I want to add a reverse light on my '98 Forman 450. What I'd like to do is tap into the reverse indicator light in the digital dispaly to fire a relay which would turn on and off the light. This way when the reverse light comes on in the display the reverse light will come on too.

Can anyone tell me what wire goint to the dispaly to tap into??? The display itself seems to be a sealed unit, so I don't want to foo with taking it apart.

 

The switch part of that reverse light circuit is on the ground side of the bulb and is called the reverse switch, mounted on the engine. I'm thinkin' you have a digital display on that model, if so, I'd highly recommend finding another way to turn your light on. If something should happen to your reverse light in your display, ie burn out, you have to buy the whole display to fix it. Why tempt fate?

 

All you have to do is get your hot wire from battery or most any sorce of hot wire would be a good idea to put a fuse in line, mount your light make sure it is not the grounded type then run your ground wire and connect it to the wire that runs to the reverse switch on the engine, when you go in reverse your light will come on

 

If I remember correctly, seems like an awful small wire to ground a high wattage bulb.

 

dzzy,

There is no wire too small to run a small 12v automotive bulb on the atv, unless you hooking up high wattage aircraft landing lights i would say yes , all the reverse switch does is complete the curcit to ground mine has been working trouble-free sence 1987and all my friends i showed how to do the same thing it works fine for us.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'll be using a relay anyway, so the circuit on reverse switch would only be used to activate the relay (couple milli amps). If you add the full load of the reverse light bulb (especially a 55w halogen bulb) you run the risk of damaging the factory circuit that was only designed to power the light in the dash.

 

As long as you are using a good quality automotive relay you should have no prob. Get the trip signal from the sensor on the motor and then use 12V and run your own wire from the battery direct. It will be safe as safe can be. Might be a good idea to invest in a manual if you are getting into playing with this stuff. You can use it for all of your extra mods and it makes life a lot easier.

 

Yep a manual is now on its way. They don't make an aftermarket manual for the 450 yet, but the factory manual (which is probably way better anyway) is only $130 CDN.

 

If you keep the machine for a long time it is probably the best money you will ever spend. I love my manual!