My winch is sparking

[Cobra_R]

So the truck I just bought came with an older superwinch x series winch. The owner didn't have a winch controller so I bought a new one and wired it to the solenoid. When trying to test the winch, the solenoid clicks but nothing happens in or out. Occasionally, the winch will spark from the drum on the right side. Any ideas how to fix it or what's wrong with it? I have no idea when it was last used but my guess would be that its been awhile.

Thanks

 

[mowerman]

It could we'll be a problem with the Earth cable

 

[Cobra_R]

That's what my research leads me to believe. I don't know if the previous owner has ever had it working so for all I know it was never hooked up properly to begin with. I'll play with it tomorrow and try and get it working.

 

[BurbanAZ]

Yea sounds like it's not grounded properly so it's jumping to ground itself through the case to the closest grounded spot. I'd check ur ground cable for continuity then check that wherever you have it grounded is a clean solid ground.

Luckily there are only a few cables for a winch so checking them all is easy. I'd also check all the cables and connections to make sure their in good condition and not all corroded or rusted or anything. Then if all the wiring checks out, and the ground checks out I'd check the solenoid with a meter to make sure their working properly.

I'd definitely get it figured out thought and go through everything before trying to use it again, a badly wired winch will burn a truck down in a hurry.

 

[Cobra_R]

So the ground wire was attached to a little bracket that comes off the inner fenderwell that has other items grounded to it. I moved the ground wire from there to a threaded hole on the inner fenderwell. I sanded down the area around the hole to get down to bare metal and once attached, I tried the winch. Still nothing, solenoid clicks but no winch movement. No sparks this time however. All the connections look good, no rust or corrosion. I'm going to try wiring straight to the battery next then go from there, the terminal on the battery now doesn't allow the mouthing of accessories because of its design so I'll have to replace the terminal first.

 

[onetraveller]

You can use set of jumper cables from the battery to the power points on the motor to bypass the solenoid and see if the motor moves. It's also probably a good idea to replace the solenoid with a new Superwinch contactor. Any other repair parts you might need can be purchased from Superwinch.

Mike

 

[Vinman]

So the ground wire was attached to a little bracket that comes off the inner fenderwell that has other items grounded to it. I moved the ground wire from there to a threaded hole on the inner fenderwell. I sanded down the area around the hole to get down to bare metal and once attached, I tried the winch. Still nothing, solenoid clicks but no winch movement. No sparks this time however. All the connections look good, no rust or corrosion. I'm going to try wiring straight to the battery next then go from there, the terminal on the battery now doesn't allow the mouthing of accessories because of its design so I'll have to replace the terminal first.

A winch should always be connected either directly to the battery terminals or through a suitably rated cut-off switch then directly to the battery.

 

[brushogger]

Run the ground and the positive directly to the battery. That's too many amps to trust to a frame ground. I also fused my positive with a 450 amp and mega fuse holder.
http://m.delcity.net/store/MEGA-Fuse-Holder/p_795652. I have a 9.5 Superwinch and the 450A fuse handles it at full load, but will blow if the cable is shorted.