I have a 2002 Polaris Sportsman 500 HO, and I'm installing a winch for a plow. The installation guide says there is an accessory lead wire under the front cover that's red/white or orange/white, but I can't find anything. I did find a brown wire open as well as a green one, but neither provides power when connected. I have no other accessories installed. Help please?

 

Hello.I cant remember exactly which wire I used .I do know it came off the wires attached to the back of the key switch.There were 6 or 7 wires I think.Just take a test probe and pierce each wire until you find one thats energized by the switch.There should be only one wire that will act this way.Use a quick splice on this wire.Just remember to run the heavy wires to the battery directly.The wire you are searching for only activates the winch solenoid.Scott

 

So I guess the manual stating that there would be a "ready female flat lead" available was incorrect? There is a red/white wire coming off the switch, but I haven't done the testing yet. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

The red/white is your hot accessory wire and the brown your neutral. There are no spare accessorie wires on the sportsman, they are used on the 12v accessory outlet on the front pod. You simply piggie back the wires for your accessory off these two leads. Polaris usualy provides piggy back connectors for this purpose. However it is possible you may need to strip the wires or crimp on new connectors.

 

Thanks for the quick info to both. I piggy-backed the accessory lead that went to the 12v outlet, and everything works great! Now, as soon as my plow BLADE comes in, I say BRING ON THE SNOW!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

you might also want to consider putting a different wire on the winch. a shorter one perferably because that why you wont have to worry about letting out too much slack and then when it comes to pulling it up it gets all tangled.

 

There is a long wire included with the winch kit, but I was able to harness everything nicely, without excess slack. I've raised and lowered things several times in test runs, and so far the system has worked flawlessly. With the added impact of actual plowing, I plan to monitor it closely and see how it holds up. Thanks for the suggestion. If you're referring to the wire cable on the winch itself, that is tremendously long! If it becomes a problem, I will likely look for a very short piece with which to replace it, since my only use for it will be plow mounting and raising/lowering.