After-Market Lights

[78cj5]

I was driving to and from my brothers house across White Bear Lake last night. I realized that my stock lighting, while fine on the trails, is pretty dismal out on the open lake. I had a tough time seeing far enough ahead of me.

My lights are adjusted and were on high-beam.

Has anyone installed after-market lighting on their machines? Does it make a difference?

Thanks

[Northwoodsdon]

Warn makes some Fantastic Trail lights for ATV's

took about 20min to install Huge Improvement !

[rundrave]

I put some really small 55watt lights on my handlebars. They are a huge improvement over stock.

I have a Polaris Scrambler and I HATE the way the lights look that come with them.

I upgraded to a different set of handlebars and a bunch of other mods so I was looking for something small and compact.

The thing I like most about these is that they come with an adjustable mount that I can pivot rotate etc to get them adjusted. I have them mounted directly to my handlebars instead of a hood or bumper. This way at night the lights follow the handlebars turning and not the quad. Makes it alot easier to see when riding at night.

I got them at JC Whitney for 15.99

[Orlip]

Quote:

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I put some really small 55watt lights on my handlebars. They are a huge improvement over stock.

I have a Polaris Scrambler and I HATE the way the lights look that come with them.

I upgraded to a different set of handlebars and a bunch of other mods so I was looking for something small and compact.

The thing I like most about these is that they come with an adjustable mount that I can pivot rotate etc to get them adjusted. I have them mounted directly to my handlebars instead of a hood or bumper. This way at night the lights follow the handlebars turning and not the quad. Makes it alot easier to see when riding at night.

I got them at JC Whitney for 15.99

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Have you had a problem with the charging system? Or the battery being drained? I just spoke with my Polaris dealer and he said the factory lights on the bumper are 35 watts a piece and if I exceed that I could ruin one or both of the above mentioned items.

[anyfishwilldo]

I bought a kit off hsolist that modifys the high beams on my 07 sportsman. It turns all 3 lights on instead of just the one on the bars. It really seemed to help. Low beams remain the same, in the bumper.

[Dave]

You might want to check out spotlights that clamp to your ATV and plug into the accessory outlet, too. RAM manufacturers a sweet unit and, it can be detached and used manually for loading up your fishing gear or whatever.

[trollingforeyes]

I have a 04 Sportsman 700 and the lights really sucked! They were the 35 watt jobs. I replaced them with the smaller lights (55watt) from Wal-Mart for about $18.00. I added the light relay kit so that when I turn the high beam the other 2 remain lite. MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE! Had them for about 3 years now with no problems with electrical. Just remember if you have all 3 lights on at idle your machine may show a warning till you give it a little throttle.

[jigstick44]

Do any of you guys know where you can find the kit for all 3 of the lights to work at once? I have an 02 Sportsman and would love to have that feature.

[huntnfish]

I have found some stuff online with directions on how to do it. I have also seen the kits on HSOList for sale for pretty cheap. On my 02 Sportsman I can put the switch in between high and low and all three lights come on so I when I do need the extra light I just do that.

[firemedic5586]

Quote:

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Do any of you guys know where you can find the kit for all 3 of the lights to work at once? I have an 02 Sportsman and would love to have that feature.

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Got this off of Highlifters Board, I hang out there a bit and you can get a whole lot of intel from there. I wired my 03 700 up using a modification of this.

The way I wired my lights so all 3 are on in the high position:

Parts needed:

1 Relay capable of handling at least 5 amps.

4 Spade connectors.

1 Ring terminal

3 Wire taps

2'+/- 12 gauge wire, depending on relay mounting point. All items can be bought at auto supply stores, Walmart etc.

Remove upper part of headlight pod.

Find a mounting location for the relay and drill hole to mount. Mine is mounted on the steering stem's support bracket, on the right side of the machine.

Trace wiring harness down from the handlebars from light switch.

Cut some of the harness' cover (inside pod) to access wires within.

Find the green (Low Beam) and yellow (High beam) wires. Use a test light to verify your wires.

Find the brown wire for the power port, located on the pod.

Using the wire taps(on wires) and spade connectors(on relay), connect the Brown wire to Terminal #87, Green to Terminal #30 and Yellow to Terminal #86. Do not cut any wires, use the taps or solder them together.

Connect terminal #85 to ground, using a spade connector and ring terminal. I connected the ring terminal to the relay's mounting screw for my ground.

I also used silicone to seal all connections.

The power port is on a 10-amp breaker, so no fuse is needed. With this setup, when the light switch is in the low position, just the low beams are on. With the switch in the high position, all three are on.

The high beams pull in the relay and it puts power to the low beams. The relay get it's power from the power port to power the low beams in the high position only. When the low position is selected, the low beams gets it's power from the handle bar mounted switch as normal. Confused?

High position: High beam gets power form handle bar switch, Low beam from the power port.

Low position: Low beams gets power from handle bar switch, High beams are off.

I did this so the handle bar mounted switch doesn't get over-loaded from all 3 lights being on at once.

All 3 lights on at once draw about 9 amps. 50 watt high and 2 27 watt lows =104 watts. 104 watts divided by 12 volts = 8.6 amps. Most machines, when running, generate about 14 volts, so the amperage needed will be lower when the machine is running.

[huntnfish]

The info that I was talking about is the same that firemedic posted. I have heard of people wiring them without the relay but it isn't something that I would ever do to my machine for risk of burning stuff up.

[firemedic5586]

I also have some cheap small hi-way lights from wally world that I put some PIAA bulbs in. The put out like a 110 watt bulb but draw like a 65w bulb. My machine will keep up with the draw with everything on providing its running above ideal. If its parked and @ ideal the pod gets angry with me and starts to flash.

All my aftermarket extras I have wired into a fuse block that I installed. Would much rather shoke a fuse then toast my wireharness.

If your in wireing you may want to put in a reverse light set up. Works like a charm....

There are spade terminal connections on your bike specifically made to run a reverse light. Take off the front plastic panel (under the center headlight). If you're facing the front of the quad, look on your right side for a set of (3) red/white wires with a single spade terminal on the end - this will be your positive wire which is only hot with the key on. Right near where you find the red wires, you should also find a set of (2) purple wires with a single spade terminal- this will be your ground wire, but it is only grounded when shifted to reverse, this means your reverse light will only come on when shifted to reverse. The wires maybe hidden by some of the wire loom so it might take a minute to find them.

Fast way: Run a wire from the positive wire on your light to the red wires on your quad. Be sure to install a fuse in this connection. Now run your ground wire on your light to the purple wires. I would buy some spade terminals to use on the wires coming from your light so that you can easily plug into the stock Polaris wires. Using this method you should not have to cut or splice a single wire that came stock on your bike.

The correct way:

1] Fuse the red wires coming from your quad; this will power your relay (NAPA $8).

2] The purple wires provide the ground that will “Trip” activate your relay.

3] You will need a fuse “source” power supply for your relay. I wired in a fuse box under the seat of my quad. (SEE SIG).

4] Hook up your lights to the output side of the relay.

5] Solder ALL spade connections to the wires. Use plenty of silicon on the spade

connections when you attach them to your quad.

6] Make sure your light has a GOOD ground also.

[jltimm]

Or, just buy a Suzuki Kingquad! All three headlights at the same time stock, and prewired for the reverse lights with the 2 wires right at the back of the quad just waiting to be hooked up!

[jigstick44]

I would rather do the wiring then sink to that level

[jltimm]

Now that there is funny!

[78cj5]

I bought a RAM spot light. I liked the idea of using this for my boat as well as my Kawasaki. I mounted it to the front rack for the time being. I was doubtful at first that it was enough light (70,000 candle power). When I turned the light on just as darkness was falling, I didn't think it would be enough. Once I got out on the lake and got the light adjusted, it was very really nice. I could adjust it so that it lit up quite a bit of real estate above where my stock headlights would normally shine.

Overall, if you are looking for versatility and decent fuction, this is a good light. If you are looking to light up the night, this isn't the light for you.

I think it will get a lot of use between the ATV and the boat.

[livintofish]

Yeah I got the kit off e bay too just search "headlight override, Polaris" or something similar its like 5 bucks comes with instructions on where to splice it in. All it is, is a little inline diode and shouldn't cause any electrical problems, messing with other bulbs and auxillary lights could. I would recommend this to any sportsman owner, that ram spotlight sounds cool as well thanks for the info guys.