Vladimer

Hi everyone,


I haven't seen a response in the Engo thread which wasn't the best place to post it, so here is a copy/paste from it in it's own thread. The winch is a Engo 9k with synthetic line.

Finally got my roller fairlead and replacement synthetic rollers in so jumped on finished the winch install today as I haven't even tried turning it on yet.

My + is straight to my battery and my negative is also to the battery, the rest of the wires are all plugged in to there respective terminals as per the schematic and obvious coloring system. I plug the hand controller in and press "In", I hear a click and nothing. So, I hold it for a few seconds and all I hear is a loud "click click click click" coming from the Engo box and then a second latter, sparks are flying from where it is connected to the + terminal . So I turn the Jeep off, unplug the hand controller and have my fire extinguisher on stand by as it was smoking pretty good.

The Jeep was running, battery is an odyssey that I haven't had any issues with yet. All the terminals and wires I currently have to the battery are insulated to the very end and there is no exposed wire what so ever near the positive or negative. The rubber shielding on the positive wire from the winch got so hot, so quickly, that it actually started melting for a few inches close to the battery. The end near the winch was even so hot that the wire felt like soft dough instead of the difficult thick cable that it felt like 5 seconds before that. It wasn't under any load either, I spooled out probably 2.5 feet of rope and stuck the hook on the end of it. All I wanted to do is simply see it move so I was physically holding the end so it would not be dragging on the ground.

Any ideas what the issue might be?

gunbo75

Sounds like the positive and negative wires are connected from the factory are wrong.check that out.good luck

Vladimer

I checked the wiring against a schematic I found of the winch and it appears the yellow/black wires are swapped. The power is correct on the lead to the solenoid and from the solenoid to the winch itself. When I got the winch, the majority of the wires from the box were to short to reach the terminals on the winch. So in turn I made my own, and before anyone jumps on the band wagon of my wiring job, the power wire was not replaced. The ground wire was also not replaced as it was (at least the one here) the furthest to the left and Just long enough so I didn't go through the trouble of replacing that one. The other ones I took off and replaced one by one so I wouldn't screw it up and I took before and after photos as well to ensure I had each lead to the correct spot.

So hopefully at the end of the day the swapping works, the winch isn't fried and I don't regret saving a few bucks from a warn

I'll let you know how it goes

JK-Ford

Ya, sometimes s**t happens. But I will knock you for one thing. "Use A Fuse"!!!. It's the ultimate constipator.

arjeeper

Hmm. Gets me thinking. The Engo solenoid doesn't come with a fuse for the positive line. I haven't had trouble with mine, but should go back and add one.

The Green Monster

It sounds like an instant dead short. When I managed a custom car audio shop, we would see this from customers not using a fuse on their amps. One customer's 4 gauge wire had its insulation burned about 6" from the positive on each end. Their wiring was done correctly except for NO FUSE!! A simple ANL (blade) fuse would have prevented this. It turned out their amp had a dead short internally and the on-board fuses had been replaced with higher than rated fuses due to the amp blowing them (that's a clue LOL). In the end, they had to replace their wiring, battery, and obviously the amp. Hopefully, you just need a new winch (warranty?) and wiring. I would have your battery tested to make sure it's still good to go. Good luck!

Vladimer

That was the first thing that hit me after I saw the sparks ... I went to check the fuse to see if it blew and it smacked me right there ... there is no fuse! I never clued in at the time when putting it together as it just said to connect it to the battery

Turns out the posts on the winch body itself were incorrectly colored. They have a small colored ring around the base. Looks like wiring yellow to black, and black to yellow makes everything work

I didn't try it under load yet, but just holding it while everything was running it seems to run great. All my other electrical stuff works as it did before as well so looks like everything turned out alright and nothing is fried ... at least as far as I can tell at the moment.

What size of fuse would you guys recommend for the winch? Would rather not leave something unprotected like that again.

JK-Ford

This gets a little tricky. But not impossible. Your wiring sizes is probably smaller than what would be normally recomended for the "Name Plate Rating" of the motor. Lets say that your conductor size is 4 AWG. The fuse rating for 4 awg is about 100 Amps. But lets say that the name plate rating on the motor is 400A Peak. You would need a 500 MCM cable to get you to 400 Amps. Plus the 400 amp fuse. Now we're talking big and expensive. Besides, most prewired winches only come with 2 AWG wiring ( 130 Amps )?

I plan on installing a winch on my rig one day. As an electrician, I've thought about what I would do. 1/O welding cable is easily accessible at most welding supply outlets. This cable is good for about 175 Amps. I would use a 200 amp fuse designed for motor protection ( time delay ). And keep an extra fuse for the "Just In Case" moments.

To answer your question ( without knowing exactly what you have ). I wouldn't use anything smaller than 150 Amp "Time Delay" fuse. And keep an extra "just in case".

I'm not familiar with the service duties placed on the avarge wenching event. But I would have to guess that most events stay well below the 100 Amp mark.

arjeeper

I was thinking about this some more any couldn't recall ever seeing a winch that *did* come with a fuse. Is there a reason for this?

JK-Ford

In the electrical world, the installer is responsible for correct instalation. If any particular piece of equipment comes with everything required for instalation, it's a bonus. Most equipment do not.