Electric Winch - Roof Going Up on It's Own

[MULCHY08]

So....I've encountered the dreaded ghost roof issue. I was working on some electric stuff related to my solar stuff, unhooked everything and went to reconnect. As soon as I reconnected the electric winch wires to the battery, the roof started raising on it's own. The only way to stop it was by pressing down the button on the winch control assembly and holding it. Let it go, roof starts going up. As you can imagine this left me in a huge pickle. Fortunately a neighbor came out to hold the button for me while I jumped inside and disconnected from the battery.

My question now is, what in the world could have caused this? Everything was working just fine. Bad relay switch? I feel unsafe reconnecting it and am tempted to put in a manual winch for safety reasons.

I have a 2022 Rockwood Freedom 1940 LTD. Looking on the Goshen website, it appears I would just need the winch itself, crank handle and that's it? Has anyone installed a manual on this model and if so was it fairly simple? Seems like it from the few videos I could find and it's just a matter of disconnecting the electric one and rethreading the cable through the new one and bolting it down.

Thanks in advance for the help and info!

 

[BBOWL10]

I removed my electric winch before I even went camping after reading about the horror stories. I ordered the manual winch from Goshen (phone call). I can’t remember if I ordered the crank handle from them or not. The assembly was super easy. You just have to make sure the cable is routed correctly into the spool. I sold the electric winch on eBay so I pretty much broke even on the project.

 

[nlens]

I removed my electric winch before I even went camping after reading about the horror stories. I ordered the manual winch from Goshen (phone call). I can’t remember if I ordered the crank handle from them or not. The assembly was super easy. You just have to make sure the cable is routed correctly into the spool. I sold the electric winch on eBay so I pretty much broke even on the project.

any tips on what the install looks like? I bought a manual one and need to replace my ghosting electric that ALSO doesn't have a manual override because the owner before me snapped the nut on the manual....so im in a touchy spot HOPING that electric doesn't let me down. lol


any suggestions, or links to directions would be helpful. thanks

 

[BBOWL10]

Try this:

https://youtu.be/dGUi2MKCRT4?si=xaW58BcDJrdn72Ak

I was able to use the original cable as it was long enough to spool on the manual winch. I sold the electric motor and switch on eBay. I reused the plastic cover and opened up a hole on the side for the crank

 

[nlens]

repairs to the electric winch

I haven't my new manual crank yet, and have been risking it w/ my electric for 2 trips. i came home from a trip yesterday, and raised the camper roof to clean and unload. i had major problems. it stopped halfway up and wouldn't go up or down. it was a faulty toggle switch. i finally got the switch to work, but it kept going up, and i couldn't stop it. i tried to disconnect power before it damaged the roof or the canvas, but thankfully, as it began getting tight on the canvas, it, blew the 50 amp fuse in the wiring under the lift housing. i had a spare on hand. link below to replacements. also - thankfully, home depot, of all places, had a 6 terminal 20 amp toggle switch and I ran to grab it.

6 terminals on mine, each w/ it's own wire. i removed one at a time, wrapped them w/ tape (i'd do masking tape if i had to do it again). - example top right, top left. mid right mid left, bottom left, bottom right. then began putting them on the new switch so that i knew i had the wires controlled in the same position as they were on the old one. i then replaced by blown fuse so that i could hat that extra layer of security in case my wiring was wrong, or in case there was damage anywhere else. the fuse would blow and shut off the lift.

time to test, and good news, it worked. lift came down, i closed the camper for the night and will make it my next priority to install the manual lift crank.

 

[BBOWL10]

I think the biggest issue with these electric winches are the fact that they are exposed to the elements.
That plastic cover doesn’t do a thing to protect the internals from condensation and road spray. The circuit board is directly exposed to air. They should have at least epoxied everything. A manual winch is about as simple as it gets and unless a person has a physical disability there should be no need for an electric one. I wish the manufacturer would have ditched the electric winch in the first place and added a folding hand rail at the door and a two step door step instead.

 

[Kentucky Jim]

I just replaced my electric winch yesterday with the Goshen 1200 hand crank on my Flagstaff HW. I had plenty of length on the cable to use with the new winch. The toughest part was taking the old power winch off and removing the cable from it. There is a small hex screw in the middle of the spool that needs to be backed off to remove the cable. I installed the cable onto the winch before I installed the winch onto the frame. It was a two-man job but not super difficult and took 2-3 hours.

A little over a week ago I was in a tough spot because the worm gear kept skipping on another gear when I attempted to lift the roof. I finally had to improvise a solution that worked for the day, but was by no means a permanent one. I feel so much more at peace knowing I won't be stranded because I have a simple, manual winch that is well worth the effort to raise. It takes about 20 cranks to get the rooftop up.

 

[BBOWL10]

Sometimes simpler is better. After all, it’s a tent camper right?

 

[Kentucky Jim]

Yes, it's a 2012 Flagstaff HW 27 S/C. I should probably put that in my sig.

 

[nlens]

Very Well Done! Thank you for the update that it took 2-3 hours. i need to do mine in the next 1-2 weeks. Mine is practically duct taped and bubble gummed together and I have ptsd of it not working, every time i go to lift or lower it. So this is GREAT information

 

[Kentucky Jim]

Try this:

https://youtu.be/dGUi2MKCRT4?si=xaW58BcDJrdn72Ak

I was able to use the original cable as it was long enough to spool on the manual winch. I sold the electric motor and switch on eBay. I reused the plastic cover and opened up a hole on the side for the crank

I watched that video last week and it's what convinced me to just get the manual winch. It was very helpful!