how should i Connect power to my winch..

**Renier** · 2009/03/01, 08:54 PM

hey guys,
i have now mounted the my new warn winch to the defender 110.
i have bought the green welding cabling for the power and earth connection.

some background, i have a battery kill swith connected to the battery that splits the + battery terminal from the accessories and the rest of the trucks electrics.(if theres electrical issues i pull out the plug and then the power is off all over)
what i did when connecting the wires of the winch.

i connected the + of the winch to the kill switch accessories side.
then i earthed the winch on the chassis where the bullbar connects to the chassis.(close to the winch)
now im not sure if its because of the galvanised chassis..
but when i turned the power kill switch on(after all was connected and secured) there was a dead short... the wire on the + terminal(live side)
was smoken.. so i removed the key from the kill switch to stop the troubles.
i could feel the + wire of the winch was veeeeery hot...

where did i go wrong?
can i earth the winch on the gearbox where the battery gets earthed? or do i have to connect the "-" on the battery "- "?
is the kill switch going to pickup crap by connecting the winch to the accessory side of the power?

the power cable between the killswich live and battery + is a very very thick power cable so i dont suspect any problems there...
the kill switch is an expensive hella one, apparently decent quality.

please advise ;-)

thanks

**Christo Davids** · 2009/03/01, 10:02 PM

One thing to remember, a winch pulling at full strength pulls in excess of 400 amps

I don'e know whether the setup you have will work or not, in theory you shouldn't have problems, but maybe the earth connection or the switch cannot handle the current - speak to Albert (Lunar), he is an electrician (OK, not auto-elec, but he might have good advice)

I have my power cables connected straight to the battery, pos and neg, no switches or fuses and I haven't had any problems

**Judge** · 2009/03/01, 10:28 PM

Hi Renier
i've also got a warn winch on my defender, i connected the pos to the starter motor terminal and the neg to a bolt between gearbox and motor. because of the high amp rating on a winch, i don't think many switches will handle that

**Renier** · 2009/03/02, 07:40 AM

hmmm ok, will first do the earth connection.i suspect the galv chassis and galv bullbar isnt a goos earth connection.
will connect to the battery "-" and have a look.

the problem occurred when i connected up the winch, not opperating it...

when i tested the winch i connected these wires directly to the battery and opperated without issues.

unf the old wires are too short to reach my battery in the defender.

thank you for the response.

**Scotty** · 2009/03/02, 08:23 AM

Renier.

Give Willy a call. 0ate2 two 9 six 6 nine 0 one.

**Uys** · 2009/03/03, 03:27 PM

Renier.

Die beste gaan wees om maar te betaal vir langer kabels sodat jy altwee direk op die battery kan koppel. Ongelukkig raak die kabels in die Landy nogal lank, maar dit gaan vir jou die kleinste voltage drop gee.

Beter nog as jy twee batterye in het, soos Christo se, winches trek baie krag.
Uys

**Renier** · 2009/03/04, 12:28 PM

hmm ok, dankie,
die drade was verkeerd om gewees.. ou lugs opi drade verkeerd gewys, rooi op swart en swart op rooi.. 2e handse goeders...
anyway
ekt toe eergister die drade omgedraai en werk shap.
het v noud ie ding ge earth opi chassis naby die winch self, glo dit sal ok wees.
krag opi high voltage switch opi battery.

sal kyk as da issues is, die goed albei direk opi batery sit.
ekt nog 12m van daai welding kabel tuis
so draad is nie issue nie ;-)

dankie vir die terugvoering

**ArthurB** · 2009/03/26, 08:28 PM

My winch se kabels is ook direk op die battery, en ek wonder net wat gaan gebeur tydens botsing as daar nie 'n fuse in die circuit is nie?

Klink my dis maar wat almal doen - geen fuse nie?

**Ericl** · 2009/03/30, 08:48 PM

I agree with both the previous posts.

A winch draws between 250 and 500A at 12 volts under full load, depending on the model. There are no fuses readily available to put in line for that kind of power consumption.

Also, because of the high currents drawn, direct comnnection to the battery is most definately the prefered and advised way to go.

Any joint in the electrical system will cause a pronounced volt drop when the winch is under load, and will compromise the efficency of the whole system. And by joints I include cables bolted to engine blocks, that are then bolted by fly leads to the body of the vehicle, which is then cabled to the battery. Each one of thse connections is a point of failure and heat generation in a winching operation.

Make the leads as thick as possible, and as short as is practical.

Regarding your concerns about an accident damaging the solenoid box, some manufacturers such as Ramsey reccomend storing the winch with the clutch dis-engaged. If the solenoid box is damaged, and the winch is engaged, then all that will happen is the motor will run and flatten the battery. This will prevent the winch from burning out or otherwise damaging itself.

There is however no protection from cable damage related shorts other than regular inspection and testing.