Bandlands 12K DOA possible repair?

[cruisermatt]

I just made a big rookie mistake.

I bought a new badlands 12,000 winch on Craigslist, still in original sealed packaging for slightly less then the store price, unboxed and installed on my truck but it is not working. I read this is a common issue, and can just return it to Harbor Freight. But I being a moron didn't ask for the receipt so their is no way of returning it. Is there a way to at least try to get it working? All cables are routed correctly according to the instructions, and I suck at electronics.

Any advice?

 

[LFD2037]

Did you open up the control box and make sure all the wires are tightly connected? If you ran an inline fuse, is the fuse installed?

 

[Bang Bang]

If you don't have a solid connection at both the positive and negative terminals it won't work. Make sure all connections are sungged up tight.

 

[cruisermatt]

I'll check all those, thanks !

 

[Bloomer]

I've been reading up on winches and recall seeing a comment that the instructions for wiring are incorrect. Can't recall specifically, but think it has something to do with the positive and negative cable installation not shown properly in the instructions. I've not purchased one (yet) nor installed one so cannot verify this. I'll link if I can find the post.

 

[Bloomer]

Search Harbor Freight Wiring Question and it should be the first search result from LCTom that discusses the issue with the wiring instructions.

Sorry...can't figure out how to link from my phone.

 

[cruisermatt]

Interesting, I'll have to take a look, I don't remember. I guess at this point it's worth cracking the box open a switching them, it's not like I can return it.

*shrug*

 

[cruisermatt]

I don't remember any discrepancy in the instructions but I'm willing to play around with it at this point. Going to go wire to wire with a meter and see if everything is getting power, the only issue I could see occurring is the solenoid box, is there like a fuse in there I can replace?

 

[ChaseTruck]

I don't remember any discrepancy in the instructions but I'm willing to play around with it at this point. Going to go wire to wire with a meter and see if everything is getting power, the only issue I could see occurring is the solenoid box, is there like a fuse in there I can replace?

No fuse in there. I've used the contactor w/o the box since I didn't find a good place for it. The Superwinch 90-14452 contactor is the alternative. Post below explains how it ought to be.

 

[onlyonedr]

Forget about wire colors for a minute. The wire that connects to the bottom of the motor case is the ground (G). The one at the end of the motor case on top is for the armature (A). The other two are the field terminals (F1 and F2). The power flow either goes from + to F1 out F2 to A then to G to -, or switch F2 and F1 to get reverse rotation. The field and the armature flow the same current from + to -.

 

[cruisermatt]

Turns out I sheared the solenoid box ground (tiny wire) when I was installing on the truck.

Doh!

Winch works great now.

 

[LFD2037]

Thanks for the update & glad you got it fixed!

 

[Bloomer]

Keep us updated on how the Bandlands winch works for you.