Well, I'm bewildered on this one, and quite upset. I installed my brand new Ramsey 3000 winch with wireless remote on my Kodiak back at the end of March this year.

My neighbor helped me and we installed it per the installation directions to the "T". We installed it so that the key has to be on in order for the winch to have power. After we got it installed, we gave it a small test. We free spooled about 30 feet of cable out, hooked it to a tree, and winched the Kodiak up a fairly steep hill. Worked perfectly both with using the mounted toggle switch and with using the wireless remote. I'm like, sweet, this winch is killer.

I've been riding several weekends on mountain trails since I got the winch, but I've yet to need to use it, so basically, it has never been used since I installed it a few months ago. I've never sunk the Kodiak in any mud or water high enough to go over the winch, so it's basically still a "virgin".

Anyway, I was riding the Kodiak around the house this weekend, and when I stop to get off and move some lawn tools, I hear what sounds like the winch trying to run on it's own. I'm like, what the heck? So I hit the toggle switch to spool out the cable and check it, and all I hear is "click, click" coming from the solenoid. The winch won't even turn. I touch the wires to the solenoid and they're burning hot. I then touch the casing of the winch armatuer and it's friggin smokin' hot! I'm like, oh great, what is this? I ride it over to my neighbors and we both start checking it out. It appears that somehow the toggle switch has become faulty where it's attempting to run the winch constantly, hence it being so hot I guess.

I've never even used the winch since the intial test, and now it looks like it's burned up on its own from the switch somehow going bad. I certainly hope this is covered under the Ramsey warranty. I have to read the warranty card when I get home, but I assume I'll just need to send the winch, switch and solenoid in to Ramsey for repair? Has anyone else with a Ramsey 3000 had this happen?

 

I don't have a winch of any sort and can't really answer any of your questions. But I will give my advice on this. When I install any aftermarket parts that require power I place a fuse on the 12volt leads and a fuse just big enough for the whatever I have added to my quad.

You may have added an inline fuse also, but just wanted to give you a tip if you hadn't already. Since you hooked this up to a source that will only have 12v with the key one you didn't go straight to the battery and this could harm anythng else connected to that wire if anything WERE to happen.

The only thing I have added at trailtech MR16 HID lights and I placed a fuse about 3 inches off my lead to the battery for these.

Just trying to help out! Sorry I couldn't answer any of your questions. Just trying to look out for further damage..

 

Thanks for the reply Pelphrey, and the tip about fuses. I wonder if anyone else had a winch act up like this.

I called Ramsey customer service, and man, they're awesome. They guy there said, hmm, that doesn't sound right, just send in the parts and we'll fix it up good as new or replace it if need be. I was very impressed with their service, courtesy and professionalism. It's great to deal with a company that stands behind their product. I'm hoping they'll be able to tell if it was a faulty switch or whatever might have caused this.

 

Yep we all love companies who will stand behind thier product and fix/replace it witout some huge hassle. Sounds like a great company to buy products from.

 

Winch functionality may not be understood by some in the ATV world I know I didn?t. I had a similar problem with my Warn winch on my Yamy Grizzly. The wench turn on and stayed on. I have read on forms others have experienced the same problem. I set out to understand the problem. I debugged my system. It was not the Winch, it was not the switch, it was not the wires, it ended up being the relay or contactor box. To find out the problem I disassembled the contactor. I found some copper springy contact strips that had electrical arcing burns. One contactor had burned in half and looked like it had fused to the other metal rendering the relay normally closed all the time. In ATV forums I found three comments that were differing but interesting. First the practical solution person indicated a two Bosch auto headlamp relay kit to replace the Warn contactor relay. He said it had worked for over five years. These are typically 20-30amp relays. Second a technical person did some calculations and recommended that a winch could pull as much as 50 amps. So his solution was a fuse to keep the contacts from fusing together. Third another techy gave a Warn winch url for amp loads at different pounds on the winch. This means a 30amp has the potential to arch and fuse on heavy winch loads. The max was 200amps at 3000lbs. So who is right? What is the solution? As I thought about a solution I came to the conclusion they were all right. By understanding the functionality and electronics of the winch a solution is possible, but that solution falls on the rider. Before I talk about the solution I will explain how I created my problem. I have a snow plow on my ATV I would bump the winch switch many times as I would push snow. When I raised the winch I had to be careful not to raise the plow to high or the winch would grind hard. This was because the plow metal met the ATV metal and there was no give. This caused the amps to go high and ended up in the end fusing the contacts together and destroyed my Warn contactor box. Why did the winch just start by turn on an stay on when I was riding one day. During plow I had arched it through switch bumps and created heat through grind or heavy load. Electrical noise can flow through winch switch wires even though the switch was not depressed causing one last arch and fuse. (Study to see which ATV wire the switch 12v wire should be wired to. Winch functions only on key power on. Example, aux power wire. Some key on 12v wires are connected to other relays and this will cause electrical noise in your winch switch circuit. Look at your ATV wiring schematic for and aux wire that doesn?t have other relays on it and this can help to reduce electrical noise.) Or I may have bumped the switch. Where there may not be one solution to the problem here are some suggestions. Use two 30amp Bosch relays with sockets and make your own contactor box. This worked for one person although we don?t know his usage patterns for his winch. They may have been lite. Pros: if you have further arching you just replace a $3-$7 relay quick and easy. 30 amp is probably more than the manufacturer rating on the contactor box. Cons: You have to do a little work to mount and wire. Next the fuse in theory as a great idea and a good safety practice. What if you were winching your ATV out of a difficult spot and your winch stayed on, this could be a real problem. Pros: Safety for you and your contactor box. Cons. If amps increase the more load you exert on the winch you will blow the fuse. Not a good thing if you are in the wild and need the winch. Keep fuse spares? Maybe a circuit breaker concept you can just push to reactivate the circuit. I find it interesting that the manufacturer does not provide fuse setup for winch?s. If they did there 2500 lb winch would not operate at 2500 pounds. You see a 200amp relay would be impractical to install. My solution. Two Bosch relay?s. I believe that 20-30amp relay is more than the design of the Warn winch contactor box amp capacity. I did not install a fuse as I think this will reduce the performance of the winch. This could put me at a safety risk but I have that risk anyway with out of the box solution. I purchased a winch kit to reduce the load on the winch but increase my leverage for maximum pulling power. Straight line winching may not be the best solution in all cases of winch usage. If I do have further relay fusing problems replacing the Bosch relays will be easy and cost effective. Also I have changed my user riding practice not to bump the winch switch with little bumps and not to grind the winch with my snow blade. The solution for most people may be to use the manufacture?s setup but change there user rider practices once the have a greater understanding of the functionality of the winch and it?s electronics.