Winch help

That's not what you have, according to the pictures in your post. Maybe similar though. It's very similar to the $35 units that are all over Amazon from China, so your replacement cost may be very low.

It does have two solenoids inside, which is why there are 3 control terminals, and why it is able to both turn the motor on and reverse directions. You can't do both of those two operations with one solenoid, because a solenoid only goes from one position to another position.
 
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Fabrik8 said:
That's not what you have, according to the pictures in your post. Maybe similar though. It's very similar to the $35 units that are all over Amazon from China, so your replacement cost may be very low.

It does have two solenoids inside, which is why there are 3 control terminals, and why it is able to both turn the motor on and reverse directions. You can't do both of those two operations with one solenoid, because a solenoid only goes from one position to another position.
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ok yeah sorry, i understand that now that I've looked into it more. Yeah good for me that they're cheap lol. I guess it won't hurt to take it actually apart and see what's going on inside of it since it apparently has to be replaced anyways, can't hurt. Maybe something obvious of why it just clicks. Thanks for all your input and time.
 
a_kelley said:
not to derail, but then are all not permanent magnet winches (series wound?) set up that way, or are some setup without a separate armature winding?
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Permanent magnet and series wound are two different things.

Perm have no field windings, just the armature windings. The magnets functionally replace the field windings to create the flux field. They are usually just 2 terminal, and the solenoid just reverses polarity on the 2 terminals.

Series wound have field windings and armature windings, and are the 4 terminal motor type (the 4th terminal is ground; only 3 terminals connect to the contactor or solenoids). They need more terminals specifically so that the polarity can be swapped on the field windings; there is no need to reverse polarity on both the armature windings and the field windings.
 
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marty79 said:
ok yeah sorry, i understand that now that I've looked into it more. Yeah good for me that they're cheap lol. I guess it won't hurt to take it actually apart and see what's going on inside of it since it apparently has to be replaced anyways, can't hurt. Maybe something obvious of why it just clicks. Thanks for all your input and time.
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The fact that the two solenoids sound different is a sign that something is wrong; generally those units are fairly symmetrical inside, so each solenoid has a similar switching contacts, etc. What I'm trying to say is that they would normally sound the same. Not a great way to figure out if something is wrong, but can still be a valid clue.

There's probably a bunch of corrosion, or a weak/broken spring, or one of the terminals got too hot in it's past life and has shifted in the case.
 
Fabrik8 said:
The fact that the two solenoids sound different is a sign that something is wrong; generally those units are fairly symmetrical inside, so each solenoid has a similar switching contacts, etc. What I'm trying to say is that they would normally sound the same. Not a great way to figure out if something is wrong, but can still be a valid clue.

There's probably a bunch of corrosion, or a weak/broken spring, or one of the terminals got too hot in it's past life and has shifted in the case.
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Thanks again. I figured the sound alone was a sign. I'm going to tear into it tomorrow just for learning purpose to see what I discover.
 
Never heard or thought about how to open a solenoid, but help yourself. I did have an electrical shop, Years ago, tell me to always use solenoid with Silver contacts, for heavy uses like winches.
 
rodney eppes said:
Never heard or thought about how to open a solenoid, but help yourself. I did have an electrical shop, Years ago, tell me to always use solenoid with Silver contacts, for heavy uses like winches.
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Silver has a lot lower tendency to arc and weld than many contact materials, which is why that's recommended. There are actually a number of different silver alloys that are used for that purpose.
 
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