For those of you who are thinking of installing a front light on your Polaris Predator 90 (or the hood of another mini-Quad), here's some info that may help....
To obtain pictures how I installed a single light on our '03 Pred-90, surf: http://community.webshots.com/album/108721767bxjIIF
* If wondering, click on the little pictures and they will become much larger.
For our single light, I installed it within the center of our hood (ontop of the red plastic area). To create more support for the light, I also created a customized support bracket. This steel bracket is 1" wide, approx. 6" long and is bent into a straight angle upside down "U" shape. With this support bracket, it distributes the weight of the light (and its bouncing weight) onto its main hood. If you want, I can take / post more pictures of this bracket - if you need them. The light I used was a 12v-55 Watt clear lens automotive driving light.
I then replaced the H3-55 watt bulb with "hard to find" H3-35 watt bulb. To obtain 35 watt bulbs, surf: http://www.abllights.com/Bulbs/Bulbs.htm I'm sure if you do a www.yahoo.com search for "H3 35 watt bulb" you'll find lots of other sites that sell them. Note: The Pred-90's Strator system generates 70 Watt output. Therefore, its electrical system will support up to 35-Watt bulb and still have extra output to charge its battery.
The automotive clear lens driving light that I used was only $28.00. Its made of black plastic and has a cheap lens. For this specific automotive auxillary light on a vehicle, I would NOT recommend them. One high-speed rock or ice chunk and they would fall apart. For mini-Quads and slow speed driving units (like lawn tractors, etc.) this brand of cheap plastic driving light works great. If my son rolls his unit and it breaks the front plastic light, there's only minimum financial loss. I just install its second driving auxillary light on his hood. In our area, a good quality clear lens driving auxillary lights are as high as $140.00 / set. Way too much money for an low speed moving unit like a mini-quad.
For its light switch, we removed its oil injection LED (in the center of its dashboard) and installed a 12V rotation type switch. I then ran the wire directly back to its battery area, installed an inline fuse and only used a 4" long wire before it connects onto its battery. Since we fill its Injection Oil tank every time we go out, and its Injection Oil tank can support 4 or 5 tanks of gas, there's zero chance we'll ever use the Oil Injection LED. It's dashboard hole is more useful for its rotating light switch.
If I had to install another light on the Pred-90, I'd still install a single light on its hood or handle bar area. Originally, I thought about installing lights within its front shock holes (like some people do) but my local Honda dealer told me it's a bad idea. Why??? Being so close to the front tires, the lights would always be covered in mud. Also, the lights in the shock area would often get hit with stones, sticks, ice chunks and always be under large amounts of vibration. Being in the shock holes, there is little anti-vibration protection. The bulbs inside the light assembly will always be severely shaken around. Hence, shorter life of the bulb. From a lighting perspective, its better to mount one's main driving lights higher. With low mounted lights, they can cut through thick fog much better. Lower mounted lights also skims across the flat ground. With high mounted lights, the light beam shines downward. This downward light shows depths of pot holes and around corners much better. Installing a light on the top of the hood or handle bar area is much better to see with.
If I had to do it again, I would NOT use an automotive clear lens driving light again. By the time I purchased the $28.00 light set, its rotating switch, 12V wiring, inline fuse and 35 watt replacement bulb, I could have purchased the ATV kit for the same price (and less hassle). Some ATV Light Kits comes with 35 Watt bulbs, switch, etc. and its lights are not the typical "light house beam focus" like many automotive clear lens fog lights. ATV classified lights have a much better light spread. This spread is much better for going around corners at night. Next time on a Pred-90 unit, I would use the bundled kit as shown within: http://www.driving-lights.com/atv_light_kit.html
To obtain a better understanding of light beams within normal pencil "driving" lights, auxillary driving lights and fog lights, surf: http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/Volvo_Books/elec4.html See its picture 1/3 down the page.
For pictures of other sites with mini-Quad light info, surf:
http://www.lt80lightkit.com/
http://www.xtreme-4x4.com/ATV_Lights.htm
http://www.jcwhitney.com/product.jhtml?CATID=376590&BQ=atv
http://www.driving-lights.com/atv_light_kit.html
http://www.rickystator.com/pages/Lighting%20systems.html
If you want to install a light near the top of your unit's hood but don't want to drill holes into its plastic, you may be able to ask your local welder / steel fabrication guy to create a customized handle bar BASE plate. With this plate, you can then install the light and have it "turn" into the corners. For a visual on the LT80, surf:
http://www.lt80lightkit.com/Frontlightclose.html
Billy Holt @ WRH_Racing http://www.atv-kids.com wrote me once stating that a front light assembly off an Extreme 100 unit could also work. This is an ATV classified light and can bolt directly onto the handlebar assembly (or something like that). Well worth investigating this option further as well.
Hope this helps others....
.
To obtain pictures how I installed a single light on our '03 Pred-90, surf: http://community.webshots.com/album/108721767bxjIIF
* If wondering, click on the little pictures and they will become much larger.
For our single light, I installed it within the center of our hood (ontop of the red plastic area). To create more support for the light, I also created a customized support bracket. This steel bracket is 1" wide, approx. 6" long and is bent into a straight angle upside down "U" shape. With this support bracket, it distributes the weight of the light (and its bouncing weight) onto its main hood. If you want, I can take / post more pictures of this bracket - if you need them. The light I used was a 12v-55 Watt clear lens automotive driving light.
I then replaced the H3-55 watt bulb with "hard to find" H3-35 watt bulb. To obtain 35 watt bulbs, surf: http://www.abllights.com/Bulbs/Bulbs.htm I'm sure if you do a www.yahoo.com search for "H3 35 watt bulb" you'll find lots of other sites that sell them. Note: The Pred-90's Strator system generates 70 Watt output. Therefore, its electrical system will support up to 35-Watt bulb and still have extra output to charge its battery.
The automotive clear lens driving light that I used was only $28.00. Its made of black plastic and has a cheap lens. For this specific automotive auxillary light on a vehicle, I would NOT recommend them. One high-speed rock or ice chunk and they would fall apart. For mini-Quads and slow speed driving units (like lawn tractors, etc.) this brand of cheap plastic driving light works great. If my son rolls his unit and it breaks the front plastic light, there's only minimum financial loss. I just install its second driving auxillary light on his hood. In our area, a good quality clear lens driving auxillary lights are as high as $140.00 / set. Way too much money for an low speed moving unit like a mini-quad.
For its light switch, we removed its oil injection LED (in the center of its dashboard) and installed a 12V rotation type switch. I then ran the wire directly back to its battery area, installed an inline fuse and only used a 4" long wire before it connects onto its battery. Since we fill its Injection Oil tank every time we go out, and its Injection Oil tank can support 4 or 5 tanks of gas, there's zero chance we'll ever use the Oil Injection LED. It's dashboard hole is more useful for its rotating light switch.
If I had to install another light on the Pred-90, I'd still install a single light on its hood or handle bar area. Originally, I thought about installing lights within its front shock holes (like some people do) but my local Honda dealer told me it's a bad idea. Why??? Being so close to the front tires, the lights would always be covered in mud. Also, the lights in the shock area would often get hit with stones, sticks, ice chunks and always be under large amounts of vibration. Being in the shock holes, there is little anti-vibration protection. The bulbs inside the light assembly will always be severely shaken around. Hence, shorter life of the bulb. From a lighting perspective, its better to mount one's main driving lights higher. With low mounted lights, they can cut through thick fog much better. Lower mounted lights also skims across the flat ground. With high mounted lights, the light beam shines downward. This downward light shows depths of pot holes and around corners much better. Installing a light on the top of the hood or handle bar area is much better to see with.
If I had to do it again, I would NOT use an automotive clear lens driving light again. By the time I purchased the $28.00 light set, its rotating switch, 12V wiring, inline fuse and 35 watt replacement bulb, I could have purchased the ATV kit for the same price (and less hassle). Some ATV Light Kits comes with 35 Watt bulbs, switch, etc. and its lights are not the typical "light house beam focus" like many automotive clear lens fog lights. ATV classified lights have a much better light spread. This spread is much better for going around corners at night. Next time on a Pred-90 unit, I would use the bundled kit as shown within: http://www.driving-lights.com/atv_light_kit.html
To obtain a better understanding of light beams within normal pencil "driving" lights, auxillary driving lights and fog lights, surf: http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/Volvo_Books/elec4.html See its picture 1/3 down the page.
For pictures of other sites with mini-Quad light info, surf:
http://www.lt80lightkit.com/
http://www.xtreme-4x4.com/ATV_Lights.htm
http://www.jcwhitney.com/product.jhtml?CATID=376590&BQ=atv
http://www.driving-lights.com/atv_light_kit.html
http://www.rickystator.com/pages/Lighting%20systems.html
If you want to install a light near the top of your unit's hood but don't want to drill holes into its plastic, you may be able to ask your local welder / steel fabrication guy to create a customized handle bar BASE plate. With this plate, you can then install the light and have it "turn" into the corners. For a visual on the LT80, surf:
http://www.lt80lightkit.com/Frontlightclose.html
Billy Holt @ WRH_Racing http://www.atv-kids.com wrote me once stating that a front light assembly off an Extreme 100 unit could also work. This is an ATV classified light and can bolt directly onto the handlebar assembly (or something like that). Well worth investigating this option further as well.
Hope this helps others....
.
