Cheap HF wireless winch remote

SEREvince

Adventurer
There's already a ton of write ups out there on these, but from the info I've seen they've made a few changes to the design and I thought I'd post some current info on here.

The Badlands wireless winch remote $30 before any sales or coupons.
http://www.harborfreight.com/wireless-winch-remote-control-69229.html

Changes:
Old version the plug was a very slightly different diameter and required some shaving to fit Warn and other non-HF winches. The one I purchased the plug fit perfectly in my Warn xd9000i.

Changes to the circuit board. The pics showing where to attach the ground did not match up with my device. Fortunately the color coding did not change. Attach an additional ground to the back of the black wire. No additional mods were required to run my winch.

20170323_134255_zpscww80epc.jpg


Simply drill an additional hole in the housing and run the new ground wire out. Too easy. I slapped the remote on a leftover badge lanyard from Comicon.
I also extended the wiring to reach my firewall to get the "brain" as protected as possible. You could also run in the cab, but I hate soldering and did at my kitchen table for convenience. :) If you wanted to be super lazy you could toss on some velcro and alligator clip on the ground and leave it the glove box until needed. A couple extra batteries for the remote would be a good idea as well.

Initial impression: For $30 and a bit of time this is a win. Works great. I did not notice any delay that others have mentioned. If there is one it's insignificant. I have not tested out full range as of yet. The benefits to being able to be where ever you need to be during a recovery vs tethered to the vehicle are worth the effort. The remote is smaller than a garage door opener remote, so carrying both the wired and wireless remote as a backup is not an issue.

20170323_160855_zps7bwf1bvo.jpg


Cheers

Vince
 
Last edited:

ontopofm

New member
Where is the new black cable connected to? What's the green wire for? Sorry i'm new to this and i have the same winch. Interested in doing this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

SEREvince

Adventurer
Where is the new black cable connected to? What's the green wire for? Sorry i'm new to this and i have the same winch. Interested in doing this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Black is chassis ground. It connects to any bare metal on the frame or body. Green is the antennae. It connects to nothing.
 

robert

Expedition Leader
I know lots of folks use these without any problems but I still think I'd put a cutoff switch on my winch just in case- or just be cheap like me, I usually leave the winch power cable disconnected unless I think I may need it.

I've got the Warn remote for my winch and I mounted it and the solenoid control box under the hood. I did this after a buddy discovered someone had stolen the control box off of his ARB. The thief was nice enough to have left the wires sticking up enough not to contact the bumper and cause a short but Warn is proud of those boxes (I think they're about $300 from the dealers).
 

SEREvince

Adventurer
Update:

The badlands remote failed.

Not sure of the source of the issue. I used the remote heavily for about 3 days this past fall and it performed flawlessly. Yesterday I made a very quick simple recovery (kid in the ditch) and it worked for the recovery and then died while I was spooling in the line. LEDs on the remote were lighting up. I brought the remote inside to warm up, checked all connections and still no luck. I may spend the $ on the remote battery and see if it's a signal strength issue. If it is I'll keep as a back up.

I wrapped up the remaining 20ft or so and ordered a Warn wireless kit off Amazon. $3 for next day and I already have it. Worked great, although the instructions leave something to be desired. It comes with a jumper wire and directions for installing the wire, but I did not see what models it was required for. I ended up slapping it on and it worked, so apparently not required for the xd9000i.
 

K2ZJ

Explorer
Thanks for the update. I was just looking at them in the flyer last week and considering getting one.
 

Airmapper

Inactive Member
Update:

The badlands remote failed.

Not sure of the source of the issue. I used the remote heavily for about 3 days this past fall and it performed flawlessly. Yesterday I made a very quick simple recovery (kid in the ditch) and it worked for the recovery and then died while I was spooling in the line. LEDs on the remote were lighting up. I brought the remote inside to warm up, checked all connections and still no luck. I may spend the $ on the remote battery and see if it's a signal strength issue. If it is I'll keep as a back up.

I wrapped up the remaining 20ft or so and ordered a Warn wireless kit off Amazon. $3 for next day and I already have it. Worked great, although the instructions leave something to be desired. It comes with a jumper wire and directions for installing the wire, but I did not see what models it was required for. I ended up slapping it on and it worked, so apparently not required for the xd9000i.

My HF unit crapped out soon after I started using it, it was a old battery. They use this goofy 12v battery, don't just grab one by size match it up by type number. No complaints with the new battery yet.

I carry spares now, but I do have the hard wire switch controller in my recovery bag, just in case.
 

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