I am installing my warn winch and am trying to figure out where to install the solenoid? How isolated does this thing need to be? I was thinking of putting it under the front plastic but I can't get my drill in there. Has anybody installed one or does somebody have one installed that could give me a heads up? Jay

 

If you are talking about the "Contactor", go see my Pics (#13) and you'll see where the dealer installed mine, albeit a total piece of sh*t installation which I am having to redo! I think up front would be a good place and that's were I hink I'm going with my new 3.0ci on my new 500HO.

 

Wow, I looked at putting mine there but I was afraid it was to open and to easily damaged. I ended up putting it on the cross member just under the front cover. The wires have to get wrapped up do to there length but it came out pretty good. I just have to figure which of the six wires to splice into at the switch now. Thanks for the pics. I will post some pics of my solenoid once I get it all together and running. Jay

 

Treedoc, i like where you have yours....mine is mounted on the foward side of the rack support thats just foward of yours sitting verticlly with the connectors facing foward
Oh , one other thing, I notice just 1 ground wire off the battery.....did you connect winc ground to frame??

 

Polarisboy,

I also mounted mine under the front cover on the crossmember, there was alot of extra cable but I tie-wrapped it and should stay fairly clean and dry there versus under the rear fender. I wired directly to the hot wire instead of tying into a wire that is turned on by the switch.

 

Which hot wire are you talking about? I have to run the ground wire and the hot wire. I couldn't figure out which wire to pick out of the switch thre are "only" six to choose from. It should not suck juice unless the switch is held right. I am going to tie the excess wire into a loop so it should look pretty clean once I am done. I was able to mount the switch on the handlebars but I don't know if I like the cable running into the side of the quad. Now the hole is drilled though so its stuck there. Jay

 

I installed the hot wire directly to the battery cable on the contactor where all the other wires attached.
It really shouldn't matter if this has juice all the time, I'm sure they recommend attaching to a wire that is regulated by the switch for safety concerns with kids playing around atvs etc.

 

According to the installation guide for a Polaris -Warn winch 2.5,t It is recommended that the contactor be mounted close to the battery as possible and in a clean and dry location ,THEN they show a picture of it located just to the rear side of battery,Right above the rear tire .(Clean and Dry ???) Hope this dont confuse you any further ,,,I am going to put a 2.5 warn on Friday,If it ever quits snowing up here ,,,Cmon Spring,,

 

I am putting a 2.0 on with the 2.5 upgrade. (Got a great deal on it) Anyways my directions don't get that specific for the old 2.0 they just say someplace dry and safe but do not mention being near the battery. We will see how it works. I wouldn't mind one more snow storm after this to see if it will work with my plow any better then the manual lift. Jay

 

I would think that close to the battery would be good so you're not losing much in the way of power on the run back to the battery with the 6 guage leads. It's a Catch 22 though, if you go back to where the battery is, I don't think there is anywhere you can place the Contactor without exposure to water and crud. I was thinking of rigging up some sort of weatherproof arrangement just to limit the exposure on the Contactor. I'm waiting for my Contactor to be replaced by the Warn Warranty Center because they said that the symptoms were conducive to failure in the contactor and handlebar switch. My problems didn't occur till I ran the Ute in the dunes and came home and gave it a good rinse with the garden hose. That area up inside the wheel well is where most of the sand and crud accumulates on the bike so I'm not sure what I'm gonna do.