Warn 8274 stopped working

[Rye356B]

My winch is only 2 years old and has seen minimal use. Recently I was pulling my son out of some mud in his street car, teenagers ya know, and everything was working great and then it just stopped with about 20 feet of cable still out. When flipping the switch for in or out we can hear the solenoid clicking, but no movement. I've disengaged the gears to the motor so it can spin freely, no luck. We've popped the front cover off the wiring and using a test light and we're a bit baffled as we get power to both terminals on the motor marked F1 & F2, both at the same time, both in or out, which makes no sense to us. We disconnected the cable from the terminal to the solenoid and then only one side would light up at a time, which is what we expected before. While our original thought was some sort of solenoid problem, we're not thinking it could be something wrong in the motor which is connecting the circuit which is why we're getting power to both terminals at the same time when flipping the switch for in or out. That's the best I can do to describe the problem. Any suggestions or questions? Thanks, Rye

 

[Pin_Head]

Since F1 and F2 are the two ends of the field coil, they are connected, so it isn't surprising that both are hot at the same time. The question with whether there is power flowing. Power is amps times volts. Chances are that there is no current flowing because of a bad contact and the possibilities are a bad solenoid contact or bad motor brushes. You could try hot wiring the motor directly bypassing the solenoid pack to rule out a problem with the brushes. Look up the schematic diagram to see how to connect the field and armature windings in series to hot wire it.

 

[Rye356B]

Thanks

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try to find the schematic online as well. I'll let you know what happens.

 

[CruisinGA]

Here is a topview of the 8274. Hook up the terminals as shown to bypass solenoid pack. Swap terminals A and B to change direction.

Try this and let us know what happens.

 

[flintknapper]

Here is a topview of the 8274. Hook up the terminals as shown to bypass solenoid pack. Swap terminals A and B to change direction.

Try this and let us know what happens.

There's your answer folks.

Always troubleshoot the 8274 from the motor back (not the other way around).

This will establish that the motor is good.

From what has been described, I would say bad contacts or connections.

If the motor proves good, look at all connections next. Make sure the connection to the battery is clean and tight and check the ground at the winch motor.

I like to ground the winch directly to the battery as well.

If all connections are good (clean and tight) then start looking at the solenoids.

 

[Blue77FJ40]

If it is your solenoids, now would be a good time to install the albright contactor, as it replaces all the solenoids. I haven't personally installed one, but from what I've read, it's far more reliable than solenoids.

 

[Poser]

If it is your solenoids, now would be a good time to install the albright contactor, as it replaces all the solenoids. I haven't personally installed one, but from what I've read, it's far more reliable than solenoids.

Link to specifics on this?

 

[JasonR]

Verify a good ground. Its always the ground.....or it seems so.