Hi
I have a venom winch and have worn out he thumb switch. The rubber around the switch is damaged and occasionally gets stuck in the on position. So my thoughts are that i want to switch to a toggle style switch. ( I dont like the location of the thumb style) I just don't know what type of momentary switch to buy. Will just a regular on-off-on switch work or do i need some type of reversing switch? Also my current switch is not wired directly to the battery. It goes back to the brains (???)of the winch. Sorry about my vocabulary but i am unfamiliar with the proper terms here. Any help would be appreciated.

 

It sounds like it's wired to a solenoid so the full voltage doesn't go through it. An on-off-on toggle should work IMO.

 

I believe the thumb switch is ON-OFF-ON and it is spring loaded to always return to the center position. It is wired to the winch selinoid and depending on which wire is hooked up where one direction is in the other direction is out. You can decide which is which. I am pretty sure they make a stainless steel sealed toggle (I think it is a type of 3-way switch) that you can get at an auto parts store. Only trick would be where you want to mount it. Cost is probably the same as an additional thumb switch for a venom.

SJ

 

The thumb rocker type switch on my winch also failed after a fairly short period of time. I took the switch apart and dumped the guts out of it, they were fried, and used the case as a basis to mount a marine grade on-off-on momentary switch on the quad. This switch is going on it's third year of service and shows no indication of giving up yet. The "Marine Grade" is more expensive but is water proof/resistant and is made with stainless steel case and springs. Well worth the few extra bucks. I filled the old switch case with silicone when putting the new switch in which, when it cured, made a good solid, water resistant mounting system. Wrapped the whole thing with some 3M electric tape and it actually looks like a well made factory switch.

If your switch is like mine it has three wires. One is the hot lead and the other two go to the coils on the solenoid. Pretty simple to figure out.