I just got done talking with a buddy of mine who collected a Jeep with a seriously nice winch on it - but the jack about it was he could only get it to roll up, not unwind.

The first funny thing about it was that there was only one relay ( a device for handling a large amount of current). There was a six connector switch, that could easily have controlled four relays - but the whole business was just plain wired wrong.

I found that one of the wires coming from the winch motor itself was hardwired to ground, and if that was the case there was absolutely no way that the voltage could be reversed through the winch motor.

*NOTE: A "MOTOR" is an electrical device. An "ENGINE" is a chemical device


Over the next couple of days, I want to create a walkthrough that explains how winch controls should be wired, WHY relays are used, and how you can make your own with a few simple and easy to get electrical switches and relays.

 

Great idea. I talk until I'm blue in the face on how a relay works to my customers.
Anymore, I just say, "yup, I can make it wok, come back later and pick it up"

 

The SWITCHES drive the RELAYS.

The reason for this is because no switch ever made is built to handle that much CURRENT going through it. You have to have a switch CONTROLLING a relay (or a pair of them, in this case) so that you can deliver what the motor needs, and draws.

The switch activates a relay, and it is the RELAY that handles all of the power draw, much like a starter motor. ~Which is again, an electric device.

THINK ABOUT STARTER SOLENOIDS

A starter solenoid takes every bit of amperage from the battery to crank your engine, all at once

Think about 800 amps going into a starter motor, the current draw that that is, and understand that a "RELAY" does it.

The same is true of a winch motor.
~It pulls a LOT!!!
* I have to explain this one stage at a time so that you can understand it completely

Given that a simple switch cannot handle the amount of POWER (current times voltage) because it would FRY it - you have to have something else to do the job.

And those things are called "RELAYS"

~ For your starter motor, it is called a "SOLENOID", but it is much the same thing.

NOW-
What a winch "CONTROLLER" has to do, is reverse the flow of DC current through the motor.
But it also has to control a huge amount of current

To do this, it has to have four relays

THOSE FOUR RELAYS have to be controlled by a multi contact switch

You CANNOT use a single switch to drive a winch - because it draws too much power. It would burn the switch out instantly. No switch ever made can handle it, and that is why relays are used

So the switches drive the RELAYS that run the motor

 

* I'm waiting for a new USB cable to find out if my camera is dead or alive

 

When I bought my latest tow truck the wiring was a complete mess, so I rewired the whole thing. The PO had wires just wrapped together, bad grounds and NO RELAYS. These pics show how I made a relay box and used starter relays to control all the lighting, etc. Much better now! #ad
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According to Amazon - my new USB cable should be here tomorrow.

 

Get ready for some heavy, but straight forward explanations.
In dealing with a DC winch motor, the current has to be applied to the motor in opposite directions to make it turn in one direction, and also the opposite direction.

Pairs of relays are used for this, because the negative side and the positive side both use high current draws. Each pair of relays applies a ground, and +12VDC to the motor, but one pair applies it in one direction, the other the opposite.

The reason why, is that both the positive and the ground have to SHUT OFF before power can be applied in the other direction or polarity. This is why there have to be two pairs.

DC motors have two terminals, and are not (in this case) grounded through the body or casting of the motor, they are not like starter motors in this regard. A starter motor is grounded through the casing, because a starter motor is only ever turned in one direction.

A relay is a device that can be "TURNED ON" with a relatively small amount of current. The contacts of the relay deliver a LARGE amount of current.

If you break down a relay, you find an electric magnet inside that pulls a set of electrical contacts together. The electric magnet is what draws the smaller voltage and or current, the CONTACTS are what deliver the much more powerful HIGH current voltage. These two sets of parts are electrically isolated from each other. They have no common electrical tie point

To operate a winch - one set of relays (pair) is connected so that when a switch (that has a limited amount of power handling ability) is thrown in one direction it applies 12 volts to two of the relays. This pair of relays is wired so that when their contacts close - they flow power (for example) positive to negative.

One relay applies a ground to one side of the winch motor, the other one applies twelve volts to the other connection.

The OTHER pair of relays, when the switch is thrown in the OPPOSITE direction does the same, but they have contacts wired in reverse - so that what was positive in the first example is a ground, and the other relay applies positive voltage to what the other pair of relays applied a ground to.

ONLY ONE PAIR of relays is activated at a time.

Now, all four are connected to the same two terminals on the winch motor. They cannot be activated all at once (thank God and hopefully) - or the battery would explode.

A switch all by itself can't handle that much current, think in terms of starter relays here. Starter motor relays CAN BE USED to build your own winch controller. ANY relays with a high enough current rating driven by a three position switch can do it.

Some winch motors I have seen online have two sets of windings inside, one turns the motor in one direction, the other set of windings turn the motor the opposite. If you have one of those (which is overly complex, in my opinion, and bound to be more expensive) you would only need one relay for each direction.

But a FOUR relay "driver" with a basic DC motor is much more common, and I think it is a much more robust design for obvious reasons. The extra windings in a "TWO WAY" motor sacrifice weight, size, complexity, and power handling (what they can pull) for the sake of simplifying the controls. A stronger basic DC Motor is what is used in most winches, so a "QUAD PACK" relay system is what you most often find.

If you get used to the basic idea that a relay is turned on by a switch (much like a starter motor) but that for a winch you need ONE relay on the positive side, and a SECOND relay on the ground side for each direction of rotation, I think you can visualize it.

Relays #1 and #2 pull in.
Relays #3 and #4 reel out....


I could post a diagram, but I don't think it's actually needed: In fact, I have looked at a lot of winch controller diagrams online, and found them to be "CLEAR AS MUD"

I thought it would be much better to just explain it all out so that you knew the reason behind it. After all - a "DIAGRAM" all by itself completely fails to just explain "WHY"...

And if you looked at this, "WHY" is what you wanted to understand.


If you have any questions about this, if I missed anything, PM me here. I have set my prefs so that I am told every time I log in if there is anything anyone has for me.

~Wolf out


* Hopefully I have been brilliant and everyone "GETS" it

 

I use a Fri 18 ft trailer often. It has a 8000 warn winch on it. It comes in.handy loading a dead car or truck.

 

That winch I was talking about? The guy gave it to me yesterday. I may be able to do something more than just talk about it now.

 

winch on a tuner..... This should be interesting

 

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“no switch ever made is built to handle that much CURRENT going through it”
Except for the fact that a "Relay" is a type of a "Switch".

 

Picky picky. Next you'll bring up the huge cutoff switches at hydroelectric stations... You got the point though, right?