Wireless Winch

The controller consists...        read full caption The controller consists of a black box similar to a car alarm, a magnetic base antenna, a cord that plugs into the winch, and a cord for the antenna.

The remote looks just like...        read full caption The remote looks just like a car alarm remote. It’s difficult to use with gloves on but small enough that you can keep it on your key ring so you don’t forget it.

As magazine editors of course we are naturally lazy. That’s why we depend on cable television to entertain us, drive-thrus to feed us, gadgets like cruise control to keep us from feeling “fatigued,” and automatic and remote control everything. The day you get the television remote away from us will be the day you pry it from our cold dead hands. At first we snickered at the idea of a wireless winch control, but it actually has some appealing advantages. We’ve driven over our controller cable more than once and have had it get caught up in brush. We’ve burned the cord on our headers a few times and we’ve seen others just plain forget to bring their controller. The Ramsey Wireless Remote winch control may not be able to smack you over the head so you don’t forget it, but it can put an end to any problems you may have with tangled controller cords. It only takes about 20 minutes to install. All of the connections are plugs and you don’t even have to supply power to the unit; it gets it from the winch plug.

We’ve often seen situations where someone other than the driver (spotter) is controlling the winch. In this scenario the wireless control is far superior. With regular winch controls the standard-length cord usually isn’t long enough to keep the spotter at a safe distance, plus he has to make sure the cord doesn’t get in the way. However, when winching with the Ramsey Wireless Remote we found that it takes the winch about a half-second to respond. This took a little getting used to but it wasn’t a big deal with our Ramsey 9500. Since the Wireless Remote will be available for other winches in the future, we suspect some of the really high-speed winches will be more difficult to operate. The buttons on the controller are a little small and hard to press with bulky gloves on. It did, however, operate further away than the 50 feet the instructions said it would. It’s just that the half-second response time increased to up to 2 seconds depending on the distance and whether or not the controller antenna was blocked by the vehicle or other obstacles. It’s fun to scare people with a quick blip of the winch from a distance so it’s best to keep the antenna up high. If you’re suave you may be able to use the remote to convince others that you actually have a vehicle worthy of an alarm.