Intelligent Winch?

[trump]

Solution looking for a problem?



Discuss.

[I Leak Oil]

I prefer the Apple Iwinch with all the apps for mud,sand, rock etc. If you get the Iwinch 4 you can get synthetic for free with a 2 year commitment.

[Stumpalump]

A front bumper is used to push logs and rocks out of the trail on my rig so I guess I'd smash that thing into a useless condition in no time. Even if you don't do that it's still nice to be able to nose straight into a bank if you need to turn around on a tight washed out trail. Roller fairleads, lights, jacks and unprotected winches on the nose take a beating. I heard it described as driving by Braille but it's just plain nice to be able to use the bumper to bump.

[Antichrist]

Ummm....no. I can see them not lasting very long.

The rope guide (if it didn't stick out so far) would be useful on any winch, as discussed in another thread not too long ago.
On second look, I can't tell if the guide is really guiding the rope, or if the rope is moving the guide.

[Bigfoot1963]

It looks like the guide has an electric motor on it, I think, for me, it has too many moving parts to be reliable.

[TangoBlue]

...and the demand signal for this intelligent winch is? I don't get it - what's wrong with current winches that makes this device superior?

Just appears to introduce more complexities into the quotient.

[BurbanAZ]

yea i dont understand what the advantage to this is he pulled from all the same angles that i pull from with a normal winch and normal fairlead. Pluss like someone else said i push things quite a bit (obstacles, other vehicles, etc..) so that thing would get smashed up being right up front and center like that. Cool idea, I just dont see a real advantage

[Antichrist]

I understand the idea behind it, to keep the rope spooling on evenly, keep it from piling up on one side with long side pulls requiring re rigging. But a better solution, IMO, would just be a winch with a guide that moves back and forth to lay the rope evenly. Like some of the Thomas winches have.

[ReconH3]

There are two ways to make spooling your wire/rope easier mechanically. The first is something that already come standard on some of the Warn industrial winches. It's a plate that is spring loaded, that helps to keep the cable flat and not bunched up in one corner.



Another thing that helps to spool the winch is to mount the fairlead as far from the winch as possible. I know this isn't always possible, but it helps.


"Ex Umbris Venimus"

Sent from my iPhone

[Antichrist]

There are two ways to make spooling your wire/rope easier mechanically. The first is something that already come standard on some of the Warn industrial winches. It's a plate that is spring loaded, that helps to keep the cable flat and not bunched up in one corner.

Yup. There's another thread here that talks about several versions of those, I just couldn't be bothered to look for it.