I had the pleasure of re-wiring my friends 2001 HO about a month ago. He wanted me to bypass the overide, install a grip and thumb warmer and finally a horn. I am fairly new to this forum so what I am going to write may have already been said. I have seen a few posts on this topic that require a diode or a relay or when the wiring is done in some other fashion, some of the lights do not function as they should.

I have been doing these mods since 94 on the 3 polaris machines that I have owned and about 10 other polarises that belong to friends. Nobody has hade any trouble whatsoever. Yes everything works as if it were stock (even the reverse light and awd light)No you do not need a diode or relay or any other electrical component. All you need is some electrical tape and a 6" piece of wire and a few crimp style connectors.

Open the hood of your machine and on the upper right hand side you will find the wires that I will refer to.

Locate and cut the grey/orange stripe wire which goes from the over ride button to the speedo. Tape off the cut ends as these will no longer be used. You have just bypassed the reverse rev-limiter.

Locate the three purple wires that terminate with a female spade type connector. (this connector is not connected to anything and will be just hanging there waiting for somebody to connect a reverse light to it) Of the three purle wires, find the one that goes to the overide button and cut it off as close to the spade connection as possible.

Locate the grey/white stripe wire and splice a 6" piece of wire to it with a male spade connector crimped to the other end. ( make sure your splice is well insulated as there will be power through it)

Locate the red/white stripe wire (ignition activated power) which ends with a female spade connector. ( this connector is not connected to anything and is just hanging there waiting for somebody to connect an accessory to it )Take the 6" male connector on the wire you just installed and plug it in to the red/white stripe female connector.

Congratulations you have just bypassed the reverse AWD overide.

If you want to hook up a backup light ( that functions when the bike is put in reverse ) simply connect the positive lead of your backup light to the purple lead with the female connector on it that is waiting for a backup light. Then ground the negatve light lead to a brown wire ( ground ) or frame of the bike

If you want to install an accessory that requires a momentary power on switch (horn) simply connect its positve lead to purple lead that you had previously cut off and its negative lead to a brown wire or frame of the bike. If you do not connect the purple lead to any thing make sure you tape it up as there will be power coming through if you push the overide button.

I have read on an other post that you need a relay to install a grip or thumb warmer. This is not true. A heated grip only draws only 15 watts on the max setting and a thumb warmer only 5 watts. Even the two combined will not draw more power than your brake light.

Enjoy the mods

PS I know that polaris installs the reverse rev-limiter for saftey reasons but can anybody out there tell me why they install the reverse AWD lockout ???

Thanks

The instructions given above apply to a 2001 sportsman HO. Other polarisis are generally the same but may vary slightly.
******* CAUTION *******
By bypassing the reverse rev-limiter your bike will now be capable of going the same top speed in reverse as it does in forward. You may even be able to pass scramblered!!!!!!!!!!

 

Your caution is hardly necessary, with reverse geared as low as it is attaining the same top speed backward as forward would be a good trick. Simply “patching” the hot grips and thumb warmer into an existing switched circuit may work on paper but in reality the heat generated by these accessories DOUBLES when power is drawn directly from the battery, preferably though an ignition switched relay. I’ve tried it both ways.

Maybe I’ll try your override technique on my next bike. For now the diode mod has worked flawlessly on my last four machines.

 

Floodrunner

I have been to your website and really enjoyed the pics. Thanks for the profesional and informative right-ups that you have posted.

PS If the grips and thumbwarmer require a relay, why do the kits not have one and why is there no mention of it on the instruction sheet. As mentioned above I have done this to several quads and have no overheating wires or any other problems. If your talking about the grips generating double their heat output when connected directly to the battery then the switched ignition wire to which you connected must have been already overloaded and therefor could not supply enough current to heat them properly. I use the "Hot grips" brand ( which I highly recommend ) on my 99 400 Xplorer and I cannot ride more than 15-20 mins in the dead of winter on the high setting without starting to feel uncomfortably warm. I have also tried the tape style ones but have found that there heat output is poor.

Snowride

 

Thanks for your kind praise on my web pages. I’d have to agree with you, neither the thumb warmer or the Hot Grips come with a relay. And you’re probably right about the circuit I tapped into already being used to its full potential. When I was disappointed with the heat output of both the grips and the thumb warmer I tested them with a direct connection to the battery and found a BIG difference. That’s when I decided to wire them through a fused relay. This may not be necessary but to me it just “feels” like the more correct way to do it. This way the wiring is fused and isolated and not overtaxing anything else.

Are you using a DPDT switch to turn on the grips and the thumb at the same time? We like that a lot better than two switches. Right now I’m experimenting with resistors for the grips. The 2.4 ohm resistor it comes with leaves low a little too low for us. A 1 ohm leaves low a little too high. Gonna try a 1.5 ohm next.

I’ve been thinking about your override override method and it occurs to me that the wiring harness on CA bikes may differ from our US machines. I’d have to “pop the hood” to check for sure but some of the wiring you describe seems unfamiliar to me.

 

FloodRunner

I have tried the DPDT setup but found that I prefer the ability to adjust them seperately as required. Don't forget I ride in temperatures down to 35(C) below.

PS. If you want to take easy but more expensive route, go to www.hotgrips.com, they now offer an adjustable resistor type control. They even have mounting deminsions for it.

Snowride

 

I would like to mention one more thing. regarding any accessories that are added to a quad. Most doityourselfers and even The dealers have a tendancy of making rather poor or not well insulated connections/splices. Therefor it would be wise to install an inline fuse with each accessory added. If you do not know which size of fuze to install, a 10amp this will most likely cover any and all items installed. Without the fuse, if your connection/splice comes apart or shorts out you may possibly do some serious damage to your electrical system.

Snowride

 

I checked out the variable control, thanks for the info. While it’s tempting to have “infinite” control by turning the ****, when I think about our practical usage and how much we like the simplicity of the single switch for high and low for both accessories, I think I’ll keep playing with resistors.

The coldest temps we ride in are in the –10F range. After having the Hot Grips and thumb warmers for a season there’s no way we’d be without them. They’ll not only keep your hands warm but they’ll warm up your cold hands, even if they’re soaking wet. I consider them essential winter riding gear.