Drained Battery

[Dave]

What winch kit did you install? Is there a solenoid also? Big rocker switch? Do the winch leads connect straight to the switch and then to the battery? Give us some details.

[PK3]

It is a Warn 2.5ci ATV Winch. It does not have a solenoid and has a mini rocker switch.
Thanks

[sledhead]

PK3, If you have a warn 2.5 It has solenoid, It's the black junction box the the blue, yellow, black and red wires connect to.

What kind of wheeler do you have?

Just by the off chance you did not leave the key on? I've done it before. If you hooked the Red wire off the rocker to a switched hot power it should not drain your battery. But really need to know what kind of wheeler it is.

[PK3]

I recently installed a winch on my four wheeler and last night I went out to load it up and found the battery was dead. I followed the directions for the installation , hooking up the rocker switch to a lead that only has power when the key is in the on position. Could this (the winch) be the cause of the battery drain? Any suggestions if this is the problem?
Thanks

[Dave]

I know you stated you hooked it up correctly but, to rule out that the winch installation is not causing your battery to drain, it really doesn't matter what type of ATV you have. First, the black component with terminals is a solenoid and "relay" combined (Warn calls it a contactor). Make sure you attached the red wire (20-gauge)from the rocker switch to a keyed on/off ignition wire. That means when the ignition key is off there is no power on that wire. This "contactor" disconnects the winch from the power source when the ignition key is off (you have to use a test light or volt meter to verify this condition). Actually, if you connected the red wire to a constant live 12 volt wire, the winch will work now with your ignition key off. That's not good. If you connected that 20-gauge rocker switch wire directly to a constant power source (ie: battery) it will drain your battery, since the contactor is drawing power all the time. Verify you have this portion connected correctly. If this portion is correct, it's not your winch that's draining the battery.

sledhead asked a good question, too. If you wired the winch correctly, you sure you turned the key off?...lol

[This message has been edited by Dave (edited 01-07-2004).]