In-cab winch controller

As mentioned in a previous post,  I mentioned that I intended to install an in-cab winch controller.
Here is some thinking behind the idea:
-It is invariably pissing with rain when you need to recover yourself or somebody else.  The plan is to quickly attach to the anchor, lock the winch in gear, return to the warmth of the cab and patiently wait for the recovery. If it’s not you that’s stuck, there is no reason you should get wet, even if it is your winch they want to use. Leave it to the person that misjudged the obstacle to hook themselves up.
-The hand controller cable is so stiff and difficult to route through the drivers window so you can operate it from the drivers seat. It’s stupid when you need to get in and out of the cab as you trip over it, or jam it in the door. The warn controller cable is much more silicone, this is like steel.
-The hand controller is quick to get wet or muddy and when it comes time to put it back in the cabin, you have to find somewhere for it that won’t dirty any thing else.
These might sound fairly weak reasons to perform this modification, but I think it’s going to be awesome.
This feature doesn’t rule out use of the hand controller, it can still be attached and used outside the car for when it’s appropriate (such as winding the cable on tidy again)
Ok – lets get going. Captions are beneath the pictures.

Finally bought one of those wire stripper plier things. They are unreal. Bought some nice grade crimp connectors, no more rubbish ones for me.

Here is the hand controller socket (beneath the silver flap). Notice the route of the existing black wire and cable tie.

Here is where the switch will go. It currently has some immobiliser LED, which does nothing. I had initially planned to put it on the other side of the console to occupy the more damaged black plate, but decided on this side at the last minute as it would facilitate operating the winch from outside the car without leaning over unrestrained.

Here is the factory rubber boot that goes through the firewall. It had a little nipple on the end of it which when cut off, made the perfect water proof cable entry. It’s almost like it was designed for it (probably was actually)

Here the cable came through the firewall…

… and very easily routed up to the dash. A few days earlier after struggling to find ‘3 core 12V cable’ it dawned on me that an equally suitable cable would be 10AMP, 240V cable. I have hundreds of them at work.. I grabbed one and simply cut the ends off… voila!

Would you believe that this is one of two random cables that no doubt were for sirens, fog lights, flashing lights and driving lights.  It is somehow comforting to remove an old cable that has just been cut off and taped up.

Here is the other end of ONE of the cables.

Re-crimped some terminals. These are mated with the hand controller socket wires, and my new cable.


Taped it all up (white tape was all I had) Notice how the power cable is routed beneath the body unlike before. The power cable is securely cable tied to the hydraulic line (not visible in these pictures)

Tucked it up above the solenoids, completely out of sight and weather.

Terminated the wires and tested great. I deliberately didn’t wire up the lights for the test as they complicate the whole thing. After it all tested ok, I wired them up. They are no where near as bright as the ARB compressor switch lights, but oh well. However, not knowing why does annoy me.

Here it is installed. You wouldn’t believe that it’s the perfect size. Not a MM wrong. Slots straight in. I’ll either install a blank to the right or find another switch ;-) I had thought I would need to cut and file the factory blank plate to fit, but turns out, it’s not needed at all!
The switch when pressed does rub a tiny bit on the dash above it when winching out. No great problem, but it could get stuck unless I file some of the top of the switch off.
I discovered that the winch is supplied with power all the time. It’s no great problem, but I think I would prefer it was only supplied with power with the ignition running. It also doesn’t seem to be fused, so I might look into that on the weekend.