On my 650 I was kind of leary about getting into any of the wiring so I just put in a separate switch for my winch power. It was an easy solution. Where is the best place to hook up to the switched power from the ignition? I've left the switch on overnight a few times and killed my battery. I've kinda been remembering, but would prefer to work my brain as little as possible.

 

All 650's have a two prong accessory plug in the wiring harness that is switched on and off with the key. Use it.

 

bear is right most bikes now come with a pre-plug in for winches and other accessories. just find the right on and plug it in. shouldnt have any problems with it. i never have.

 

I bought my winch right from Arctic Cat. Their kit is made specifically for their machines. If you wait until tomorrow, I'll get you the wire you want. There is a wire in the factory harness, that is right ahead of the battery, that is there specifically for the winch. It's hooked up after the ignition.

 

That's all fine and good for those with a 650- how about us with an (2003 500i) ?? I presently also have mine hooked up seperatly. Any help appreciated.

 

Here's what my installation manual says...


<u>650's</u>
"4. When routing the winch harness to the battery box, connect the two-prong plug under the seat, to the left of the rear air-duct and below the electrical panel"

There's a rubber two-prong plug in the factory wiring harness located to the right and back of the rear spark plug. It has two orange wires and one black wire coming out of it. Got me which of the two prongs you want to use. My guess would be one of the orange ones. Anyway, since I bought the Arctic Cat Factory Warn Winch, my winch harness had the two prong plug built into the winch harness and all I had to do was plug it in. The orange wires from the factory plug, turn to red on the winch harness, and go forward to I assume the handle bar switch. The black wire goes to the solenoid terminal that hooks up the the neg battery terminal.

<u>500's</u>
"4. When routing the winch harness to the battery box, connect the two-prong plug on the winch harness to the main harness near the voltage regulator."

Sounds to me that they're pretty much the same. I don't own a 500 so I can't run out and take a look for ya.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Thanks- I'll look for the orange wires !

 

 

The orange wire are switched 12 volt wires. Which means the ignition switch turns the 12 volts on and off so the winch won't work with the key off. The black is a ground wire.

 

Thanks for pointing back in the right direction. I read in the manual several times that there was an outlet in front of the batt and in front of the fuse box. I didn't see anything obvious before. I took a second look after some comments here about using the factory harness. Thanks guys. Not only did I find it, but I now have a better connection and the winch works 100 times better. As for the questions about the 500...The Dealer tapped into the power coming out of the ignition for power on my 400. Never had a problem with it.