In Cab Winch Switch

I decided to put an in cab switch to control the winch from the dash.This way I wont always need to dig out the remote. I did not find anther write up here so here we go.

My goal was to have the switch wired using all five wires in the Warn 5 pin system. The switch would work identical to the remote and also have a second switch to cut the power to the switch and the remote terminal when off.

I have a Warn M8000 but the setup is very similar in other winches. There are several variations on wiring up the switch and I will mention some as I go. There are also kits available if you want to go that route.

I bought everything I needed at my local electronics and hardware stores. I picked up the following:

2 foot length of 1/2" shrink tube
10' roll of 1/2" split loom, to contain the wires
on off switch
one switch guard
DPDT momentary switch, (on) off (on)
10' - 12' length of trailer wire
10' - 12' length of lamp or speaker wire
wire connectors and fittings

I spent around $30.



I used the split loom for everything except from under the bumper to the winch. I wanted the new bundle of wires to hide among the others and the large heat shrink tube did the trick.


I marked and drilled two 1/2" holes in the dash for the switch. There was nothing behind the scored plastic piece shown next to the instrument panel


I was able to save on some wire length by routing the wires under the bumper and up the inside of the drivers side engine bay. The current running to and from the remote and switch are in the 4 amp range so trailer wire was cheap and sufficient for the job. Lamp of speaker wire will make up for the 5th wire in the five pin remote and the last is for the ground return for the remote terminal kill switch.

The sixth wire is only necessary if you would like to kill power to the remote as well as the switch. I also used the common ground from the winch when it is possible to ground directly to the frame within the cab.

A last variation in maintaining a 5 pin switch would be to tap into a local in cab power source. Be sure to add an inline fuse and be mindful of what you tap into.

The five wires the go the remote are as follows:

Red - 12V Power
Black - Common Ground
Green - Winch Out
White - Winch in
Brown - Solenoid Ground

I used the same color scheme with the trailer wire with the exception of Yellow for the Red power wire. I used the lamp cord to run the common ground from the winch remote ground (black) to the on off switches off position. I cut this ground to the remote and ran a lead back from the on off switches on position. This cuts the power to the remote unless the in cab kill switch is in the on position. The ground is also sent from the on off switch on position to the DPDT switch.

The DPDT switch has six terminals and the following diagram outlines how I wired up the switch. The two brown terminals are bridged together.

Here is a picture of the switch with and without some labels I will reference below.





1. On switch "ON" position to DPDT switch common ground, center left
2. On switch "ON" position to winch remote terminal common ground
3. On switch "OFF" position to winch ground or any frame/body ground
4. Brown solenoid ground bridge upper left and lower left (10)
5. Upper right green from winch (winch out)
6. Common ground from winch
7. Yellow - 12v power from winch
8. Lower right white from winch (winch in)
9. Solenoid ground from winch
10. Solenoid bridge to #4





1. White (winch in) to DPDT switch
2. Green (winch out) to DPDT switch
3. Yellow 12v power to DPDT switch
4. Brown solenoid ground to DPDT switch
5. Black common ground to on switch "ON" position

It was fairly simple to wire up and is now very convenient to operate. Feel free to post up or PM me any question. I hope it makes since.

Josh

Wow, nice job. Pics from inside the cab?

Since you have a late model,you could also done this with the steering wheel controls!

RCP Phx said:

Since you have a late model,you could also done this with the steering wheel controls!

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Except I doubt they are rated at 4 amps! I would not wire it this way with any of the oem switches. Using a toggle like above is the way to go IMO

r33pwrd said:

Except I doubt they are rated at 4 amps! I would not wire it this way with any of the oem switches. Using a toggle like above is the way to go IMO

Click to expand...

Relays, grasshopper, relays:roll:

sunburned said:

Wow, nice job. Pics from inside the cab?

Click to expand...

Thanks, I will get a shot up soon.

RCP Phx said:

Since you have a late model,you could also done this with the steering wheel controls!

Click to expand...

good idea but, my cruise control works and I still enjoy using it on long trips.

souske said:

Relays, grasshopper, relays:roll:

Click to expand...

Notice I said not to wire it this way with the oem switch :repair:

XJensen said:

good idea but, my cruise control works and I still enjoy using it on long trips.

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You still get to maintain your Cruise Control!

RCP Phx said:

You still get to maintain your Cruise Control!

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Now you have my intrigue. Write-up?

DeftwillP said:

Now you have my intrigue. Write-up?

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http://www.stu-offroad.com/recovery/twc/twc-1.htm

thanks for the link. Interesting...

XJensen said:

The five wires the go the remote are as follows:

Red - 12V Power
Black - Common Ground
Green - Winch Out
White - Winch in
Brown - Solenoid Ground

Click to expand...

Are these the wires inside the Warn solenoid box? Are you sure this is correct? I remotely located the wand plug away from the solenoid box for my M8000, and when I spliced and lengthened the wires, I recorded which wires did what for when I go to make my interior winch control.

What I found the wires to do was:

When winch wand connected, red wire connected to brown wire -->ground
White wire --> + power (this wire was the 'hot' wire)
When button pressed to spool wire in -->white and green showed continuity
When button pressed to spool wire out -->white and black showed continuity

RCP Phx said:

Since you have a late model,you could also done this with the steering wheel controls!

Click to expand...

I would love to do this to, as the steering wheel controls would be great for this sort of thing, but I've found that Ive been winching before, and had to turn my steering wheel. I'm never just holding it straight ahead, therefore the controls might not be the easiest to continue to hold.

Begster said:

Are these the wires inside the Warn solenoid box? Are you sure this is correct? I remotely located the wand plug away from the solenoid box for my M8000, and when I spliced and lengthened the wires, I recorded which wires did what for when I go to make my interior winch control.

What I found the wires to do was:

When winch wand connected, red wire connected to brown wire -->ground
White wire --> + power (this wire was the 'hot' wire)
When button pressed to spool wire in -->white and green showed continuity
When button pressed to spool wire out -->white and black showed continuity

Click to expand...

I will double check tonight but the red is connected directly to the winch wire that goes to the positive battery terminal. Not sure why you have that as a negative lead?

I just purchased my winch this past christmas, maybe the wiring changed? I know my free spool lever was different from past models.

Geez, I just ran 12v to a switch. Then ran 12v to the "Winch-IN" lead and ran 12v to the "Winch-OUT" lead on the other side of an ON-OFF-ON toggle.

XJensen said:

I will double check tonight but the red is connected directly to the winch wire that goes to the positive battery terminal. Not sure why you have that as a negative lead?

I just purchased my winch this past christmas, maybe the wiring changed? I know my free spool lever was different from past models.

Click to expand...

Very well could be different. I know for a fact that my red wire going to the plug came with a full circle terminal that is bolted to ground. I'm not near my Jeep, so I can't get any specific pictures, but you can see from these that the only wires I had to cut were the white, green, black and brown. The red wire runs off to ground, and is not spliced as you can see.

Yeah it looks like the wiring has changed between our years. Not sure when they changed things. Something to think about, always confirm what you read...

Thanks for posting.

Just used this sweet write up to wire up my winch switch!

Nice write-up. Wiring up an interior winch control has been on my to-do list much too long. Now I have no excuse to put it off.

This is really sweet for guys who already own a winch. Blue tooth winch controllers were just out when I was winch shopping, and the cost/benefit is a win IMO.