Solenoid Pack or DC Contactor?

[TL-Iguana]

Does anyone on here have any experience with either? My winch finally ran fine until it spat a part number, and that means I have possibly one or 2 dead solenoids. Its a Warn M15000. Now upon researching my options I know that I can replace the 4 solenoids with one DC contactor. What Id like to know is if its worthwhile to spend the extra money on the contactor, that is better sealed from the elements, and is designed to fail in an open state, or just go back to the 1940s technology and replace 2 to 4 solenoids that are poorly sealed, and can fail in the closed position.... The DC contactor has seen a lot more use in the winch world as of late, and it would seem to me like the better way to go.. They handle the same loads, can be easily replaced with no piggy backing to other solenoids, and it would even take up less space under the hood since my control pack is remote anyways. The space factor really has no bearing in this, but the fact that it would be easier to replace should it ever fail again does have my attention. Now I have done some basic research, but I cant seem to find any real world opinions on whether or not this would be a decent upgrade or If I should just take the bypass route per say and put more old school solenoids back in

Of course following the Jeep mentality, when somethings broke upgrade it

[TL-Iguana]

Im gonna hazard a guess that just buying new solenoids then would be the recommended route to take here

[Black Betty]

Cost wise what are we talking here for difference?  Sounds like you want to go with contactors.

[TL-Iguana]

Cost wise what are we talking here for difference?  Sounds like you want to go with contactors.

Solenoid packs are about $200 +/- whereas a contactor is close to $100 for a 400amp.

Even if I carry a trail spare its still costing the same or less for what seems to be a better way to go..

[BlackAura]

Solenoid packs are about $200 +/- whereas a contactor is close to $100 for a 400amp.

Even if I carry a trail spare its still costing the same or less for what seems to be a better way to go..

I couldn't even find a 400 amp dc solenoid with a decent duty cycle.  Where have you been looking?

Also let me know how the contactor works.

[TL-Iguana]

the solenoid pack would be direct from Warn. The contactors ive been looking at are sold mostly in Australia from a chineese company called Albright. Now yes, we all know that theres some stuff made in china thats not so great quality wise... Believe me, I know!! I sell that stuff every day.. But the contactor itself, is a superior design to a solenoid, but whether or not I want to risk putting money into it to have it fail is another story ... I havent decided yet what way to go. My Jeep sadly sits where it is right now as my rear pinion is shot. So its gonna be a while before i move forward with the winch repair as Id like to get it driving again first

[Unknown303]

So what places can you order DC Contactors from?

[vantagetes]

There are also non Warn solenoids you can buy, I think also from Albright. Wayyyyyy cheaper too. Do a little searching, shouldn't be hard to find.

[BlackAura]

the solenoid pack would be direct from Warn. The contactors ive been looking at are sold mostly in Australia from a chineese company called Albright. Now yes, we all know that theres some stuff made in china thats not so great quality wise... Believe me, I know!! I sell that stuff every day.. But the contactor itself, is a superior design to a solenoid, but whether or not I want to risk putting money into it to have it fail is another story ... I havent decided yet what way to go. My Jeep sadly sits where it is right now as my rear pinion is shot. So its gonna be a while before i move forward with the winch repair as Id like to get it driving again first

Re-read your original post, forgot you were trying to repair your winch, sorry.

In my case, I want to setup a solenoid (as a relay won't do) to control power to the winch, but maybe I can just pick up one of those solenoids from warn.  Most of the searching I did turned up 100amp solenoids with high duty cycles.  Anything larger was 20% duty cycle at best.

The contactors sound pretty neat though, I'll do some more research on them.

Are you sure you'd be able to get forward and reverse with a single contactor?  Sounds like they work similar to solenoids (fixed contact, and a moving contact, and an electromagnet pulls the moving contact so it touches the fixed contact via induction on the secondary terminals, gravity or a spring returns the moving contact to a non-conducting position when voltage across the secondary terminals is removed) which makes me wonder if you'd still require four of them.  Maybe they make contactors with multiple fixed and moving contacts.

[JohnB]

I couldn't even find a 400 amp dc solenoid with a decent duty cycle.  Where have you been looking?

Also let me know how the contactor works.

Most people use the Albright DC88P series.  http://www.albrightinternational.com/files/downloads/catalogues/SW80%20CATALOGUE.pdf  You can see the contact performance curve on page 7.  100 A continuous, around 80 seconds at 400 Amps.  It is way outside of what any electrical system would be able to supply.  Waterproof and compact.

[TL-Iguana]

Most people use the Albright DC88P series.  http://www.albrightinternational.com/files/downloads/catalogues/SW80%20CATALOGUE.pdf  You can see the contact performance curve on page 7.  100 A continuous, around 80 seconds at 400 Amps.  It is way outside of what any electrical system would be able to supply.  Waterproof and compact.

Thankyou so much JohnB

This is the sort of information I have been looking for! I still really want to convert the 4 solenoid pack to the single contactor, and for the money I have into this winch its still worth my while to try it

Thanks for posting I will do a write up on here once I get one ordered to let everyone know how it works out.

[TL-Iguana]

Stumbled across this on Pirate and thought Id post a link here for you guys that are interested...

My Jeep is still not running so I havent put much more thought into this, but I am still leaning this direction to get the winch workin again....

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=706197

[snodawg]

Using a D.C. contactor would be really expensive due to the high current you would like to draw, 200 amps+. You would also have two buy two of them to achieve fwd and reverse, and they would be mechanically interlocked. They are large and pricey. The the coils would also draw a higher current to overcome the return spring pressure. Arc suppression is another obstacle. DC arcs like a welder, in industrial DC contactors, the contactor is closed first, then power is applied to reduce the chance of arcing. Just my 2 cents.....

[JohnB]

Using a D.C. contactor would be really expensive due to the high current you would like to draw, 200 amps+. You would also have two buy two of them to achieve fwd and reverse, and they would be mechanically interlocked. They are large and pricey. The the coils would also draw a higher current to overcome the return spring pressure. Arc suppression is another obstacle. DC arcs like a welder, in industrial DC contactors, the contactor is closed first, then power is applied to reduce the chance of arcing. Just my 2 cents.....

Perhaps you should read above.  They are not that expensive, waterproof, fully reversing contactors designed for this type of use and rated for the type of current involved.....

[JJonesee]

I like solenoids.  You can get them for $12 each.  They take 5 min to replace.

If the contactor is less than $24, I would do it.

These are of course US prices, Im sure Canada would charge double..