In-Cab Winch Control Install
(Superwinch EPi 9.0)
(Superwinch EPi 9.0)
For Christmas I got an in-cab winch control panel. I have been intimidated because installing it meant that I had to partially disassemble my new(ish) winch that works perfectly, and jack around with the internal wiring. I had the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality.
Also - as far as I know, nobody else has installed one of these things on a Superwinch. I e-mailed Superwinch a few weeks ago, and asked what they thought. The response I got from their customer service rep said that it should be an easy install, and that is won't effect my winch's warranty.
Yesterday I got a wild hair across my butt, and decided to go do it!
The In-Cab winch controller that I got was the one available from Roadless Gear, LLC
Their Dash Mounted Winch Control[/url] is available in Red or Black.
I got the black:
The unit is very sturdy and the wiring harness is very beefy, and tough. All the wiring is 12 gauge, and the 3 wires that connect to the winch are enclosed in a heady-duty orange extension cord-type of cover.
If you have a Warn, MileMarker, Chicago Electric, Ramsey, Smittybuilt, or T-Max, the instructions will cover you. Superwinch has a different type of solenoid, and the instructions do not cover Superwinch.
The instructions say that of the 3 wires that go to the winch (GREEN, BLACK, & WHITE), that the GREEN goes to the Winch's ground, Black goes to Power-In, White goes to Power-Out.
A little on-line searching, and I found a Superwinch wiring diagram:
This wiring diagram indicates that on the Superwinch:
RED = Power
BLACK = Ground
BLUE = Motor Control
YELLOW = Motor Control
So for the controller - you don't need the winch's power wire (RED). GREEN goes to ground, and you have a 50/50 shot at getting the In/Out (BLUE / YELLOW) right.
So - I opened up the winch, stripped away a very small piece of the BLACK, BLUE, and YELLOW insulation so I could do an op test. I got it backward the first time, but that meant that:
CNTRL -TO- WINCH
GREEN -to- BLACK
BLACK -to- BLUE
WHITE -to- YELLOW
Now that I had everything figured out, I had to mount the switch, and run the wires.
I had to select where I wanted to mount the switch, so I ripped off Scott Brady, and mounted the switch in the dash - between the glove box, and the passenger air bag.
This required drilling a 1" round hole, and cutting a square 1" x 1.25" (dead center to dead center = 1 11/16")
Next I ran the wires out through the firewall. Ran the switch's power wires to the battery, and ran the control wires to the winch. I had to drill a hole in the side of the winch solenoid housing, so I could tap the neccessary wires.
Since the Roadless wiring harness is all 12 gauge wiring, and all of the winch's control wires are 16 gauge, I reduced the Roadless wires down to 16 gauge for a cleaner connection.
I made the 3 connections, op-tested the control, sealed the hole with RTV, and put the winch back together - BUT I FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE WIRES CONNECTED BEFORE I PUT THE WINCH BACK TOGETHER!
So the last thing I had to do, was connect the power wires to the battery (I had just been touching them to the battery for the op-tests), and secure all the wiring with zip-ties, and screw the switch panel into place. ...and double check to make sure that the Winch's handheld remote contol still worked!
It ended up being a very nice, and pretty easy install. It took me about 2 hours to complete, and I'm VERY HAPPY with the outcome!
