My camper is stored in our driveway, covered. This morning I came out and found the winch running wide open. Some how it activated in the up mode. I pulled the battery cable to stop it. The camper was locked down and it broke the cable (thought it might have blown a fuse before that happened). This could have been potentially dangerous if I had been working on it or while camping.
Has anyone had/heard of this happening? The winch is the newer model, about 2 years old and used on two trips (1 month and 2 months) without incident. I don't know if the switch shorted out for some reason or maybe one of the relays malfunctioned. I have not had a chance to see if anything else is damaged but I know I will need a new cable at least. This is the Goshen System. Can anyone help with locating a new cable and how to install it. I would also like the name of the winch manufacture as I would like to report it to them. I am just glad that it did not happen on the road. Thanks for any input that you might have.
Found this place by a Bing search. Might not be the cheapest.
http://www.popupparts.com/inde.....;cPath=4_9
Best Regards,
Norm
The camper has been parked/covered since November of last year. I had just serviced/charged the battery about a week before. We have a large lot, 360' driveway, and watch dog. I don't believe anyone tampered with it. I went out yesterday and touched the cables to the battery, winch started running by itself again. I took the winch off and tried it on the workbench. It worked as it should, up/down with the switch. I even dipped the switch in water to see if it would short out, it did not. Tapped the relays, no problem. Could not find any evidence of of any wires shorting out. I could not duplicate the problem. Don't underestimate the power of these little winches. It broke the cable, bent the mounting plate, trashed the adjusting pulley on the rear frame. The winch frame itself was bent to the point that the driving gear could not engage the limit switch (which would have probably have shut it off after the cable broke and it reached the "up" limit). I have not had a chance to uncover to inspect for any additional damage. I can tell through the cover that the hold down latches now have some slack in them. I surely would have thought the winch breaker would have tripped before all of this happened, had to be drawing a lot of current.
I had emailed the manufacturer, Carefree of California, concerning this issue. Even though the winch was out of warranty (2 years old), I wanted to alert them to a possible dangerous issue. Expected that if I got a reply it would be 24 - 48 hours later. I got a call from their customer service dept. about 20 minutes later stating that they were concerned about this issue and asked if I would send photos for their engineers to review. I emailed the photos and received a response the next day. They are going to send me a new winch and prepaid shipping for the old one for their engineering dept. to examine. Needless to say, I was very pleased about this, the new winches cost about $400. I commend them for wanting to examine the damaged unit to see if this is a potential recurring problem. I am sure, and rightly so, that today's liability climate played a part in that decision. At this point I can't say enough good things about their customer service. The new cable and pulley have arrived from Goshen. Now I need to straighten out the mounting bracket on the trailer, replace the cable/pulley and mount the winch. I can then see if there is any additional damage. I wish they would let me know what caused this, but I am sure that I won't be privy to that information.
I've read your posts several times. I couldn't help but wonder what happened. In theory you have a battery, a switch and a motor.
The motor needs power to turn. are there any relays ? How about limit switches to prevent over travel ? ( does the roof stop on its own or when you release the button)
You mentioned relays. Are they relays or circuit breakers ?
You mentioned the lift system is from Carefree. I going to see if I can download the wire schematic for you lift system.
This has peaked my curiosity due to my power tongue jack. What if it deployed while I'm going down the highway.
I think I will add an additional switch to my tongue jack.
I'm glad Carefree is taking care of their end.
You need to find the root cause of this issue and come up with some additional measures to prevent this from ever happening again.
Maybe an additional switch between the battery and the lift system.
Good Luck
( PM me if you have any questions. I've been fixing lift systems (elevators) for 35 years.
HI Guitarman, I too would like to know as I am familiar with electrical and control circuits. The winch is controlled by a low current SPDT momentary switch to two high current relays (up and down). There is a limit switch to stop in the up an down positions (some type of drum type switch driven by the main gear, probably activated by the number of rotations in the drum. This did not function as the winch frame twisted and the limit switch gear no longer contacted the main gear) Pretty simple control circuit actually. That is why it is so perplexing. No evidence of short circuiting, switch works as it should, even when dipped in water. I can only come up with some type of unusual relay malfunction. All of this was covered with the winch cover and then with the camper cover, no evidence of moisture or insects/bugs. I too am considering a battery disconnect to the winch.
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