Hello hive,

I just moved from my Can Am Commander to the XP4. We needed more seats for the grands. Love the new machine.

I usually left my Commander with a battery tender plugged in via clips during the winter months where it might be a month or so with no usage. Is there a need for my General to be "plugged in" when not in use for a prolonged period of time? If so, is there a recommended product? Hard-wire or through the power-point in the dash?

Thanks ahead.

 

Over various machines, I've had all 3... from hardwired, to battery clips... to just putting on a battery disconnect. My sons atv has a remote activated harbor freight winch and its always "on" listening for a signal. That would drain it pretty quick, so we tried a simple battery disconnect for motorcycle type batteries and it works fine. And cheap.

Simply tighten the twist nut to "connect" power, back it off to "disconnect". Works good if you have easy access to a battery:

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But... the generals battery is under the seat, with a cover over it so thats a PITA if you need to use the machine very often. I'd run a quick connect through the bus bar under the hood with the plug coming out the grill or something simple.

-DallanC

 

Where do you suggest tapping into the Pulse Bar?

 

There's 3 wires there for the pulse bar connectors. Keyed, always hot and ground. Just connect to ground and always hot. IIRC, yellow is always hot.

I'm still new to generals myself, but I've added a few things to the pulse bar (bumper light bar, rear lights and I just got LED whips today from Amazon I'll be hooking up as soon as I finish the mounts.

-DallanC

 

Mounted behind the driver's seat, connected directly to the battery terminals.

 

I keep everything except my daily drivers on battery tenders. I have them hard wired to the battery so it only takes a few seconds to connect.

 

I use a Battery Tender JR on my stuff.

Have hard wired pigtail that sticks up into drivers compartment and just need to reach in the gap between the upper and lower seat to grab it and plug it into the wall.

 

I hooked an SAE plug adapter directly to the battery and have it mounted in front of the driver's seat.

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If you want to leave it plugged in all of the time, I would recommend using a computerized battery maintainer like the NOCO Genius that @Renob4x4 is using. They have selectable battery settings (lead-acid, AGM or LIfePo) plus they have a desulfate mode. (BTW the NOCO has a proprietary connector and requires an adapter to connect to an SAE plug)

Amazon.com

 

Definitely use a battery tender and one with a Desulfator

 

I use a NOCO Genius 2x4. I can tend all cars, UTV, and ATVs. For the cars I use NOCO terminal clamps. For the general, there is a NOCO cigarette lighter adapter you can purchase. It is super easy to plug into the cigarette lighter. For my ATVs, I purchased a NOCO connector that I leave screwed to the battery terminals under the seats. The NOCO can charge lead acid, AGM, lithium and 6 volt. You have to press a button the first time to select the battery type. But once it's selected, it remembers your choice each time you charge. This charger has worked great for me. I highly recommend.

NOCO - 4 Bank 8A Smart Battery Charger - GENIUS2X4

 

So what about this ? Is this what I need?

 

Those work great, can mount under hood and wire to the main feed to bus bar or wire direct to battery. Mine is wired to main feed at bus bar and works great.

 

Does the tender need to be 2amps like Polaris recommends or will a 5amp be okay for these batteries?

 

Once a battery is "topped off", it only takes milliamps to "maintain" it. 2 vs 5 amps only affects charge time when it's been depleted. Lead Acid shouldn't be charged at high amperage as it will "boil off" the acid. Some chargers have a high amp boost mode to be used for a very short time to jump start a vehicle.

A 5amp charger / maintainer is fine if the unit has circuitry to detect when the battery is full and shift to maintain mode.

-DallanC

 

I have been using these with really good results. Since the General manual says it can be charged through the cigarette port, I just got an adapter for that.

12V Automatic Battery Trickle Charger Maintainer for Car Truck Motor

MICTUNING battery float charger is perfectly designed to suit for ALL 6V and 12V lead acid batteries (WET, MF, AGM and GEL). It allows you to charge the battery of your car, lawn mower, motorcycles, ATV, UTVs and others with the power coming from your electrical outlet or inside your house, very...

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What I’m running

 

Onboard is the way to go.