Winch won't work
I spooled out my winch cable today to oil it and rewrap it. When I went to start spooling it in, it wouldn't work. Lessoned learned. I ended up removing the cable till I can get it fixed.
Question is: What's wrong with it? It's a Superwinch LP8500, with a sealed solenoid. When I hit the toggle, it clicks once. After toggling three or four times, it kicks the relay. Does that sound like a bad solenoid or a bad connection to the solenoid?
sounds like a bad solenoid to me, but I am no expert. Hit it with a baseball bat, that'll fix it!!
ok, not really
This is the new one, right Rob? Just return it as defective.
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Chris in Florida
Okay, yeah clean all connections. After you get it fixed we'll have to go out so you can use it again!
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Chris in Florida
Clean the connections. Also, bring up the RPM's a bit. That will bring up the voltage as well as the amps and may be enough power to trigger the solenoids. When I first got my winch on my 4Runner, it would only trigger the solenoids at 2000+ rpms. Turns out, the solenoids were 24v and the winch was 12v. An error at the factory as I bought it new. When the rpm got up high enough, the voltage was enough to trigger the solenoids and power the winch.
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The Lost Boys motto: We don't know where we're going, but we'll be there for awhile. :)
Clean all the connections.
"clean and oil the winch cable" ....What can I say but WOW! I have had winches on ever rig I have had since my first on back in 69 or 70 and I don't think that I have ever cleaned and oiled the cable.....and all the winches got used a lot. If you feel that you are either on a roll with the cleaning and oiling, or simply need more practice, I have both a front and rear winch that you can do it on...
If cleaning the connections doesn't do the trick, check for a voltage drop at the winch: With all the cables attached, put the positive lead of the voltmeter on the winch's positive terminal, negative to the metal of the body. The voltage should be the same as measuring straight across the battery posts. If not, it's possible to have a bad end on the cables. Corrosion can start inside the fitting and build resistance between it and the wire. You could try pulling hard on the cables while holding the button on the controller.
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The Lost Boys motto: We don't know where we're going, but we'll be there for awhile. :)
What Mike said. In addition to that, keep in mind that corrosion can follow up inside the cables, especially where they connect to the battery. The connection could look clean, etc, and still have corrosion up inside the insulation, The only way to see this, especially if the company that made the winch used heat shrink over the cable/connector junction, is to cut away the heat shrink and bend the connection back, aliowing you to see if there is any green funk inside.
Well, I cleaned everything and couldn't find any real corrosion on cables and it still just clicks. I guess I'll replace the solenoid(s)
Will it power in or out or is it not working on either direction? Also, how many solenoids do you have? Are the battery terminals clean?
Battery terminals are clean. Won't power at all, in either direction. Just a click.
Time for some real troubleshooting. Don't throw a dime at this equipment until you know what is wrong. If it still has a warranty, use it.
I did some searching with the model number. Among the ads were posts from people who had trouble with water getting inside the electric motor and causing corrosion. Superwinch.com did not seem to have any comprehensive repair manuals for this model.
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The Lost Boys motto: We don't know where we're going, but we'll be there for awhile. :)
Rob, this might be a dumb question but, do you have a dual battery setup? If so are you sure the battery is charged? Once again sorry for the stupid question but sometimes we overlook the simple things.
I cursed it in the mall parking lot Saturday, sorry. I screwed up and can't remember the counter-curse either. Sucks getting old.
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