Rider controlled winches

Hey everyone,

It comes up every time I talk to someone about winches, how can we make a model that the rider controls. I have had an idea to utilise a car central locking kit, using the lock/unlock actuator to control the throttle.

I have seen some car remotes that will work at 200m so all you would need is to set your motor idling, run the line out and hit the remote button to open the throttle. You would need a metal sleeve or contact that would kill the engine and apply the brake at a set length in the line (20-30m to go or whatever).

Lets get some ideas out there and get this to work.

Cheers,

Joel

Tags: Automated, Self-drive, Winch

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Permalink Reply by Ryan MacGregor on January 23, 2011 at 9:59am

Sounds doable Joel. I'm an electrician and I was just thinking, you could extend your reel shaft and place an adjustable limit on the non-drive end (the type of limit used on roller doors.) This would only work on models with an electric killswitch, but would be a lot neater than trying to place something on the spectre. However you would have to pull out a set length of line (marked) before the limit will close and allow you to restart the winch.

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Permalink Reply by Alistair Daff on January 23, 2011 at 10:37am

these guys made one using a golf cart. i think when the rider puts weight on it, the motor engages and when he lets go and his weight is off the line, it stops.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1gRWaS_Nwg

website link: http://www.lakepepininnovation.com/index.php?p=1_2_Products

dunno if that helps..

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Permalink Reply by Alistair Daff on January 23, 2011 at 10:39am

found this on the forum as well about how it works.. "you pull the rope out just like a normal winch once your set and your board is on you give the rope a sharp tug and it engages the clutch which gets the electric motor going and presto you are riding. Once you hit the slider or gap and do something amazing you toss the handle with the tension is off the rope for a few seconds the clutch disengages and the winch stops."

forum link: http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=783695

or theres always this option: http://www.solowatersports.com/ haha

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Permalink Reply by dean butt on January 23, 2011 at 11:15am

its always been a rad idea and would be cool to be able 2 go out wen u dont hav a crew or a mate to go with, but i think winching is somethin always done with at least a couple of people, just easier to hav a driver i think.

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Permalink Reply by Joel Symons on January 23, 2011 at 2:54pm

Yeah Alistair I've seen the both of those, Their both electric units though, also I don't want to accidentally pull too hard on the handle and get yanked off my feet when pulling the line out. I was thinking of these waterproof remotes:

http://www.dinodirect.com/200M-Two-Keys-Waterproof-Wireless-Remote-...

Then set these actuators on a relay with the remote

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-2-4-door-UNIVERSAL-CAR-CENTRAL-LOCKING-K...

Back soon...

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Permalink Reply by deano@frontierwakeskates.com on January 25, 2011 at 10:06am

I've fitted my winch out with a remote control, for solo winching...

Basically you need to have you winch dialled so you know where the perfect throttle setting is for riding.

This makes it easier for people to operate the winch.. just design a governer/limiter that doesn't allow the throttle to go past that certain point.

From here, its as simple as getting your hands on a push-type solenoid/actuator that mounts to the winch that will push the trottle to that position.

For the remote, get the radio control kit from Jaycar, cheap and easy to solder up, and no shit, will fire the solenoid from more 300 meters away, even longer if you hook a decent arial up to the reciever end. The kit contains both the transmitter and reciever. here's the link: http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=KC5473&CATID=25&...

The reciever then fires a relay switch which fires a timer which fires the solenoid. the timer unit is controlled by a dial(potentiometer) which allows you to set the time, in seconds for your run... just work out your run length and set the timer to turn off a few seconds shorter than the the length of the run.

The transmitter is mounted in a waterproof box, also from jaycar, with a waterproof toggle switch... one hit of the switch pushes the throttle and you're riding!!

Drawbacks are:

the winch has to be idling but that's no bother for a few quick runs, as we know winches use jack all fuel.
you will get your handle chewed if you stack too early in you run and drop the handle, as it will be racing in unloaded to the winch, but meh, just hang on or take take one-trick passes,

Benefits are:

Do i need to list any benefits? you guys are already onto it!

If ya want to know more, feel free to ask...

My mate reckons he can rig up a cut off switch, ie a bit of metal that will pass a sensor and cut the timer, but have'nt needed to, as once you get it sussed you'll never get the handle chewed. short one trick runs are the key...

And this could be easily adapted to remote start the winch too, if you have an electric start motor.