RTV 900 Accessory Power

[Franko]

I am looking into getting a snow plow/winch/power turner for my 2005 RTV 900 and would need to get 12 power for the switch and also connect to the battery.
I am sure many have added lights, etc., to their RTVs. Is there a best way to do get accessory power? I found a couple of unused leads under the hood that look like they are there for accessories - they are female bullet connectors. Where can I get some info on what these are for? I could try removing fuses one at a time to find out what circuit they are on, but I thought others may have found this out already. Maybe it is time for a shop manual? Or just run a separate wire with inline fuse down to the battery?

And what is the best way to attach those large wires to the battery? The negative battery lead simply attaches to the frame with a bolt, so I believe it would be easy to remove the bolt and attach additional ring terminals there. The positive lead needs to attach to the battery. and I was thinking of just attaching them under the nut the existing battery post clamp bolt. Maybe that would work on the negative lead, too, if there is clearance.

Thanks for your advice!

Frank

 

[timswi]

You'd probably need to get a service manual to find out how many amps those stray wires are. In my case, I wired directly to the battery with a fuseable link just prior to the battery connection.

 

[SpudHauler]

When I had my 2008 RTV 900, I had added a winch, work lights and interior light. Had a Curtis cab too.

Anyway, I found it easiest to run the winch leads directly to the existing battery mounts and then run one good 12 gauge wire off the positive lead for accessories. It was placed in the area under the emergency brake were I could attach each accessory to it more easily. Kind of a power bar setup with a fuse on each wire attached to it. That way the existing wires were left alone. One of the main frame ground bots for the negative wire is in under here as well and can be used for both the winch ground and accessory grounds. Come to think of it that is what I did, only wires to the battery were the winch positive 6 gauge cable and one heavy duty accessory wire.

If you use a winch to lift and lower a plow, install 6 or 8 feet of winch cable instead of using all 50 feet that comes with the winch. Less binding and mangling of the good cable. And actually you only need about 25 feet on your winch anyway. By the time you do a full pull of 50 feet your battery is almost drained and the winch motor is about to fry.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Franko]

Spudhauler,
That 'accessory power bar' sounds really good. What did you use under the hood to attach the individual accessory wires? I will look around and see if there is any kind of bus bar that would let you insert wires and screw them down, but anyone with a suggestion or link - please chime in.

Thanks all,

Frank

 

[SpudHauler]

My buss bar was extra cheap. Bolt and nut with eye-ring on the end of each wire that attached to it. Think I had a small piece of rubber riveted to something in there and the loose end had the bolt through it just to keep it from flopping around. But a little plastic box or wire wrap on inner tube to insulate the bolt and connections is all you need.

One other thing. When I mount my winch switch, I just used the plug in remote extension and mounted it in the same are near my hand throttle. Kids playing with winch switches on the dash just makes for real tight winch wires or broken ones. Only way to use my winch was to plug in the remote which worked great and avoided little finger problems.