Battery Cable Connections w/ New Winch (Question)

[Hornd]

eBay item number:
231510728760

Price is hard to beat!

4AWG gets you about 100AMP of carrying capacity

Technical data

 

[george_tlc]

I'd personally would be looking at 1/0 for running to the winch. With a 12V vehicle you can't afford to drop too much voltage on the wiring especially when the winch is working hard and therefore pulling very high amps.

American Wire Gauge table and AWG Electrical Current Load Limits with skin depth frequencies and wire breaking strength

With say 300A flowing and a total of 10' of cable (+ and - leads):

4AWG would not be good for winch wiring on a large draw winch on a heavy 80 series. 4AWG has 0.2485 ohms/1000' so total of 0.002485 ohms (for 10'). At 300A that's a voltage drop of 0.002485 x 300 = 0.75V.

1/0 for the same run would give 0.0983 ohms/1000' so 0.000983 x 300A = 0.3V

If your cable runs are longer (say a dual battery and marine switch to route winch power), the voltage drop becomes even more a consideration...

Add in an anderson connector and you'll get voltage drop across the contacts. Ditto for the battery/ground connections. Don't skimp on the quality of the crimps and lugs you are using or the voltage drop goes up again... You want to minimize those drops since they all impact the voltage reaching the winch when under load and that will compromise the winch performance.

cheers,
george.

 

[Hornd]

George is correct:

I had no idea that a winch can pull ~500A!


WARN® 9.5xp
Fast, powerful and reliable - for extreme conditions

• DESCRIPTION
• SPECIFICATIONS
• DIMENSIONS
• MANUALS

9.5XP SPECS/PART NUMBERS
Winch model: 9.5xp
Part Number: 68500 (wire rope, 12V), 86500 (wire rope, CE, International sales only)
Rated Line Pull: 9,500 lbs. (4310 kgs) single-line
Motor: 12V 6 hp (4.48kw), High output parallel series wound
Electrical controls: Contactor
Remote Control: Remote switch, 12' (3.7m) lead
Geartrain: 3-stage planetary
Gear ratio: 156:1
Clutch (freespooling): Sliding ring gear
Brake: Automatic mechanical cone brake
Rope: Steel -- 100', 5/16" diameter (30m, 8mm diam.)
Fairlead: Roller fairlead
Recommended battery: 650 CCA minimum for winching
Battery leads: 2 gauge, 72" (1.83m)
Finish: High-gloss powder coat over primer undercoating
Drum diameter/Length: 2.5"/9.0" (6.4cm/23cm)
Weight: 87 lbs. (39.5 kgs)


12V DC PERFORMANCE SPECS
Line Pull Lbs.(Kgs.) 9500 (4310)
Line SpeedFT./min(M/min.) 6.2 (1.89)
Motor Current Pull by layerlayer/Lbs(Kgs.) 482 amps

Above performance specs are based on first layer of drum

 

[MDarius]

Maybe this is a redneck question, but what about using the wire from a set of jumper cables? I found a good looking set of 12' 1 gauge jumper cables at goodwill for $5 on 50% off day, making them $2.50. I figured I could cut the clamps off and harvest the cable, assuming it tests out ok. Thoughts?

 

[mct75]

There might be some concerns with heat resistance of the insulation and durability of the stands inside, but as long as you understand those limitations it will work. For $2.50 give it a shot!

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Maybe this is a redneck question, but what about using the wire from a set of jumper cables? I found a good looking set of 12' 1 gauge jumper cables at goodwill for $5 on 50% off day, making them $2.50. I figured I could cut the clamps off and harvest the cable, assuming it tests out ok. Thoughts?

It would be hard to recommend that you do this. Most jumpers that are inexpensive use "copper clad aluminum" rather than copper wire. The insulation is not labeled so you don't really know the temp rating or oil resistance (it's going to live under your hood) The ones that use good copper cable are not cheap, which would defeat your purpose.

The best solution is to man up and buy real welding cable, or marine cable. You're only talking 10-12 feet of it total. Crimp on quality ends, heat shrink and call it good.

Marine cable:

Marine Battery Cable


Good lugs:

http://shop.sailboatowners.com/prod.php?2502


Or, use welding cable which is very available on Amazon.

 

[MDarius]

Thanks. I didn't know the difference. For $2.50 I at least got a pair of jumpers!

 

[greentruck]

I've used cheap jumper cables as the source for cable to run back to my inverters, so that could still be useful. Went with 1/0 welding cable for the winch leads. Like George said, bigger is better with winch leads as those puppies draw crazy amps when loaded.

 

[BILT4ME]

I went to Tractor Supply and bought tractor battery cables that fit the length a diameter I wanted. I used 1/0 on mine.

I also changed my battery terminals to the Military grade that has a bolt through the back to add larger cables. Amazon for those.

 

[NLXTACY]

Tinned copper, high strand count, PVC sleevinb high temp for oil, gas and salty environments. As long is it has those qualities, use it.