The surge in popularity of off-roading sports has propelled the demand for ATVs, making them a go-to choice for adventurous enthusiasts. Navigating diverse terrains becomes a breeze with these rugged vehicles, yet extreme conditions can pose challenges, leading to potential entanglements.
To ensure uninterrupted adventures, equipping your ATV with a winch is paramount. A winch acts as a lifeline, rescuing you from sticky situations where roadside assistance is impractical. Wiring a winch switch onto your ATV is a crucial step to wield control over this essential tool.
Discovering how to wire a winch switch on an ATV empowers you to confidently operate the winch whenever the need arises, ensuring you’re always prepared for off-road escapades.
Uses of a Winch Switch
A winch switch is a small component that you can use to operate w winch, rather than using its remote. It comes handy when it is inconvenient for you to plug in and disconnect the remote every time you have to use the winch. Also if you want to operate the winch while sitting in your vehicle, then using the remote to do so seems very uncomfortable and a winch switch in your console box serves the purpose better.
The winch switch can be installed in the driver’s seat in an ATV, allowing the driver to control the winch easily. The hassle of continuously plugging and disconnecting the winch remote is also eliminated in this way.
Before Installation
There are some measures you should ensure taking before installing the winch switch in your ATV. Firstly, you need to turn off the ignition of the ATV so that there is no electric current coming from the battery. Then look for the red, yellow and green wires linked to the toggle switch. After that you should disengage the winch clutch and then open the bonnet or the cowling of the ATV as per your need, in order to easily access the installation site.
On the green and yellow wires provided, you will then cut out one of the wedge connectors. Wires seams will be used to carry this out instead of screw connections, for safer connection.
Main Installation of the Switch
To get started with the main installation, place the Tube Clamp-on bars on an appropriate area. After that, you’ll have to tighten the cap screw, the flat gasket, locknut as well as the shake-proof dryer. This ensures that the toggles switch housing is secured to the tube clamp.
Moving on, you will push the green, yellow and red cables through the switch casing from the back and then place the gasket on the switch carefully. Thereafter, you’ll have to connect the green wire to the switch’s top socket and the black wire to the toggle switch’s terminal in the center. The red wire will be attached to the switch’s base terminal.
Finally, make sure that the clutch of the winch is still in disengagement, and then set the power switch to ‘OUT’ while the ignition will still remain off. Now by your hand, you have to braid some meters of the cable and then activate the winch clutch. If you turn the engine on now, with the toggle switch set to ‘OUT’, the winch will start spinning the wire out.
Finishing the Installation
After getting done with the main installation steps mentioned above, check the wiring and ensure the connections between the three windings from the switch and the wires attached to the transmitter, in case the winch does not work despite the engine being on. Make sure that the wires do not pass over harmful surfaces in tension. Use cable ties to avoid any fractures in the wire and remove any excess.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do I need a fuse between battery and winch?
A fuse or circuit breaker is not necessary to have, because one that is large enough to allow your winch work will protect nothing in reality.
- Can you bypass the solenoid on a winch?
In order to bypass a solenoid switch, you should connect a jumper cable to the posts A, F1 and F2, by interchanging and connecting them to the power source.
3. How do you test an ATV winch switch?
The easiest way to do so is by running power directly to the winch while bypassing the switch.