3rd Gen Winch Causing Parasitic Drain on Battery

[coder]

PW Forum Note:

For the last year or more my wich has be doing a parasitic drain on my battery. At first I thought is was the battery so I replaced that, then the alternator so I replaced that, however persisted the drain continued about 30% of a full battery overnight. Finally I took it to a local shop and they were able isolate the drain to the winch.

I called Warn tech support and asked them about possible causes for the parasitic drain. They indicated that a bad solenoids, cross-wiring of the control pack to the solenoids or even plugging in the remote and leaving it there all night would not cause that much of a drain.

I am not an electrical guru by any means. I'm going to move the winch today check all the wiring positive and negative to the battery so possible grounding and double check the control pack to the solenoid setup. Do any of you guys have any thoughts/ideas and what else I might need to do to troubleshoot the issue?

The winch works, is in a relatively good and rust free condition since I live in SoCal.

[Bill2014]

After the truck has been sitting off for a few hours, see if the winch solenoid is slightly warmer than everything around it. The hand held infrared thermomitors are great for this but your hand may feel the difference if it is draining your battery that fast.

[Retired BLM Rig]

In your signature it says that you have the winch thermal protection bypass, does it make any difference if that is removed and returned to stock?

[RustyPW]

In your signature it says that you have the winch thermal protection bypass, does it make any difference if that is removed and returned to stock?

Mind has been bypassed for about 10 yrs. No issues like that.

[Ducky's Dad]

My 3G has had a mysterious parasitic drain problem for years, but when I or a professional tests for drain, it is always within spec at about 25-35 ma. Never tested the winch because it didn't seem necessary. "Solved" the problem by installing a giant Blue Sea Systems disconnect under the hood. Kind of a PITA, but I only have to use it when the truck is parked for more than a few days.

[Ducky's Dad]

Deleted duplicate post.

[Powagone]

Did you ever get it figured out?

[coder]

I ended up taking my truck to another shop that specializes in auto electronics, I left it overnight, they ran a test for a parasitic drain and everything was within spec. I have been working from home and not driving much since COVID started, lots of very short trips and I think I just killed my battery. Been making longer drives (20-30 minutes) once or twice a week and everything seems to be working fine now.

[Powagone]