Thought I'd do a little write up on the re-wiring of the winch on my TJ.
The original setup was with the supplied Tabor (Warn) solenoid box mounted in the engine bay. I'd known for a while the solenoids were on their way out (not surprising looking at the state of them!)
PHOTO 1
First job was to remove the old solenoid setup, and replace with a new one. I chose a TG Thompson solenoid having read some good things about it. The unit is waterproof and rated at 500 Amps so more than adequate for my winch (which allegedly draws a maximum of 540 Amps at full load)
The new solenoid fitted quite nicely where the old one was.
PHOTO 2
I needed some new power leads making up (thanks Steve @ FTE) as I was also planning to remove the old key type isolator (which was also on its way out) and replace with an electrical isolator, operated from a switch inside the cab. Therefore, my existing leads would all be the wrong length.
I ran some control wires into my dash-mounted switch pod, adding an aircraft style flip switch for the isolator, an ‘winch active’ LED and a momentary switch for the actual ‘winch in’ and ‘winch out’ controls.
PHOTO 3
I need to get some stickers (or similar) made up but other than that I’m quite pleased with the effect.
For the isolator I did some research and eventually settled on a 500 Amp item from Installbay (not the cheapest as it came from USA via eBay but I figured it was best to over spec it rather than under spec it)
As an aside, Warn themselves do offer a winch isolator kit, but they were very unwilling to provide the rating for their isolator. Looking at the photo they sent me of the kit, I’d be amazed if it was even 200 Amp rated, which to my mind isn’t suitable for the job.
So, I ended up with this, which fitted nicely where my horn used to be:
PHOTO 4
I also fitted an LED in the front grill as a ‘winch active’ warning (as it happened there was already a hole drilled there, so maybe someone before me had the same idea?):
PHOTO 5
With the new solenoid I was also able to add a wireless remote option (not to be relied upon, but as I had it already I didn’t see any harm in fitting it):
PHOTO 6
And, as I had it left over from my original setup, I also wired in the wander lead socket, allowing me to use the existing wired handset.
I fabricated a small blanking plate to fit where my original key isolator was, and then fitted the socket in there, wired up to the trigger terminals on the solenoid:
PHOTO 7
Admittedly 3 different control options for my winch (which, I will be honest, I’ve not actually used in anger yet!) seems a little overkill, but as I had them all it seemed a shame not to use them all!
Next project is to tidy up my wiring (I have relays tacked all over the place) but that’s a job for the better weather!
PHOTO 8
