winch problem-help

hello
just fitted a tigerz 11 winch and all is not well.with no load on at all(just pressing in or out)an amp meter is reading 430 amps and the positive and neutral cables from the soloniod are hot to touch and have a burning smell.i have two 680cca batteries hard wired in pararell so should have plenty of grunt.
any ideas?????
cheers.
bitz...

Sounds to me like the winch's brake isn't releasing. If you disengage the clutch (there should be a handle on the housing on the opposite side of the winch to where all the power cables run to), can you easily pull line from the winch? What if you change the position of the handle? If you can't easily pull wire off the drum, the brakes are stuck. If you can get wire off, try re-engaging the clutch and measure the low-load current again.

thanks for the reply,
the winch i have is the 2 speed model and it makes no difference what gear it is in,also the free spool works fine.when i first turn it on the amps are around 430 then after about 5 seconds drop to 390 then down to around 325 but never get any lower.after 15 seconds the smell is quiet strong and the wiring hot..
cheers.
bitz..

There could be something wrong in the gearbox. It should be serviceable, Tigerz winches can be disassembled.

Just to make sure everything is okay, double check the wiring. I'm figuring that anyone that has equipment to measure that much 12V current knows their way around automotive electrics, but it still pays to double check, because the often broken English instructions for winch installations are not always clear. Here's a diagram that might help:



It's for a Warne winch but really there's no difference between them except for build quality. Tigerz, Ironman, AutoXS, Rydge Rider and a dozen other brands are all manufactured as copies of each other anyway, and they all pretty much follow Warne.

If all of those electrics are ok then it's strip-down time unless you've got a warranty, I guess. Might be a good idea to disengage the gearbox and try turning the motor over watching the amps - perhaps the motor itself is faulty, or there may be damage to the planetary gears. You don't indicate how old this unit is. Tigerz generally don't have a bad reputation but time can cause failures and unless they QC every single unit, any manufacturer can let a lemon slip through.

thanks for the reply.

the winch is brand new,just installed.

all fixed thanks to tony.
cheers.
bitz....

bitz said:

all fixed thanks to tony.
cheers.
bitz....

Click to expand...

More information please.

i had wired it incorrectly.