What can cuase a Winch to turn on by itself ? (1 Viewer)

[toyofan]

Hi

I have a old Warn 9.5XP winch. If anything the biggest issues I've had with it are due to lack of use.

In any case, everything seemed to be fine and one day the Winch just came on by itself while the LC was in a parking lot completely turned off. The clutch was engaged and the steel cable snapped right at the hook connection and I found it just spinning. Only way to turn it off was by disconnecting the main cables from the battery

I do have the Slee remote control box wired to an Antenna switch in the cabin, but I actually have a kill switch on that to prevent inadvertent activation of the winch.

After I disconnected the battery and after a while when everything cooled off I connected the winch to the battery again and nothing happened, and functions normally both with the cabin switch and winch controller

What could cause the Winch to turn on by itself ? and then kinda magically not do display any issues ???

Thanks !

 

[iptman]

You should repost this (or ask the Mods to move it) in the Winching and Recovery sub. There's a few guys from Warn who often post up to help folks out. My guess is a lose wire in the control box. Take the control pack off and make sure nothing is loose or corroded.

 

[MoJ]

Do you have it mounted feet forward such as required on an ARB bumper? If so, did you clock the housing so that the drain plug is oriented to keep water out? Just a guess.

 

[toyofan]

Do you have it mounted feet forward such as required on an ARB bumper? If so, did you clock the housing so that the drain plug is oriented to keep water out? Just a guess.

Do you have it mounted feet forward such as required on an ARB bumper? If so, did you clock the housing so that the drain plug is oriented to keep water out? Just a guess.

I learned that one the hard way years ago. As of today yes and yes. Mounted feet forward, and drain hole in the right place

 

[Pin_Head]

Somebody hotwired it just to cause you some pain.

 

[toyofan]

Somebody hotwired it just to cause you some pain.

ha ! possible, I went to double check a paper click on the controller or something, but I don't see any obvious evidence of sabotage

Also as I was double checking it started again by itself. It is an intermittent issue, so I guess the problem is with the solenoid or the slee remote controller box.

 

[Tools R Us]

Have seen wiring or solenoid problems cause that. We leave the big power wire disconnected, only connect when needed, prevents this problem and reduces the chance of people messing with it.

 

[Pin_Head]

OK.
Chances are that one of the solenoids is stuck and the other one intermittent. Replace the solenoids with an Albright type DC88P contactor that is fail safe for a stuck solenoid.

 

[bigredmachine]

ghosts maybe

id start by removing the slee box and seeing if it happens again. I would think that you should also be able to check for continuity across the solenoid to see if its sticking

 

[toyofan]

I finally was able to troubleshoot this. As suggested first thing I did was to check the slee remote control box, and I found it melted on one side. I removed it and upon further inspection humidity was trapped inside which shorted the board and caused the failure.

After removing the box everything works fine !. Now to repair the winch cable ( I wonder where I can get the sleeve crimped ?)

Also wondering about getting another slee box... I like the in cab controls - I guess if I do I'll run cables to the inside of the vehicle and keep the box out of the elements

Thanks ya'll !

 

[Rifleman]

We leave the big power wire disconnected, only connect when needed, prevents this problem and reduces the chance of people messing with it.

I leave the big battery cable disconnected too, my reason for doing that is the potential for fire. If you get into a front end collision that causes the winch solenoids, or battery cable to short out, that could cause a fire. Even with a fire extinguisher, if you have a dead short like that, your not putting that fire out until you remove the power source of ignition.