Electric Auger and ATV

[chadly]

I just purchased the Sportsman 500 efi and was thinking of purchasing an electric Auger to use with the machine. I have a couple quesitons. I posted this in the ATV forum and didn't get any hits so I thought some of you ice guys might know.

Questions:

1. Does the machine have an alternator? I know some engines have another mechanism for charging a battery.

2. Will the machine run an electric auger?

3. If the battery goes dead will the engine start with the pull starter?

4. Anyone rig up an electric auger to their ATV?

[PikeTipper]

Interesting idea although I've never seen it done. Due to the getting stuck in the middle of nowhere with a dead battery factor I would probably just bring another one along since you should have room on the wheeler.

[dirtking]

Buy a srikemaster electra with the built in battery - If that battery should happen to go dead on you your 4 wheeler should have plenty of juice to drill some more holes. I believe they do have a alternator on them - As when I use my winch excessively - it will flash low battery and I let it run a while and we are back to normal.

The strikemaster electa runs off of a vexilar battery - so it is not too hard to bring a spare battery along also.

[Loogie]

I don't think you can pull start an EFI machine. I know you can with a carbed machine. Makes you wonder why they put pull starters on a EFI ATV.

[chadly]

You can pull start an efi, it just depends on the setup of the machine. I use to have an Arctic Cat snowmobile that was a battery-less efi. The first pull loads the capicator to run the efi and the second pull starts it. Once it is running the efi worked off the alternator.

One of these days I will disconnect the battery and give it a try.

[chadly]

That is a good idea but the intent was to limit gear. I could always bring my power auger and gas. I thought the idea would be cool becuase you could run a quick disconnect plugin to front or rear of the machine.

[Loogie]

Arctic Cat does have the cool battery-less EFI on their sleds, but I don't believe Polaris has that technology yet on their ATV's.

[McGurk]

I'd think you'd be fine doing what you are asking. If the ATV has elec. start, it has a battery, and therefore some sort of alternator to recharge the battery due to starting duty.

If you are worried about the auger drawing the battery down too low, use the auger only when the ATV is running, and space out the time when drilling to a couple of minutes per hole. The battery on the electric augers is no larger than the ones found on most ATVs, and they claim multiple holes drilled per charge. If you are still worried about battery life on the ice; when you pop a bunch of holes, let the ATV run for 10-15 minutes after the last hole.

[LOGBUILDER]

Chadly I have a rubicon and I run my electric off of it I just let it run like the post before said .The electric is not as fast but good blades and it gets the job done very well .

[NAMASafetyDirector]

First off, EXCELLENT choice on your wheeler! Now to answer your questions. 1) No 2. Yes 3. Yes. 4. Can be done! Just hook it up to your battery with the machine running for best performance. If you don't want to take your seat off every time you can make a set of jumper wires out to an easily accesable place to hook up to your auger. Polaris offers a huge number of accesories that run this way so your auger should be no problem! Enjoy your machine!!

[McGurk]

Hey NAMA (or anyone else in the know), could you elaborate a little on the battery's charging system if there is no alternator? Just want to find out on a personal level. Thanks!