Warn Winch Recall

[ShadowsPapa]

I’ve been brooding over this issue for a few days. I obviously don’t want my winch to auto-fire and destroy my bumper, but goddamnit I don’t want to loose my wireless functionality. Reading over the recall, it says

“The new wireless/corded remote currently being designed will have full conformal coating on the interior circuitry and sealed switches.”

So I had to Google what conformal coating is, and found this:



I’m not that versed in PCB’s and electronic manufacturing, so maybe someone with some knowledge can chime in here. What’s stopping me from just coating the board myself as seen in the above video?

Nothing as long as it's non-conductive at all. Heck, you should see how some things of the past were potted. I've even used certain epoxies to fix busted out potting.

At CCC, assembled PC board were run through a dishwasher and then coated with a protective sealer (they went to some really nasty environments in oil drilling and pumping areas and had to resist nasty stuff in the air)

Too bad that winches (maybe SOME do???) don't come with the same type of security my snow plow has- you can enter a 4 digit PIN into the controller. It locks the snow plow from being activated. They must use THAT remote or enter the pin if they use a different remote.
I thought that's pretty cool - drop the plow to the ground and take out the remote. That'll slow 'em down a bit. Or would it?
The downside was - if the vehicle battery was disconnected and reattached, it cleared the PIN. Geesh, pretty lame, IMO.
I'm not giving away any corporate secrets - it says that clearly in the owners manual.
Come on people - a bit of security, please?

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[Wolf Island Diver]

My Flipper can capture and replay the signal from the Warn remote. I haven’t tested it as it’s raining. But if it works, at least people can get a replacement, albeit, expensive remote. I’ll try sometime this week. I’ll have to see how the flipper’s way of sending signals works with the way Warn designed the remote. It can send a continuous signal. Prior to this remote problem the requirement to hold buttons down would be a safety plus but the recall makes it clear that can fail. The fact that the receiver can just receive and respond to a continuous signal continuously is even more potentially dangerous.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

Okay, yep. I’m not sure if this is awesome or terrifying. I’ve saved winch in and winch out signals on my Flipper Zero and both work. The length of time of the recording of the signal from the remote is the length of playback and thus how much the winch turns. So it’s not nearly as controllable as a button, but it works. Conceivably you just record a very short press of the button and then repeatedly send that from the Flipper. You could also write an app for the Flipper that makes the button work like that of the remote if so inclined. Hell, someone might’ve already done that. You’d have to check GitHub.


There are too big take aways from this:

1. The winch has no security. It might not even be paired with a remote, I.e remote signals are not unique. I need to test my Flipper on someone else’s winch. This means someone else might be able to spool in your winch with their remote or a similar device to the Flipper. It also means that the winch could conceivably spool in or out from some other similarly close signal. I don’t think there’s much concern that your winch is going to suddenly spool in the middle of the woods but in your garage in a city full of electromagnetic signals, it’s a distinct possibility. If you have one of these winches, or any wireless remote capable winch, you should install a battery cut off immediately.

2. If you currently have your Warn remote, you can make a back up using a Flipper or similar device. Buying one of these For this purpose is in a total waste since can also replace any wireless or infrared that doesn’t use rolling codes, so it can open gates, garage doors, control TVs, and other electronics.

 

[49Gramps]

Got my official notice that my submission was accepted. " Please allow 8-10 weeks for a rebate to be issued."

 

[JRobes]

Got my official notice that my submission was accepted. " Please allow 8-10 weeks for a rebate to be issued."

How many days after submitting? Waiting patiently for my confirmation currently.

 

[49Gramps]

How many days after submitting? Waiting patiently for my confirmation currently.

I received my confirmation that they received my submission within 48 hours. What I received today was the approval notice. I initially submitted on the 13th, right after the actual recall notice and form was published.

 

[fourfa]

Received the replacement wired-only remote:

 

[Jaxmax]

so what type of plug is on the remote a five wire round or tombstone, Warn making a totally different plug seems odd or cheap, my five wire plug or five wire warn universal wireless transmitter both plug into the same plug. plus there is the security of unplugging the transmitter and putting in glove with remote. Just sucks really.....jack

 

[fourfa]

Exactly the same plug as the previous wireless Evo remote - it just uses the same wired cable that comes with the winch. Cable layout is four pins in a straight line with a key on one side

 

[Burghardphotography]

Just received mine in the mail, if I wanted a wired winch I would have gone with a different brand. Probably just going to sell this winch.

 

[chorky]

Just received mine in the mail, if I wanted a wired winch I would have gone with a different brand. Probably just going to sell this winch.

I think its just a temporary thing till they get new remotes though...

 

[Burghardphotography]

I think its just a temporary thing till they get new remotes though...

Oh wait what? This is the first I’ve heard that! That would be ok with me.

 

[chorky]

Oh wait what? This is the first I’ve heard that! That would be ok with me.

I could be totally mis-speaking here since I don't have one of these winches - but I thought I saw a email a while ago about the recall and when talking with them about it a few weeks ago it sounded like that was their plan - I'm sure it will take a while, but pretty sure they were gonna find a fix on that.

Maybe it warrants a couple phone calls before selling yours.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Okay, yep. I’m not sure if this is awesome or terrifying. I’ve saved winch in and winch out signals on my Flipper Zero and both work. The length of time of the recording of the signal from the remote is the length of playback and thus how much the winch turns. So it’s not nearly as controllable as a button, but it works. Conceivably you just record a very short press of the button and then repeatedly send that from the Flipper. You could also write an app for the Flipper that makes the button work like that of the remote if so inclined. Hell, someone might’ve already done that. You’d have to check GitHub.


There are too big take aways from this:

1. The winch has no security. It might not even be paired with a remote, I.e remote signals are not unique. I need to test my Flipper on someone else’s winch. This means someone else might be able to spool in your winch with their remote or a similar device to the Flipper. It also means that the winch could conceivably spool in or out from some other similarly close signal. I don’t think there’s much concern that your winch is going to suddenly spool in the middle of the woods but in your garage in a city full of electromagnetic signals, it’s a distinct possibility. If you have one of these winches, or any wireless remote capable winch, you should install a battery cut off immediately.

2. If you currently have your Warn remote, you can make a back up using a Flipper or similar device. Buying one of these For this purpose is in a total waste since can also replace any wireless or infrared that doesn’t use rolling codes, so it can open gates, garage doors, control TVs, and other electronics.

Seriously? Just kill power to the damned thing.
People are told to put a cut-off in the line anyway.
Are we not over-thinking this a bit? Like don't crooks have better things to do - like steal the whole danged truck? Are people seriously going to be messing with your winch like this?
People are going to go around parking lots messing with winches to see which ones they can trigger?
Honestly, what are the odds and what would be the point or the gain? If they want to unspool it, all they have to do is flip the clutch lever and PULL.

This is one of the last things I'd ever worry about. How about securing things people are actually going to mess with?
Winches have had remote wireless controls for YEARS. It's not new. How many reports are there out there of people going around with a remote seeing which one they can trigger and messing with it?
Anyone who installs a winch and doesn't have their head in a dark place would have power cut to it anyway/already.
If they don't, then............. I won't say it LOL
But it's for SAFETY, not because people are running around with devices trying to unspool your rope. To what end when the can take your gas, tires, break windows and take contents, or steal the whole truck?

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

Seriously? Just kill power to the damned thing.
People are told to put a cut-off in the line anyway.
Are we not over-thinking this a bit? Like don't crooks have better things to do - like steal the whole danged truck? Are people seriously going to be messing with your winch like this?
People are going to go around parking lots messing with winches to see which ones they can trigger?
Honestly, what are the odds and what would be the point or the gain? If they want to unspool it, all they have to do is flip the clutch lever and PULL.

This is one of the last things I'd ever worry about. How about securing things people are actually going to mess with?
Winches have had remote wireless controls for YEARS. It's not new. How many reports are there out there of people going around with a remote seeing which one they can trigger and messing with it?
Anyone who installs a winch and doesn't have their head in a dark place would have power cut to it anyway/already.
If they don't, then............. I won't say it LOL
But it's for SAFETY, not because people are running around with devices trying to unspool your rope. To what end when the can take your gas, tires, break windows and take contents, or steal the whole truck?

What are you even talking about? I never said thieves are going to use this to steal people’s winches. That doesn’t make any sense. I said this particular brand/model of wireless winch has nothing (like a rolling code) preventing a similar signal within the absolutely jam packed sub-ghz frequency ranges, activating it. By “security” I’m referring to wireless security, not theft prevention. I specifically mentioned interference not theft as a concern. This already happens all the time with other devices like garage door openers. Except that in this case it’s a 10-12,000lb winch pulling against the bumper.

Now social media is full of people going around with Flippers screwing with people’s wireless stuff including vehicles. But the fact that I said people can do it doesn’t it mean that I think they will. I agree that is unlikely and certainly not for theft reasons since you can already unlock the clutch and unspool any winch already.

It’s a bit odd to post an objection to the discussion of this unintended wireless activation issue stating “Winches have had remote wireless controls for YEARS” in a thread whose topic concerns a manufactures recall over unintended, wireless activation. In Warn’s own words, this can lead to injury or death. What I added to this discussion is proving that the wireless signal doesn’t have to come from the Warn remote. I think that’s pretty damn relevant.

I also don’t understand why you’re responding to my post with “just kill power to the damn thing.” That’s literally the point of every one of my posts on the subject. We’re making the exact same argument, . People should put a power cutoff on a wireless capable winch. But again my advocating for a cutoff has nothing to do with theft at all.

I also said in that post that I’m not concerned about this issue of interference in the places where I may need to turn on power the winch.

Once this wireless remote issue came up, I decided to test it with my Flipper. I did this not to make a claim about thieves. I did this because I was curious about the remotes security given that it apparently can fail ON. If Warn has that kind of dangerous shit going on what other problems exist? When I proved that you can activate this device with a pocket signal generator, I thought it was worth sharing because even if you replace your remote with a wired one, this problem still exists unless you remove the wireless receiver itself from the winch. I don’t know if anyone has brought up the possibility of the wireless receiver failing in the ON position. Has Warn considered that possibility?

I also made that post to inform people who do get rid of their wireless remote that a secondary, albeit expensive, option for maintaining the wireless capability exists. Helping people by letting them know about things is one of the main points of this forum. It’s information that someone might actually find useful. I’m now set up to be able to use my Flipper to control my winch and this is a software-based controller that’s going to be much harder to inadvertently activate at this specific signal.

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