Power winch on 2017 206 Ltd Flagstaff tent camper

[Hoyt15]

My question is you have the power winch with direct connection to the positive side with a inline fuse and negative side of the battery. When we are using the pup I always disconnect the positive side of the winch. This is so no one walking by can try to raise or lower the pup roof. I am paranoid? What does everyone else do?

[cabranch47]

I had my pup stored on my driveway, covered. One morning when I was going to work I heard the winch running. For some reason it turned on and was trying to raise the roof. Broke the cable, destroyed the winch, bent the mounting plate and stretched the hold downs. I don't know why the fuse did not blow). I advised Carefree of Colorado about this possible liability issue. They sent me a new winch (even though out of warranty) and asked that I return the old winch for their engineers to look at. Great customer service. They could not find any issues and could not duplicate the problem. Still a mystery. I installed the new winch and put a disconnect on it for peace of mind. This could have been very dangerous if we had been in it when this occurred.

[jimmoore13]

If you disconnect the negative terminal of the battery, you'll achieve the same thing. Most disconnects recommend that you use them on the negative terminal. I presume this has as much to do with the simplicity of the wiring on the negative terminal compared to the jumble on the positive...but there may be other reasons, too.

Here a handy-dandy switch: https://smile.amazon.com/Post-Batter...erminal+switch

Look at all the options, because another may fit your needs better.

And NO, you are not paranoid. I've bumped my winch switch maneuvering my safety chains. Some wise-guy could make a real mess of things by fiddling with your winch motor....perhaps even damage the lift mechanism. At minimum, the winch would overload and blow your fuse...and you'd need to replace it.

[Hoyt15]

Sorry about the long delay​ in responding back. Thank you for the information. Glad to hear that I am not the only one having these issue​.