Reverse engineering the Warn winch controller (in-cab controls) (1 Viewer)

[daneo]

Hi everyone. A few months I attempted to run in-cab controls to my Warn winch, but hit some strange snags with the controller signals. I had another go at it recently and made a video about my findings. Hope this helps anyone trying to figure out what's going on with their modern Warn winch.

 

[daneo]

More details are in the video, but here's the abridged version:

Why I wanted in-cab controls:

The strange behavior is that modern warn winches don't use traditional switches inside the remote to control the winch.
The remotes send digital signals that are interpreted on the winch side to make the winch spool.

To get around this, I built an enclosure around the "brain" from the remote so it could live inside the dash, and could "piggyback" the toggle switches onto the brain.

Finished product:

 

[aztoyman]

I don't know much about electronics. Do you think these new controls are to better accommodate wireless control?

The motor is still basically the same I would think. Could someone not as versed in electronics just swap the digital control with an Allbright solenoid and a basic 3 wire control button?

Thanks for taking the time to post up what you found.
Scott in AZ

 

[daneo]

I don't know much about electronics. Do you think these new controls are to better accommodate wireless control?

The motor is still basically the same I would think. Could someone not as versed in electronics just swap the digital control with an Allbright solenoid and a basic 3 wire control button?

Thanks for taking the time to post up what you found.
Scott in AZ

Yeah, there’s probably something to the wireless compatibility. Maybe “we already need a brain in here for wireless compatibility, let’s make the winch less susceptible to chafed wires while we’re at it.”

I have this picture from a few months ago where you can see the small brain box in the foreground and the Allbright contactor in the background. (PS this is what the inside of the control box looks like after spending 30 minutes submerged in a bog hole.)

I bet you could disconnect those wires coming out of the winch “brain” and do an “analog override”. Having the wireless controller for spooling your own winch in under tension is pretty handy though. Not sure I’d give up the wireless capability just for the sake of old school simplicity. But I like your idea in case I’m ever stranded in the Australian outback and need to do a bush fix!

Couldn’t leave it dirty.

 

[daneo]

Just remembered I had this old “brain” sitting on the shelf after taking those pictures. I was in there swapping out the brain as part of the wireless remote recall kit. The four pin connector on the right goes to the wired port for the winch remote. Black grounds to the winch chassis. Green was not connected I believe. Blue and yellow definitely went to the contactor. HTH

 

[ducktapeguy]

Maybe I missed it in your video, but if your winch already has an Albright contractor, couldn't the in cab controls bypass the digital controller and tap into the the blue, yellow, and black spade connectors on the top? Then you’d keep the wireless capabilities and have in cab controls without having to go through another layer of complexity. That’s how I have my winch hooked up, but I’m using the stock manual hand control with a harbor freight wireless receiver hooked up in parallel.

 

[daneo]

Yeah, that’s kinda where the discussion above is heading. Probably the better way for most people, but I haven’t tested it.

One nice side effect for me was being able to use a pre-run wire through the firewall without having to remove my compressor. Probably similar levels of effort to 3d printing an enclosure

 

[daneo]

Guhhh, I might have to do the “analog override” method to get the LEDs on the switch to light up while it’s active. I also want to swap it out for a momentary switch so it wouldn’t get latched on if bumped.

I guess that’s the cool thing about sharing your work on a forum! Thanks for ideas!