Warne Zenon Platinum Winch
Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 9:28 am
When I had the Wildtrak fitted out I selected a Warne Zenon Platinum 12000 lb. winch with their "Enhanced Signal Kit". Okay ALL the Zenon range of Warne winches are ONLY remote wireless controlled, there is no cable connection available . I used mine in 2018 to haul a mate out of a boggy clay pan in the Simpson Desert and possibly a year later operated it again to check the nylon cable and rewound it after washing Fraser Island salt and sand out of the cable,
On Thursday I went to use the winch to drag my 7x4 off road trailer into a convenient out-of-the-way location in the front garden - nothing happened, no winch !! Normally a series of "bars" appears on the remote hand held controller screen to indicate signal strength -- all it showed was a red "X" for no signal.
Back to 4X4 Offroad in Bathurst and they pulled the control box apart to find a tiny wire, no more than 0.5 m in dia had come out of the silicon sealed PCB and this was the vital connection to the ariel - so so signal and no operation ! Just how it came out is a total mystery but 4X4 weren't prepared to try to repair it.
Next week they will install the original control unit that I still had -- so my question is has anyone else got one of these units and if so just how much further does the "enhanced" ariel allow winch operation and to be aware that this tiny wire can vibrate over corrugations and come out of the PCB.
I'll gently remove the thick layer of silicon and re-connect the ariel wire and set it aside should I ever decide to have it reinstalled.
All up the Warne winch, the "enhanced signal kit" and its installation cost $4040.00 inc GST - I expected a better service life from Warne. To date their only comment - ( through ARB their Australian agents ) has been "It's 5 months out of warranty" fortunately for me 4X4 Offroad have a better service philosophy !
On Thursday I went to use the winch to drag my 7x4 off road trailer into a convenient out-of-the-way location in the front garden - nothing happened, no winch !! Normally a series of "bars" appears on the remote hand held controller screen to indicate signal strength -- all it showed was a red "X" for no signal.
Back to 4X4 Offroad in Bathurst and they pulled the control box apart to find a tiny wire, no more than 0.5 m in dia had come out of the silicon sealed PCB and this was the vital connection to the ariel - so so signal and no operation ! Just how it came out is a total mystery but 4X4 weren't prepared to try to repair it.
Next week they will install the original control unit that I still had -- so my question is has anyone else got one of these units and if so just how much further does the "enhanced" ariel allow winch operation and to be aware that this tiny wire can vibrate over corrugations and come out of the PCB.
I'll gently remove the thick layer of silicon and re-connect the ariel wire and set it aside should I ever decide to have it reinstalled.
All up the Warne winch, the "enhanced signal kit" and its installation cost $4040.00 inc GST - I expected a better service life from Warne. To date their only comment - ( through ARB their Australian agents ) has been "It's 5 months out of warranty" fortunately for me 4X4 Offroad have a better service philosophy !