So yesturday we went wheeling, and since it rained all week, we hit some mud. I eventually got stuck. I pulled out my winch cable and hooked up to a freind's ride. I got miself out but then I let go of my remote button and the winch KEPT REELING! at that point I was sevral feet away from the other vehicule I was attached to, so I yelled to a freind to go and un-connect my remote... And still KEPT REELING IN!, So he put the winch in neutral, at that point, my Jeep and my freind's rig were about 6 feet apart. It could have gone very bad if we would not have had room or a nice flat area between the anchor rig and the mud hole.

Anyway, I will absolutely put a main battery disconnect in-cab very soon, but I have to figure out what is wrong with my winch. I had to disconect it, and tried it again at the end of the day, and still did it.

I figure it is a solenoid gone bad...How do I check which solenoid is bad?

 

your relay control (solenoid) is jam on pull.
get your wiring diagram from your winch book, open up your solenoid and use a multi meter on ohm and test each connecter. you're looking at input from battery to forward + to winch letting pass electricity.

 

I thought that warn winches had a duel safety on the positive and the negative so that if the positive solenoid shorted out you could pull the remote and the negative side would open to kill power to the winch? That was designed specifically for this problem. Please let us know what you find out. Maybe you should call customer support and see what they say.

 

I probably should call customer support! If you are right, that security option definately failed on me saturday. I will also try to check the solenoids, probably tonight.

 

Warn makes as good a winch as you're going to find and I know from experience their customer service is top notch.

While they expressely prohibit engaging or disengaging the clutch while the winch is in use, you did what you had to do in order to avert disaster.

Looking forward to the diagnosis and response from the manufacturer.

 

So I first talked to my local 4x4 shop and got a replacement solenoid...didn't work.
Then I called Warn and got excellent service. They suggest I have to have a ground short somewhere because the ground goes through the remote, and since I had disconnected my remote, it should have stopped.
So finaly last evening I tested for continuity on solenoids and on the plug where the remote connects, I found I have a busted solenoid(not the one I first thought), and the replacement one is stuck aswell for some reason(maybey I broke it, but dont know how) and I seem to have a short in the connector for the remote. I will call back warn on monday to see if that is possible.

I'll keep you posted.

P.S. Is there a way to make a battery disconect with a solenoid...I mean what size solenoid should I use?

 

a winch can go as high as 500 amp therefore you will need a real good water proof breaker type switch and not a solenoid as they can fail and will be more complex.