost some connection some where and had to use the back-up start. I turned on my headlights (didn't know they were on until I saw a reflection) and they still work now. Mine is an early '99 model, bought in October of '98.

 

I did go out and find a H4 100 watt for the high beam. Works great. Hope it doesn't melt the housing because it gets quite warm. I couldn't find the low beams anywhere so I had to get them at Polaris. They are quite pricey. $15.00 a piece. After I had bought them I thought what I should have done is buy a set of fog/driving lights and just replaced the complete low beam housing and all. This would have also increased my lighting since most after market lights are at least 55 watts. The stock low beams are only 27 watts. Well I back on the trails again. Thanks for all the feedback.