I dont want to bang on about safety, but the new Warn winches are all supplied from Warn with power interrupt kits that have a remote solenoid and switch allowing incab disconection of the main positive cable .... ask yourself why ?
winch wiring
- Thread starter chewy
- Start date
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I'd hold out for bigger cable than #4. Your winch can pull a LOT of amps under load (was it over 400 amps? I don't recall offhand) and even six feet of #4 could heat up with flow like that. The winches come with #1 or 1/0 welding cable.
Agree about a power interrupt in the positive feed. It's too easy to ground a winch, if you have "scroats" in your neighborhood.
D)
MrMoMo
That's not rust, it's Canadian patina...
If you cant find large enough cable at either a welding store or a tractor store try a marine store. You should be able to get up to 4/0 at West Marine - there must be one near you.
As stated before, the larger the cable, the less resistance, the less power lost. Less power lost means more gets to your winch.
Another thought to consider would be a large slow blow fuse very close to your battery. Not to protect your winch or disconnect your winch, but to protect your truck incase of a short in the main power feed. 1/0 power cable can dump a whopping load of power to ground if it ever gets damaged in an accident and you would have a very bad electrical fire if it shorted to ground without any overcurrent protection. West Marine or any other marine store around you should be able to provide you with a nice Blue Sea 400A type T fuse (slow blow) and a fuse block to mount it in.
Not that it has anything to do with a winch, in boats, it is an ABYC requirement that all non-cranking circuits are protected within 7" of the battery.
As stated before, the larger the cable, the less resistance, the less power lost. Less power lost means more gets to your winch.
Another thought to consider would be a large slow blow fuse very close to your battery. Not to protect your winch or disconnect your winch, but to protect your truck incase of a short in the main power feed. 1/0 power cable can dump a whopping load of power to ground if it ever gets damaged in an accident and you would have a very bad electrical fire if it shorted to ground without any overcurrent protection. West Marine or any other marine store around you should be able to provide you with a nice Blue Sea 400A type T fuse (slow blow) and a fuse block to mount it in.
Not that it has anything to do with a winch, in boats, it is an ABYC requirement that all non-cranking circuits are protected within 7" of the battery.
If your battery has both top and side posts, don't use the side posts. I've seen these melt. Optima even will not warranty a bettery that had a winch connected to the side posts.
Also, crimp on the connector. I've seen cables get hot and melt solder. A good battery store should have the giant crimpers than can crimp on ends.
Also, crimp on the connector. I've seen cables get hot and melt solder. A good battery store should have the giant crimpers than can crimp on ends.
- Thread starter
- #25
All great info. Thanks guys. I found #2 welding cable and used that but I did use solder pellets and soldered on the terminals. May have to rethink that. Luckily, the cables are probably less than 3 feet long so hopefully they won't get too hot under moderate use. Eventually I plan on putting some type of disconnect on the power cable.
If you haven't already, check this out before you buy a remote...
http://www.ih8mud.com/tech/winchcontrol.php
That's what I am going to do.
Ed
http://www.ih8mud.com/tech/winchcontrol.php
That's what I am going to do.
Ed
