I posted this in my build thread but I thought it might be useful for more people than just following my build thread. Even though I know EVERYONE is following my build....
After mounting my winch in the bumper I built and adding a grill guard, I realized it would really work better if I could mount the winch solenoid pack in the engine bay. I started doing some Internet searches on how others have done this and came across several threads on various forums about people replacing their solenoid packs with contactors, specifically units made by Albright and Superwinch. I found some debate about whether those 2 are both made by the same people, but it sounds like Superwinch has them made to their specs.
A lot of what I was reading came from up to 5 years ago. At that time the main source was Albright manufactured. The concept of using contactors has been popular in Europe longer than it has here. A lot of the original adopters of this here in the US were ordering Albright contactors from the UK.
In the meantime Superwinch started using contactors in many of their winches. Additionally in more recent years Warn and Smittybilt winches are using them as well.
I chose a Superwinch contactor for a few reasons. A lot of the threads I read used their contactor so I was able to find a lot of information about how to wire them into the system. They are priced reasonably and readily available from sources like SummitRacing.
Simply put, the Superwinch contactor I used replaces this factory solenoid pack for my Tabor winch:
With this:
2 together in the same picture.
As you can tell, the wiring for the contactor is much simpler. That original solenoid pack is confusing jumble of wires and somehow the motor turns in 2 different directions even though it looks like they are all wired together through those bus bars. Relays, solenoids, and contactors are words you can find being used interchangeably. All three generally serve the same purpose, the differences being how they operate internally and what moves to close/open the circuit. A contactor is most like a relay but typically the contactor is used for higher current applications.
If you look up the part numbers for the Superwinch contactors on Summit, they are called "replacement solenoids". Funny thing is in my order history it is listed as a "Reversing Solenoid/Contactor".
I'm the type of person when I look into doing something new, I like to read everything I can find. I pieced together a lot of information from various places to come up with my final wiring schematic and solenoid/contactor choice. Maybe this will help someone else in the future. The wiring diagram is for a Tabor 10K winch wired to a Superwinch 90-32459. This winch uses the 5-pin controller.
It took me a little thinking to figure out how the 5-pin controller works with 2 different ground circuits. Basically you have a "main" ground that grounds out with the winch motor ground and then you have a "switch" ground. When you move the switch on the controller you're closing 2 circuits, both the ground circuit and the power circuit. From what I understand this is a safety/reliability thing.
As I mentioned, the contactor I used is a Superwinch 90-32459. The more popular swap is to use Superwinch 90-14452. You will find a lot of forum threads about swapping the 14452 onto Warn 8274 and other 8000# winches. Here's a picture of the 14452:
I think part of the reason this one is popular is because it has the spade terminals for the controller connections. That solenoid/contractor is for Superwinch's 9000# winch. It's very hard to find specs for the contactors, but the key spec for the 14452 is that it will handle about 420A for 80sec. The problem is my Tabor can pull over 500A. So I looked through Superwinch's different winch specs for a winch that used the contactor style solenoid and can draw over 500A. The 90-32459 is the contactor they use on their Talon 9.5 & 12.5 winches which pull about 520A.
Both contactors are available from SummitRacing among other places. I thought based on the product images the mounting holes would have the vibration isolators but it didn't. So I pulled out my HF grommet assortment and found 3 that worked good for that purpose.
The new contactor is mounted on the "leg" of the passenger side battery tray.
Most everything is wired using 2/0 welding cable. Even with flexible welding cable it is a pain to get everything wired up.
I used a junction block to wire the winch controls. I did this because I felt it's a easier way to combine the dissimilar products (Superwinch contactor with 3 wires for the controller connecting to Tabor 5-wire winch controller) plus adding an in-cab controller down the road.
In that picture I don't have the wires for the controller added in yet. I feel like I would like to find a junction block with a cover of some sort to swap in down the road. This one works for now and it was only $3 or $4 at Home Depot. I put plenty of dielectric grease on the connections since they are open.
I made a bracket to mount the plug for the controller in one of the grill openings. The plug is rivited into the solenoid cover, so I had to drill those out to remove the plug.
The bracket is a piece of .080 aluminum bent into an 'L' shape using the vice and a big hammer. I bolted it to the core support using existing holes.
Even with my careful research I still had the winch directions switched. "In" on the controller fed line out and vice versa. Luckily with that terminal block wiring all I had to do was swap 2 wires and it worked as intended. The wiring diagram at the top does reflected the corrected wiring.
I will post back if I have any further information down the line with in the field experience. Most likely no news will be good news. Meaning I'll probably only think to post if there's a problem.
After mounting my winch in the bumper I built and adding a grill guard, I realized it would really work better if I could mount the winch solenoid pack in the engine bay. I started doing some Internet searches on how others have done this and came across several threads on various forums about people replacing their solenoid packs with contactors, specifically units made by Albright and Superwinch. I found some debate about whether those 2 are both made by the same people, but it sounds like Superwinch has them made to their specs.
A lot of what I was reading came from up to 5 years ago. At that time the main source was Albright manufactured. The concept of using contactors has been popular in Europe longer than it has here. A lot of the original adopters of this here in the US were ordering Albright contactors from the UK.
In the meantime Superwinch started using contactors in many of their winches. Additionally in more recent years Warn and Smittybilt winches are using them as well.
I chose a Superwinch contactor for a few reasons. A lot of the threads I read used their contactor so I was able to find a lot of information about how to wire them into the system. They are priced reasonably and readily available from sources like SummitRacing.
Simply put, the Superwinch contactor I used replaces this factory solenoid pack for my Tabor winch:
With this:
2 together in the same picture.
As you can tell, the wiring for the contactor is much simpler. That original solenoid pack is confusing jumble of wires and somehow the motor turns in 2 different directions even though it looks like they are all wired together through those bus bars. Relays, solenoids, and contactors are words you can find being used interchangeably. All three generally serve the same purpose, the differences being how they operate internally and what moves to close/open the circuit. A contactor is most like a relay but typically the contactor is used for higher current applications.
If you look up the part numbers for the Superwinch contactors on Summit, they are called "replacement solenoids". Funny thing is in my order history it is listed as a "Reversing Solenoid/Contactor".
I'm the type of person when I look into doing something new, I like to read everything I can find. I pieced together a lot of information from various places to come up with my final wiring schematic and solenoid/contactor choice. Maybe this will help someone else in the future. The wiring diagram is for a Tabor 10K winch wired to a Superwinch 90-32459. This winch uses the 5-pin controller.
It took me a little thinking to figure out how the 5-pin controller works with 2 different ground circuits. Basically you have a "main" ground that grounds out with the winch motor ground and then you have a "switch" ground. When you move the switch on the controller you're closing 2 circuits, both the ground circuit and the power circuit. From what I understand this is a safety/reliability thing.
As I mentioned, the contactor I used is a Superwinch 90-32459. The more popular swap is to use Superwinch 90-14452. You will find a lot of forum threads about swapping the 14452 onto Warn 8274 and other 8000# winches. Here's a picture of the 14452:
I think part of the reason this one is popular is because it has the spade terminals for the controller connections. That solenoid/contractor is for Superwinch's 9000# winch. It's very hard to find specs for the contactors, but the key spec for the 14452 is that it will handle about 420A for 80sec. The problem is my Tabor can pull over 500A. So I looked through Superwinch's different winch specs for a winch that used the contactor style solenoid and can draw over 500A. The 90-32459 is the contactor they use on their Talon 9.5 & 12.5 winches which pull about 520A.
Both contactors are available from SummitRacing among other places. I thought based on the product images the mounting holes would have the vibration isolators but it didn't. So I pulled out my HF grommet assortment and found 3 that worked good for that purpose.
The new contactor is mounted on the "leg" of the passenger side battery tray.
Most everything is wired using 2/0 welding cable. Even with flexible welding cable it is a pain to get everything wired up.
I used a junction block to wire the winch controls. I did this because I felt it's a easier way to combine the dissimilar products (Superwinch contactor with 3 wires for the controller connecting to Tabor 5-wire winch controller) plus adding an in-cab controller down the road.
In that picture I don't have the wires for the controller added in yet. I feel like I would like to find a junction block with a cover of some sort to swap in down the road. This one works for now and it was only $3 or $4 at Home Depot. I put plenty of dielectric grease on the connections since they are open.
I made a bracket to mount the plug for the controller in one of the grill openings. The plug is rivited into the solenoid cover, so I had to drill those out to remove the plug.
The bracket is a piece of .080 aluminum bent into an 'L' shape using the vice and a big hammer. I bolted it to the core support using existing holes.
Even with my careful research I still had the winch directions switched. "In" on the controller fed line out and vice versa. Luckily with that terminal block wiring all I had to do was swap 2 wires and it worked as intended. The wiring diagram at the top does reflected the corrected wiring.
I will post back if I have any further information down the line with in the field experience. Most likely no news will be good news. Meaning I'll probably only think to post if there's a problem.
..snoozed and I lose again...
