Well I returned my winch at harbor fright and took a chance and get the same brand ! Worked 10 seconds then nothing ! So I watched this video and you were right reversed the 2 red wires all good so far Thank you ! You saved me from a hole lot of aggravation ! I live hr ,1/1/2 from harbor fright !👍😊👀
You're welcome. Dang that's quite the drive. Hopefully it holds up well. I've had 2 of them break on me. Both have brok in the same spot on the case of the winch where it's really thin. Looks like it's made out of caste aluminum. Why they would make the casing for the winch out of cast aluminum especially when it's a 12000 pound winch is beyond me. They are definitely Good when it comes to pulling but man they sure need a redesign it with a different material that they make the casing out of.
Thank you! I literally was just looking at my winch instructions and about to do the install when I decided to look for a video first. Imagine my shock! I would have done it wrong. Two thumbs up!
Thank you so much for making this wiring video. I actually went back to the store for an exchange because the wires were different than the instructions. the salesperson opened a new box for me to check before i exchanged it and sure enough its wired the same way as the first one. Glad you clarified its the instructions that are wrong and not how the factory wired it.
Bad wiring diagram and installing on a trailer with battery super close to winch. On a car that short red wire would never reach to the battery. Good for you figuring it out and sharing.
i called the the assistant help line the have, the said the short red goes to the motor,and the long one goes to battery .i switched mine like you did an it worked great. told him didnt make sense ,you have one long blk cable an one red short cable for the battery,he said the changed the instruction in 2017 ,so that would make these new one supposedly about 4 yrs old :( thank you for catching it
THANKS!!! Was on my second winch. Wired the first one, no power. Assumed defective. 160 mile round trip trip to Harbor Freight to exchange. Second one, the same till I saw your video. Switched wires...all good. Why the heck don't they change their instructions? I know...China.
It's seemed to hold up pretty good now. I'll have to do another video in a year or so when I have more time with it so I can give a legitimate accurate review of it.
Thanks for sharing the info homie. I'm about to purchase one for my junk removal business to install on a utility trailer. Just subbed. #respectthehustle
Thank you for the video. I was wondering.. did you reverse the cables on the control box as well or just the holes the cables come through? I just want to make sure the wiring coming from the 4 posts of the control box is correct also
My 9,000 lb Badland winch I I purchased has been a very good but I found out the hard way on why they're so cheap compared to other winch brands all the cables are copper coated aluminum and once they start corroding you won't notice this and it will burn the winch motor out I replaced all my cables with solid copper one ought copper cable and has worked perfect ever since but it did cost me another $150 for good copper cables
Harbor frate does sells a wireless winch remote for your winch and the wireless winch remote has a 50 foot rang on it I got 1 of the harbor frate wireless winch remote for my winch and my wireless winch remote works awesome
The relay/overload timed breaker that you connect to the red wire which connects on at the positive side of the battery may be bad. Or there something in the black control box that was bad from the beginning.
if you read the instructions it states which wires go to the motor and which ones go to the battery and the length and the covers on the end of the wires give it away i will say the picture is incorrect.
I thought that was kind of self explanatory lol. It's like 6ft long so it's kind of obvious it should go somewhere further away that directly on the winch or anywhere else LOL.
@@TysonCapel23 More so than that, the winch itself has saved my ass in a serious way more than once now. These are great budget priced winches but not budget built. Last time it saved me it was totally submerged under water and I had to fish for everything underwater, sweating that it wasn't gonna work. It did, and pulled me right up outta some nasty mud and saved me from surely hydrolocking my engine. So thanks to the winch and thanks again to you for the help installing it easily
If your plate instead it's bolted to that will cause the casing on the winch to break they're not very thick Did you vent that plate cuz I've been mine for the same setup for the same kind of wench
My question is the wire you say that's supposed to run to the battery? Where exactly is that connected inside of the box? Reason why I ask is I just got the same one attached to a trailer so it came with it already and the power is ran opposite of what you are telling me. My question is if they fixed it by swapping the wires inside cuz the way it is hooked up it works but it's not hooked up like you're saying how to do it. So I don't know if the internal circuit breaker they move the wires around in there or if this thing is just not hooked up right And miraculously is still working I know that the instructions were wrong. I've heard this from multiple sources. Not saying that you're wrong, I'm just trying to figure out if maybe this has been updated
I got confused guys after watching the video I swapped the cables at the black box Wonder if that's ok any advice would be appreciated I haven't hooked up yet
I believe they have a part's section in the is a manual that comes with it. I don't have that anymore though. You may be able to do a Google search of it.
You may have to go to autozone or some other automotive store and buy the wire by the foot along with the connector ends and make it yourself. I believe they also have pre made wires on Amazon you can purchase that are not related to Harbor freight winches but will work the same.
It’s obvious that the long red wire goes to battery and the short one goes to the winch. Lol nothing wrong with the Instructions... the instructions show the long red to battery and the short red to winch.
@@HungNguyen91622 When they switch the negative and positive cables on the instructions the winch wont-work at all. People who don't know basic wiring would not know that. I made this video for them.
My 12 k lb bad land winch is strong ,pulls hard but the ,thermal switches Aka Circuit beakers ,constantly shut off ! You'll hear a click & winch stops ,10 - 15 seconds it clicks back on . Was occasional at first constant now ! A real pain in the ass ! Even Spooling in cable with no load on it it'll keep shutting off ! I have good heavy terminal connections at battery ,so its either the circuit breaker \ thermals are junk or the winch motor is. Frustrating ! It does pull very well ,when its on . If you read the fine print on the winch manual it is 5% duty cycle ,that means 45 seconds of heavy winding requires 14 min cool down period between pulls ! Had I read that ,I never would of purchased ! All my repair trucks I had at work were Warn Winches! I pulled heavy all day long ,never had any issue ! I will buy a better winch next time which may be soon if I can't get this to stop shutting off constantly ! So buy the extended warranty if you are going to buy anything with a motor on it at HF ! Problem is even if you buy their extended warranty ,you will probably end up with less warranty period than a quality winch . I buy at HF but less and less anything with electronics involved . Hardware,wrenches etc ok !
Some people follow instructions. If you follow the instructions and they're wrong you have a problem. I obviously figured it out in spite of the instructions. Not all people are able to come to the same conclusion therefore I have this video to help those who don't know.
You must not understand that the 12,000 isn’t a weight limit it is a pull limit, you can pull 12,000 lbs but if you pulled something that weighs 8,500 lbs up a ramp it will fail
Dude that plate would break at 1000lbs. Also, you never push the limit on the max load! The most you should pull is HALF the max rated load. 12000 pound winch = 6000, and I'd definitely use a snatch block or 2. People like you scare the $#!+ outta me.
I use a snatch block. I also put pipe underneath a container if I'm loading it on to the trailer. It's strong enough it'll blow itself apart If you have too much weight you're pulling.
Well I returned my winch at harbor fright and took a chance and get the same brand ! Worked 10 seconds then nothing ! So I watched this video and you were right reversed the 2 red wires all good so far Thank you ! You saved me from a hole lot of aggravation ! I live hr ,1/1/2 from harbor fright !👍😊👀
You're welcome. Dang that's quite the drive. Hopefully it holds up well. I've had 2 of them break on me. Both have brok in the same spot on the case of the winch where it's really thin. Looks like it's made out of caste aluminum. Why they would make the casing for the winch out of cast aluminum especially when it's a 12000 pound winch is beyond me. They are definitely Good when it comes to pulling but man they sure need a redesign it with a different material that they make the casing out of.
How do u reverse the 2 red wire?im having the same issue
Thank you! I literally was just looking at my winch instructions and about to do the install when I decided to look for a video first. Imagine my shock! I would have done it wrong. Two thumbs up!
Thank you so much for making this wiring video. I actually went back to the store for an exchange because the wires were different than the instructions. the salesperson opened a new box for me to check before i exchanged it and sure enough its wired the same way as the first one. Glad you clarified its the instructions that are wrong and not how the factory wired it.
I almost opened up the black box to fix it !! Thanks for the heads up man !!!
Your welcome.
Me too
Just installed and caught your video I'm surprised they haven't recalled/revised these books by now THANKS FOR THE VIDEO HELPED ME OUT ALOT
You're welcome, glad it helped. I'm surprised they haven't revised it yet either.
@@TysonCapel23 right this is my first winch and car trailer I'll see if I can't point it out to the right people.
Just bought one, so very good to run across this video. Thanks for the heads up. Peace..
You're welcome.
Thanks for the video, I was scratching my head on why winch wires didn't match instructions..
Big thanks. This solved my problem. Thanks for posting this solution. HB needs to issue a update to this bad wiring diagram.
You're welcome glad it helped.
Bad wiring diagram and installing on a trailer with battery super close to winch. On a car that short red wire would never reach to the battery. Good for you figuring it out and sharing.
I wired one in yesterday and figured it out just using reasoning. Thanks for making the video for others.
Then why did you come to this video? Just to say you didnt need it? Lol
i called the the assistant help line the have, the said the short red goes to the motor,and the long one goes to battery .i switched mine like you did an it worked great. told him didnt make sense ,you have one long blk cable an one red short cable for the battery,he said the changed the instruction in 2017 ,so that would make these new one supposedly about 4 yrs old :( thank you for catching it
I bought the Badlands 12000 for $320 after tax. I will mount it on my home made flat bed truck. I will be uploading some videos soon. Awesome winch.
THANKS!!! Was on my second winch. Wired the first one, no power. Assumed defective. 160 mile round trip trip to Harbor Freight to exchange. Second one, the same till I saw your video. Switched wires...all good. Why the heck don't they change their instructions? I know...China.
Thank You. Simple and Quick.
You're welcome!
Thanks 😎 instructions were wrong on mine too but figured long wire went to the battery thanks for the verification!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING!!!
You bet!
Thank you brother, your video helped me a lot.
Glad it helped
Thanks for your video 😊
Thanks Tyson. I've been thinking of getting one of these winches. Good info.
It's seemed to hold up pretty good now. I'll have to do another video in a year or so when I have more time with it so I can give a legitimate accurate review of it.
Thanks for sharing the info homie. I'm about to purchase one for my junk removal business to install on a utility trailer. Just subbed. #respectthehustle
Your welcome. Thanks for subscribing
Amazing video you save us a lot if time.
Thanks! I'm glad it was helpful.
Nice video, good info and fast thanks man keep up the good work with your kids!
Thank you for the video. I was wondering.. did you reverse the cables on the control box as well or just the holes the cables come through? I just want to make sure the wiring coming from the 4 posts of the control box is correct also
My 9,000 lb Badland winch I I purchased has been a very good but I found out the hard way on why they're so cheap compared to other winch brands all the cables are copper coated aluminum and once they start corroding you won't notice this and it will burn the winch motor out I replaced all my cables with solid copper one ought copper cable and has worked perfect ever since but it did cost me another $150 for good copper cables
Thanks for the info. I hate cheap copper clad wire.
Harbor frate does sells a wireless winch remote for your winch and the wireless winch remote has a 50 foot rang on it I got 1 of the harbor frate wireless winch remote for my winch and my wireless winch remote works awesome
Yes I was going to be buying one when I bought the winch but wanted to test the winch out 1st before making an additional purchase.
I just bought the same one and it just buzzzs when I let it out taking it back tomorrow ! Maybe get a different brand Thanks for the video 👍
The relay/overload timed breaker that you connect to the red wire which connects on at the positive side of the battery may be bad. Or there something in the black control box that was bad from the beginning.
I have one of the older harbor frate 12000 pound winch and wiring a badlands winch up is really easy to do
Yes it's very easy to do. It also does help if they have the wiring instructions correct in the install manual lol.
I'm your biggest fan Tyson!! Say hello to bugger boy!
Oh boy
if you read the instructions it states which wires go to the motor and which ones go to the battery and the length and the covers on the end of the wires give it away i will say the picture is incorrect.
I thought that was kind of self explanatory lol. It's like 6ft long so it's kind of obvious it should go somewhere further away that directly on the winch or anywhere else LOL.
Thanks a million you da man
Red is always positive.
Perfect for what I needed
Thanks.
Yes guy save me and uncle a BIG HEADACHE 👍🏼👍🏼💯💯
Thank you sir!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are welcome!
Harbor Frait should give you a free winch for fixing this thank you so much
Your welcome!
Followed the instructions and nothing. Wondered what I did wrong and watched this video. What I did wrong was trust harbor freight instructions.
Glad you found the video helpful.
@@TysonCapel23 More so than that, the winch itself has saved my ass in a serious way more than once now. These are great budget priced winches but not budget built. Last time it saved me it was totally submerged under water and I had to fish for everything underwater, sweating that it wasn't gonna work. It did, and pulled me right up outta some nasty mud and saved me from surely hydrolocking my engine. So thanks to the winch and thanks again to you for the help installing it easily
I always mount a winch with the bolt heads that hold it to the mount plate facing the load I will be pulling. That way the bolts will never break off.
Good stuff man 👍
Mine has the long red wire on the right. so I guess I need to take everything apart to rewire it?
Why do I feel like it's Edward Norton speaking?
If your plate instead it's bolted to that will cause the casing on the winch to break they're not very thick
Did you vent that plate cuz I've been mine for the same setup for the same kind of wench
My question is the wire you say that's supposed to run to the battery? Where exactly is that connected inside of the box? Reason why I ask is I just got the same one attached to a trailer so it came with it already and the power is ran opposite of what you are telling me. My question is if they fixed it by swapping the wires inside cuz the way it is hooked up it works but it's not hooked up like you're saying how to do it. So I don't know if the internal circuit breaker they move the wires around in there or if this thing is just not hooked up right And miraculously is still working I know that the instructions were wrong. I've heard this from multiple sources. Not saying that you're wrong, I'm just trying to figure out if maybe this has been updated
I know I was not wrong when I did the video but they changed things over time so they could have changed it by now.
Hello, are the main power wires 4gauge, 2 gauge or 1/0? Thanks!
Mine worked fine and I wired it like the book says
I got confused guys after watching the video I swapped the cables at the black box Wonder if that's ok any advice would be appreciated I haven't hooked up yet
Where does the tiny black wire go?
It attaches onto the terminal post with the black wire that's on the motor side. Bottom of the motor.
Thanks I had that problem to working good now
I need to replace my power cable that goes to the battery. Do you have a video on that? How do I get the Black box open?
I'm sorry I do not have a video on that.
Also apologize for the late reply.
Can I connect it to my RAM truck battery or I need to have separate battery? Thanks
You can connect it to your battery.
Why don’t you winch something up on your car trailer for your next video
K. Maybe I'll winch a 40' HC shipping container up onto it.
@@TysonCapel23 'Tim the Tool Man' has entered the chat argh argh argh!!!
did they give a parts number for the (Circuit breaker) block with 3 silver boxes? i think mine blew out
I believe they have a part's section in the is a manual that comes with it. I don't have that anymore though. You may be able to do a Google search of it.
On mine the longer wire is on the right and the shorter wire is on the left. Have these been updated or anything since you've bought yours?
I'm not sure.
How to remote a. Wire 4 pin relay
Battery ground?
Where can I get the positive cable that goes to the winch box to battery mine got hot and burned up
You may have to go to autozone or some other automotive store and buy the wire by the foot along with the connector ends and make it yourself.
I believe they also have pre made wires on Amazon you can purchase that are not related to Harbor freight winches but will work the same.
Why are there 2 batteries?
3:00
How did you take off the lid for the wiring box to switch the wires
I didn't have to take the black Box apart. I just wired them to their correct locations you don't have to take the black Box apart.
Do you happen to know how long the positive and negative cables are?
6’
Don't have it anymore to measure but I believe they are about 3' long
Where does the small black wire attach to
To the negative terminal location on the bottom of the motor.
Say "Right Red Wire" as fast as you can
It’s obvious that the long red wire goes to battery and the short one goes to the winch. Lol nothing wrong with the Instructions... the instructions show the long red to battery and the short red to winch.
What about that tin black wire?
The thin black wire mounts to the same bolt as the big black ground wire on the motor.
Mine work as the instruction says.
Good hopefully they updated the instructions.
@@TysonCapel23 how much clearer does it have to be
@@HungNguyen91622 When they switch the negative and positive cables on the instructions the winch wont-work at all. People who don't know basic wiring would not know that. I made this video for them.
@Hung Nguyen perfectly clear for those who don't have any experience with dc wiring.
Okay, so how are you charging your battery?
Charging it off the truck and I also have a battery charger for it.
What size battery is needed to power that bad boy?
Same question
I use the marine batteries for boats. I wire 2 of them in parallel.
My 12 k lb bad land winch is strong ,pulls hard but the ,thermal switches Aka Circuit beakers ,constantly shut off ! You'll hear a click & winch stops ,10 - 15 seconds it clicks back on . Was occasional at first constant now ! A real pain in the ass ! Even Spooling in cable with no load on it it'll keep shutting off ! I have good heavy terminal connections at battery ,so its either the circuit breaker \ thermals are junk or the winch motor is. Frustrating ! It does pull very well ,when its on . If you read the fine print on the winch manual it is 5% duty cycle ,that means 45 seconds of heavy winding requires 14 min cool down period between pulls ! Had I read that ,I never would of purchased ! All my repair trucks I had at work were Warn Winches! I pulled heavy all day long ,never had any issue ! I will buy a better winch next time which may be soon if I can't get this to stop shutting off constantly ! So buy the extended warranty if you are going to buy anything with a motor on it at HF ! Problem is even if you buy their extended warranty ,you will probably end up with less warranty period than a quality winch . I buy at HF but less and less anything with electronics involved . Hardware,wrenches etc ok !
Correct mind will do the same thing. I just bypass the breaker switch.
I can't believe anyone has wired these wrong If yall used your heads you wouldn't have any problems
Some people follow instructions. If you follow the instructions and they're wrong you have a problem. I obviously figured it out in spite of the instructions. Not all people are able to come to the same conclusion therefore I have this video to help those who don't know.
You must not understand that the 12,000 isn’t a weight limit it is a pull limit, you can pull 12,000 lbs but if you pulled something that weighs 8,500 lbs up a ramp it will fail
Correct. Not only is it a 12000 pound pull limit but it's typically considering something that rolls.
Dude that plate would break at 1000lbs. Also, you never push the limit on the max load! The most you should pull is HALF the max rated load. 12000 pound winch = 6000, and I'd definitely use a snatch block or 2. People like you scare the $#!+ outta me.
I use a snatch block. I also put pipe underneath a container if I'm loading it on to the trailer. It's strong enough it'll blow itself apart If you have too much weight you're pulling.
Cant see through your knuckle. Use a pen to point next time
That's why I showed you on the winch itself as well.
What about the negative wire to the battery didn’t mention it at all. Bad wiring video
That was completely useless
Where's the little skinny black wire go to?
What is the small thin black wire for? Miscellaneous ground? I lost my instruction book and I'm finally installing the winch after 5 years.
I believe it's a ground to the soul annoyed inside of the black Box. It connects to the ground on the motor.