I have a 2000 sp500. To begin with i noticed the lite in the 'awd' switch was not working, then i noticed that the all wheel drive itself did not work. Also found the tail lite blown, all the little lites in the various switches were not working, speedo lite and odometer were not working. After 2 days of tracing wires I found that there was power TO the speedo but not coming FROM it which powers the AWD. Attached the speedo from a sp400 and AWD worked and speedo was powered up. Replaced burnt out tail lite, not too worried about lites in the switches as long as the switches themselves work, will replace speedo but am wondering what may have caused this, I dont want to put the new speedo in and fry it too. I have been having some trouble with the battery seems weak at times, nothing i gave a whole lot of notice to till i read something about its interaction with the electrical system, (bad or weak battery causing burnt out headlites and such). Is this the cause of all my troubles? A $20 battery gets weak and burns up a $200 or $300 speedo. Any help GREATLY apprieciated.

 

I'd sure like to hear a solution to your problem Hank. I also have a y2k SP500. I went out to start it last week, and the battery was completely dead, so I jumped it with the lawn tractor. It fired right up, but now I have no speedo function or light, no AWD, and no brake light. The tail light was burned out, and I replaced it, but I've no clue why the brake light itself doesn't work. I know I need a battery, as it won't even hold enough of a charge to light up a test light. Everything worked when I last rode it too.

Kirk

 

sounds exactly like what happened to mine

 

I know that if you run it without a battery, you can have a voltage spike an no place for the extra voltage to go which will blow the lights. Dont know if the bad battery could cause that as well???

 

Your battery is most likely your problem, I have had this happen 2 times in the last few years. The battery fails to an open circuit and the system voltage increases causing the bulb and other failures. Check the voltage at the battery with it running, I'll bet it's over 20 volts. Check the battery cable connections also.

 

Sounds to me that the voltage regulator might be bad, Also you might find the battery does not charge at all at low RPM's if they are like Harleys. I think you should have a voltage at the battery of 13.5v-14v at idle and 14.5v at higher RPM's. PS if you are getting high voltages it will fry light bulbs and ruin the battery.

 

My tail light and AWD light went out when my battery went dead. The head lights were also freaking out on me as the RPMs went up. The new battery did the trick for me.

 

This is a relatively common issue on polaris atv's. If they get run with a completely dead battery...or close to it a lot of times it will cause a voltage spike in the electrical system causing various lights to blow.