Winch carrier for Fiery (née Free Steel...........)

[Chris]

There are quite a few threads out there on "inside an Albright solenoid' and some images too

http://www.thetoolboxshop.com/albright-double-acting-strapped-pair-solenoid-contactors.html

 

[sae70]

I did have a look at the ToolBox site, but not with regards to information only as a possible place to purchase one from. Dig deep and you can find spare sets of contact kits that they sell for the various contractors, the one that we commonly use for our winches appears to be the DC88P. If you have a look at the 8 page data sheet for the contractors there's a graph that suggests that the genuine Albright contractor contacts should be capable of handling 500amps for about 45 seconds and a breaking current of 800amps!!! I think that the damage is done when making and breaking the contacts when winching once already under load. The photo of the contacts in the Albright contact kit look identically to the ones that I've just removed from my Chinese copy one and why wouldn't they?!

 

[Graham]

like these?

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.1.kK9cVg&id=8966639438

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.11.m6RcGO&id=17318620820

Gra.

(use google chrome for automatic translate)

 

[sae70]

Typical! By the time I'd got around to calling the chap that's selling the TG Thompson ones he'd closed for the day, so shall have to call him on Monday morning. I guess it will give me some more time to see if I can find any more information out about them. I'd love to find a photo of the inside of one of the TG Thompson ones or someone giving a direct comparison between the Thompson and an Albright, but nowt so far!

 

[sae70]

Still not managed to find any internal photos of the TG Thompson Heavy Duty winch solenoid pack as yet but have found this detail on a couple of sites now suggesting that it's pretty much the same dimensions of an Albright/Durite winch solenoid pack. The other interesting thing is that the TG Thompson solenoid appears to be rated at 450Amps continuous. The Chinese Albright copies are rated at 100Amps continuous and the genuine Albright DC88P's are rated at 80Amps continuos! The Albright web site would suggests that the DC88 style contactor/solenoid would be able to handle 450Amps for about 40sec before contact damage occured!!!!

Albright, Durite and Chinese copy DC88P approximate dimensions.
Overall dimensions:100mm wide, 95mm high, 67mm deep.

Tigerz11 branded TG Thompson soleniod.
Overall dimensions:110mm wide, 75mm high, 70mm deep.

Tigerz11 branded TG Thompson soleniod.
Overall dimensions:110mm wide, 75mm high, 70mm deep.
Suitable for winches up to 12,000lb.
Continuous current rating 450 amps
Operating temperature -30 to 75 Celcius
Contact resistance < 20 milli ohms
Power consumption < 16 watts
Operating time < 50 milliseconds
Release time (max) 50 milliseconds
Electrical life span approx 50,000 cycles
Mechanical life span approx 100,000 cycles

Chinese copy of Albright DC88P
Rated at 100 amps continuous. (Albright is rated at 80 amps continuous)
120 amps with 70% duty cycle. (Albright is rated 95 amps at 70% duty cycle)
180 amps 30% duty cycle. (Albright is rated 150 amps at 30% duty cycle)
Typical voltage drop across contacts at 100 amps is 40 milli volts.
4 high current terminals for battery, motor A, motor F1 and motor F2. 3 low current spade connectors.

However! I'm mindful that all of this information is unqualified as it's come from off of the the internet, but if true then would seem to be very promising

Just need to find some internal photos of the thing now

 

[sae70]

I managed to speak with the chap that's selling the TG Thompson extra heavy duty winch solenoids (Winch-It on eBay).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-EXTRA...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item416e877213

I asked about his thoughts on the quality and ability of the unit and he certainly only had good things to say about it. He had a good analogy about the TG Thompson solenoid compared to the Albright one and its many copies and it was that the Albright style solenoids weigh in at 0.7Kg and the Thompson weighs in at 1.3Kg! Says it all really as there's not that much difference in size. In fact he said that apart from the different positions for the electrical connections it will fit into the standard sized solenoid housing and the connections can still be made if a bit of a bastard to get them big fat cables into a comfy position, but all doable.

So I've ordered one

 

[sae70]

I've also re-instated the IP integrity of my Albright style solenoid

I also spooled my synthetic rope from off of the winch to give it a clean following the weekend away in Wales

As I was spooling out, the rope would pull itself back in again where it had pulled through the lower layers on the drum when under heavy load while winching, so was a bit of a pig to get off!

In places the synthetic looked flat and melted and was hard to the touch!!!

But was easy enough to get back to a normal look by pushing the strands together as if opening the rope up to do a splice.

The ol' synthetic is starting to look a little discolored now and well used with a kind of fluffiness along its whole length akin to a often worn favorite jumper.

 

[sae70]

Oh and the chap with the LR Disco' whose winch we thought had packed up due to the Chinese solenoid failing, actually turned out to have nothing wrong with the solenoids, but had water ingress into the winch motor housing causing the brushes to stick in!

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Like the IP fix Funny how the rope can go quite stiff and plasticy under load and then all fluffy and soft again.

 

[sae70]

It came

I'm impressed Its just the right size to fit in a standard solenoid box with little modification although the heavy gauge wiring will be a small challenge to get connected, but not impossible. Its full of satisfyingly large bits of copper and is much heavier than an Albright or equivalent. There's also plenty of well placed soft rubbery 'O' Rings.

Here's some photos;

Tigerz11 TG Thompson extra heavy duty winch solenoid/contactor

 

[TonyP]

That does look very nice indeed

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I like the look of that, nice solid and simple design

 

[Chris]

I have a pair already on their way to me.

Proper looking kit.

Chris

 

[Chris]

And they arrived today. Very very good looking bit of kit and they feel like a proper job.

Chris

 

[sae70]

You'll be having a late night laid on you back then!

 

[Chris]

Nah, but I shall take them with me this weekend and if I get chance around the camp fire, I might swap one.

Chris