Hi,
I upgraded from a 96 Polaris to a 07 Polaris sportsman 500 EFI. I use my atv to plow snow. With my 96 the winch would drain the battery right away and I was constantly fighting a dead battery. Is there any tricks I can do with the 07 once I add the winch so my battery isnt dying all the time? Is the type of winch important on the voltage used?


Thanks!

 

I .....myself..........
would get the hand lever control for the plow blade if I was plowing snow......
easy on the electrical system and no frayed steel winch cables to deal with.....
Caper.......

 

Did you check charging system on 96? Could have caused your problems. Should not have problems on 07, havent had any customer complaints with winches. Have installed Warn and Polaris winches with no problems.If concerned use a battery maintainer. AS long as the winch doesnt belong on a Hummer!

 

nEVER HAD ANY BATTERY PROBLEMS RELATED TO WINCH. Have always had 2.5's. Maybe the 96 just did not have the charging system to handle a winch. All winches are going to be 12 volt. Just the higher rated pull wise will have more current draw.

 

I've been using 2,000 and 2,500 pound winches for over a decade with no battery problems. It would only draw hard on the battery if the engine wasn't running. I use my winch for plowing snow too. My arthritis is so I can't even use a manual lift. I wouldn't want one if I was okay either.

 

Another point of view I have ........Thought I would share.........I spent over $16000.00 Canadian for two Quads back in 2006 and don't really want to abuse them plowing snow!!!

My snowblower I had since the late 90's from Sears is working just fine!!
My Quads are for pleasure only so far!!!!..........Caper........

 

Plowing isn't abuse when it doesn't hurt the ATV. 10 winters in a row of plowing haven't caused any damage at all to mine. I bought a plow because my big two-stage snowblower wouldn't even blow the snow halfway to where I pile it. The snowblower never did what I needed it to do but a plow does. The snowblower just moved the snow from one part of the driveway and packed it down in another part of the driveway, then I had to try blowing the all hard packed snow off the driveway into my front and back yards.

 

Plowing snow does not abuse pick-up trucks either???..........Even all the extra hours and miles will add up............Snowblower is cheaper right now for my situation.....Plus I all ready had one (snowblower)before the Quads came ...which makes the decision even easier for me..............Caper..........

 

When I bought my place I figured I would have to shovel a .25 mile drive. So thought about a snow thrower then saw these atv things with a plow attachment back in 98. Guess which I got??? My first machine was a 97 xplorer with a manual lift which worked fine until I got the machine stuck numerous times and done the wood / rope / come along route. Then learned about these winch things. WHOO HOOO boy o boy. Next machine had a plow & a winch. It sure is ALOT easier getting unstuck now & the thumb on the button beats the heck out of the lever. Don't think I would have this much fun with a snowblower.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: caperinmuskoka

Plowing snow does not abuse pick-up trucks either???..........Even all the extra hours and miles will add up............Snowblower is cheaper right now for my situation.....Plus I all ready had one (snowblower)before the Quads came ...which makes the decision even easier for me..............Caper..........</end quote></div>

Plowing your driveway doesn't abuse pickups either. Plowing millions of acres of parking lots is different. My friend who does that could tell you more about it than I could, but his truck does it quite well.

I can't blow the snow one way or it would hit my house. I can't blow it the other way because it would hit my neighbor's house. We literally have wall to wall driveways between us. For my situation a snowblower just makes things worse. It packs all the snow into hard piles that I have to blow at least twice just to get out of the driveway, and it keeps clogging up the chute and both impellers. The plow pushes the snow 80 feet with ease and is <u>the only thing</u> that works for me. That's why I got rid of the snowblower years ago. Shoveling the snow by hand seems like less work than blowing each hard packed pile over and over again.

At my mom's house a snowblower is perfect because she has a place to blow it all to in one pass, but nowhere to plow it to. I have a place to push it all with a plow but nowhere to blow it to. Different situations require different tools, and where one works really well the other is a poor substitute. You could say it just blows.