I'm a ATV and forum newby. I bought my Kodiak 700 EPS last year (well, 2015) and struggled to assemble the winch and plow kit. The instructions were terrible and many parts were wrong, but I finally got it done (after many delays) this winter. The winch does nor respond to the in/out handlebar switch. The winch works in and out when I connect the battery directly to the winch terminals. There are two white connectors on the switch cable that could be connected to connectors on the ON switch for the ATV (I think) but I didn't do it because the cable from that ON switch has no slack there, and there was no instruction to do that. Is it necessary? The in/out switch cable connects to the contactor block, but I couldn't find a schematic to see how it does what it is supposed to do. Do I have a defective switch? a defective contactor block? How do I test for those things? I can't get any help from Warn.
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Do you have a volt meter for testing?
You should be able to put a meter from the black battery lead to the small wires on the contactor and hit the switch and see 12v on one of them and the other when you push the switch the other way (with all the wires hooked up). If you do have voltage then it's probly the contactor if you don't it's probly the switch. I assume this was working after you installed it initially? Or you don't have the contactor hooked to ground, or you don't have 12v going to the switch.
You should be able to put a meter from the black battery lead to the small wires on the contactor and hit the switch and see 12v on one of them and the other when you push the switch the other way (with all the wires hooked up). If you do have voltage then it's probly the contactor if you don't it's probly the switch. I assume this was working after you installed it initially? Or you don't have the contactor hooked to ground, or you don't have 12v going to the switch.
Thanks, cjg. Would the 12v going to the switch come from connection of the "ON" switch on the ATV? I saw that in a post from Schmeg, but the instruction sheet from Warn never mentioned it. I thought the voltage to operate the solenoid would come from inside the contactor block itself and that the in/out switch merely connected that voltage to the correct coil in the contactor block in some way that I didn't understand. It would have been helpful for warn to provided clear and complete instructions. The winch never worked, and now I'm starting to think that I need to connect the white connectors on the in/out cable to the white connectors on the ON/OFF switch cable. Is this the way your rig is set up?
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You need power to the switch from some where. I could be from the on switch, then it would only work with the key on (if you get the right spot on the switch). So the voltage to operate the contactor (small wires) comes from 2 of the wires from the switch, the other wire on the switch comes from wherever you decide to get power from, so power goes in on 1 wire and out on either of the other 2 depending on which way you have pushed the switch. The contactor is going to need to be grounded some how so when you hit the switch the power goes through the switch to the contactor. Depending on how you hook up those wires will determine winching direction or you could swap the big wires on the winch if it's not going the right way.
OK. This is very helpful, cjg. Thanks alot. The wring diagram makes much more sense to me now. I am going out to the shop and wire the switch to connect it to a source of power now. I'm confident that you've put your finger on the problem
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