I installed my new winch yesterday, AC/Warn 2500. Stretched the wire rope and all was good. Today while riding after an hour I lost all power, it just died, tried restarting and nothing (wasnt even using the winch). Saw smoke coming from under the seat (uh oh) quickly pulled seat and disconnected battery. The ground wire from the <u>chassis</u> to the battery (not the winch wiring) was severely melted and had burned thru the positive from the chassis. Lucky the battery didnt explode or a fire break out.

I followed AC/Warn instructions to the letter and I am fairly certain its connected correctly but I am going to look at it again tomorrow just to be sure. The only thing I am in question about with the wiring is the two prong plug located in the middle of the switch harness...I found a two prong plug on the chassis wiring that was a perfect fit for the plug on the switch harness but I am not sure if its the right one or not. I didnt see any others to connect it to though.

What I think is strange is that after disconnecting the winch and taping up the insulation on the Cats ground it ran fine all day long. This tells me its something with the winch but <u>why did the ground on the chassis wiring melt and not the ground from the winch if something is wrong with the winch wiring???</u>

What should I look for...I know pinched wires, hot wires, etc but anything else?

Also why didnt a fuse blow?
Thanks for your help.

 

The answer is easy, "It was the smallest guage wire in the circuit." That's always the one that melts.. Question, How was the winch wired in, like did you use a solenoid setup? There is suppose to be a seperate power and ground wires for the winch. Do not use a chassis (frame) ground as the wire is big enough.

 

Thanks Bear. I used the winch kit from arctic cat powersports you told me about. It was 297.00 and included everything. Yes I used the battery for ground on the winch and didnt connect it to the frame. The solenoid is color coded and the winch is also. I know thats all ok but will check again tomorrow. The two prong plug that I connected to was buried under the chassis wiring under the voltage regulator. Any ideas?

 

And you have a short in the system most likely. If you did the wiring yourself, it will be hard to figure out what you did wrong. Ask a friend who has some experience to look at the wiring so you get some ideas. This usually works for me.
Good luck,
Chuck

 

It may be a short but I dont think it is. I was careful to follow harness routes that insured me against pinched wires and the like. They are not routed near heat either. I am thinking it may be something else. Any other ideas?

 

From what you have said there is a short somewhere and unless you are electricity handy, finding it is gonna be tough. If it was me, I would pull all the winch wiring back out, I know a bummer, and look for the wire that has a hole in the insulation and was rubbing against the frame somewhere. You will probably find another fried wire somewhere.

 

OK will do. Do you think the short is in the winch wiring or the wiring on the chassis since the chassis ground is what melted down. You said the ground wire that melted did so because it was the smallest wire in the circuit. That makes sense but am confused about the statement. How is the ground wire from the ATV Chassis wiring part of a circuit to the winch? Are you saying that its possible a winch wire was getting hot, but because it is bigger wiring it didnt melt? The winch wiring is connected directly to the battery and I am confused how the wiring from the voltage regulator to the battery is part of a circuit to the winch wiring. It would seem to me that the winch wiring is its own circuit. Not questioning you at all, just dont understand it.
Thanks

 

I would re-check all the wiring again. I used the same plug on my 400 with no problems. However, check the wiring on the relay itself. If you have a small control wire connected to the main return, or ground, it'll burn quickly. That winch draws a lot of current when pulling. The small wire might handle it for a little while, but eventually it will burn from excessive current.

 

As I said in the first post, I am not having trouble while using the winch, it happened when the winch was not in use.

 

You still have a short somewhere and since the problem didn't show up untill after the winch install the likely suspect is the winch wiring even if the winch isn't in use when it happened. Depending on where you mounted the solenoid, is a part of frame metal touching positive terminal on it?, that would overload your ground wire real quick.