Winch problems - NF

[icefisherman]

Own 2010 Yamaha Grizzly that came with SuperWinch LT2500ATV on it.,

Rarely need it but when I did need it winch worked fine. Until couple days ago.

Worked in the morning...went fishing...came back not working....

Troubleshooted it by disconnected the winch and connecting via jump cables directly to battery. Works fine. So it is not the winch itself. Only 3 components in the system: winch, contactor/solenoid and handlebar switch.

Switch seems to work fine as when pressed makes the contactor clicking.

So I ordered from Amzon this replacement contactor:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0027UPPK6?tag=vglnk-ca-c762-20

 

Installed it. Same problem, all I get is clicking and no movement of the steel cable.

Did some testing with volt meter....seem to be getting +12 or -12 when switch is pressed at the solenoid but then things fall apart and no much happening at the winch...

Very much puzzled and not sure what else to do....should have been very simple straight forward replacement but it is not. 

Reusing all existing cable....have too many things mounted on top of front rack so pain in the butt to remove everything to get under the hood. 

Original contactor was Wnr 62135. The one I bought is 3rd paty replacement for it made by KFI.

Could it be the brand new contactor is also bad?

Cheers,

Ice Fisherman

[Fisherman]

Ok, power at the solenoid when the switch is pressed for either in or out,   When your voltmeter is connected to the yellow and blue, you get either +12V  or -12V when you press the switch in or out.  Is that happening?  And you tested the winch by bypassing with booster cables, so it's not the winch.  Maybe a bad/loose connector on the 2 wires from the solenoid to the winch,  that's the only thing left in my book.   One more thing to watch are "ghost" voltages,  it may show you 12V but as soon as you put a load on it, there's no current behind it, and nothing will work.

Extra brainfart, just for the sake of doing it, use the booster cables between the winch and the solenoid to see if it works.

Edited February 27, 2018 by Fisherman

[smitty55]

Don't just check for voltage, do a continuity check as well. Resistance should be under 1 ohm. Hook up your leads to get a reading then wiggle wires around looking for any changes. Check the handle bar switch first then work from there down the line.  Good luck.

[icefisherman]

Where I got +12V and -12V was when measuring with voltmeter between the black 6 gauge wire coming to the solenoid and the blue wire going from solenoid to winch....vs. the black 6 gauge wire coming to the solenoid and the yellow wire going to the winch. 

Last night one of the tests I did was connecting booster cables to the yellow and blue wire (disconnected from the solenoid but still connected to the winch). And the winch worked fine meaning the short yellow and blue wires are fine.

As for handlebar switch...if I hit the IN or Out on the switch and this makes the solenoid click I thought it guarantees the switch is fine. No?

 

Cheers,

Ice Fisherman

Edited February 27, 2018 by icefisherman

[Fisherman]

I would like to see +12v and -12V when you attach the voltmeter wires, red one to the blue nut and black one to the yellow nut at the solenoid, ATV running, switch in both in and out.    There's a possibility that the switch is activating the solenoid, you say it clicks but the contacts inside the solenoid may be bad.  Too bad you're down in the city or I would come by. 

[misfish]

You will have now til next ice season, to work on it. Your not getting out there again this year. Hope you had a great season Emil. Wondering why we have not heard from you. LOL

 

Hope you get it fixed up.

 

 

[icefisherman]

 

5 hours ago, Fisherman said:

I would like to see +12v and -12V when you attach the voltmeter wires, red one to the blue nut and black one to the yellow nut at the solenoid, ATV running, switch in both in and out.    There's a possibility that the switch is activating the solenoid, you say it clicks but the contacts inside the solenoid may be bad.  Too bad you're down in the city or I would come by. 

OK, 

 

managed to sort it out...for the benefit of others in similar situation:

I have a lot of additional attachments mounted on top of front rack, therefore very hard to get to under the hood. As a result I was not looking in there. After running into a dead end I decided to remove everything and open the under the hood area. What made me do it was the fact that when measuring the voltage at the solenoid I was getting 12V but when connecting the red and black cable before they reach the solenoid directly to the winch bypassing the solenoid I couldn't get the winch to run. But it was running fine when powered from my boat battery.

What I discovered is the red cable was a bit lose at the battery terminal....it was still showing 12V when ,measuring at the opposite end but due to been lose the draw was not enough to power the winch. Tighten it and bammmm....all worked fine....

All pissed off on myself for wasting few days for nothing, started putting things together and made a mistake of over-tightening the nuts ans stripped one thread and sheered another..... there goes the new solenoid in the garbage...back to the old one....sure enough now that red cable was tight the old one worked too....getting dark, cold and tried only stripped part of one thread...made it work using the bottom nut....hope after tightening it it is now sealed enough against elements. 

Anyhow....too tired to mess with it any more so tomorrow will mount the winch back in and close the hood area and hope it last for a while. If it does't will buy another solenoid and replace it ....hopefully remembering not to tight too much ;-)

 

Thanks for all the advice....yoyu've helped me with electrical questions in the past. Appreciate it!

5 hours ago, misfish said:

You will have now til next ice season, to work on it. Your not getting out there again this year. Hope you had a great season Emil. Wondering why we have not heard from you. LOL

 

Hope you get it fixed up.

 

 

Wellm you've been catching all the whities on Simcoe, not leaving any for me ;-)

 

Cheers,

Ice Fisherman

[Fisherman]

2 minutes ago, icefisherman said:

 

 

What I discovered is the red cable was a bit lose at the battery terminal....it was still showing 12V when ,measuring at the opposite end but due to been lose the draw was not enough to power the winch. Tighten it and bammmm....all worked fine....

Thanks for all the advice....yoyu've helped me with electrical questions in the past. Appreciate it!

Cheers,

Ice Fisherman

Well there you go, loose connector, that's the "ghost" voltage I was talking about, enough to show on the meter but not enough to run any load.  Glad all worked out for you.