Mile Marker wireless winch remote

Build projects, things that guys have come up with to make a Pinz better (or worse?) and aftermarket add-ons.
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VinceAtReal4x4s
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Mile Marker wireless winch remote

Post by VinceAtReal4x4s »

A very frustrating thing to deal with, in a usually already stressful winching situation, is the remote control and its long wire. You have to find it first, unroll the wire and get it plugged in, which often involves rotating the plug until it snaps in, then worry about where the wire is while you deal with the cable/mud/snow/lack of light, and then you have to find it again just to nudge the cable one way or another, and so on! After having a wireless remote in the past, I swore I'd not do it any other way again. I got this as a gift after hinting around for 6 months that it's something I desperately needed for Christmas!

Firstly, I don't know if this Mile Marker remote will work on direct 24v. This was installed on the old G-wagen (12v) so keep that in mind. The manual didn't say much and I didn't see any specs on voltage. I assume powering it with a convertor will work but I don't know enough to say what happens with it interacting with 24v solenoids.

I used to have a LODAR remote on the 712 Croatia race truck. The cost kept me away from getting another one and after research, and I assume some modernization in electronics since then, these new smaller/cheaper Mile Marker remotes seem comparable. They are only about $100 and are definitely a step way above the likely dangerous $20 Chinese remotes that litter ebay and amazon these days.

This can work on most any brand winch set-up that use two different positive sources to activate the forward and reverse solenoids. The wires coming out of the receiver are just two + sources (forward/reverse), a power wire and a ground.

The receiver has a water-resistant switch actually built onto it and lights up red when on. This switch prevents accidental activation for the 99% of the time you aren't off-road. You could easily wire a dash switch for powering the receiver and leave the switch on if the receiver is placed in an inconvenient spot. This was my intent until I found a perfect spot behind my grill that would not block it entirely, which would still allow decent range.

I drilled a small hole in the plastic housing that surrounds the solenoids for the wire. I soldered and heat-shrunk a few ring terminals on the receiver wires and put them on the correct wire studs on the solenoids and that was about all there was to do. There is a constant 12v source in the solenoid pack anyway so I didn't have to run even one wire.

I got lucky and was able to use an original screw/hole on my radiator grill for mounting the receiver. I drilled one small hole for the other screw, which was the only modification.

You power the receiver on and hold down both buttons on the wireless remote for so many seconds. This marries/encodes the units together, and that's it!

Testing so far showed around 50 feet of range, which is perfect. The remote is small and light and it comes with a cool little mount that it clicks into and will hold at any angle. This kind of freedom truly changes the way your winching emergencies will go. I can't recommend trying a wireless remote enough. I still carry my wired remote, just in case, but I doubt I will touch it again.

Sorry for the crappy pics... old camera issues.
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The G shifter area. You can see my USB charger/Volt meter, the fridge switch and remote mounted. The green stuff is my Uniden 880 CB (with weather channels).
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