Winch is in the mail.. Wiring questions

Same here , was rock crawling for 15 years never did I need a fuse or a batt disconnect . The idea is to use the KISS method and don't overthink the issue

 

I think the only practical use of a kill switch would be if a winch solenoid was stuck or something but in that case the only practical place for it would be the cab.

Most stuck solenoids I have seen are off though not on and we are banging a hammer on it to get it to pull.

 

Go lay a wrench across the terminals of your battery.

If a collision causes the positive cable of the winch to be severed and in contact with the frame (grounded) that's effectively what has happened. It doesn't matter if the winch is on or not.

 

most people would not need it, but in the case of a few hundred amp current source it is better to have a method of isolation and not need it than the other way around.

 

Warn has adopted a 5 wire setup for winch control that allows redundancy for both positive and negative switching on the contactor, this will alleviate a stuck pushbutton vulnerability but not a stuck contactor. I would agree it is rare to see them stick "on".

 

Remember the legend where people went around and hooked your cable over your roof then shorted the solenoid?
Kill switch remembers..

 

The best candy

 

Never laid a wrench on them but typically touch terminals before jumping another car to ensure their is proper connection and power, makes a spark, oh no the world ended, I died, this is Joe's ghost

 

If you are in a collision bad enough for that to happen i doubt you will be thinking about your winch cable job as your are transported to the hospital.

 

I had a double pole battery spot weld two big holes in the side of a truck before, luckily it was a fish and game truck and my boss was the one who put it in the back without tying it down!

 

You won't be thinking at all if you burn in your truck because your winch cable shorted to ground and caused a fire.

If isolating load sources and their associated wiring from the battery was pointless there would be no fuses or anything like that.

It's not hard to understand

 

I think what @JoeCOVA is saying, is that there’s no power going to the winch if the switch isn’t being pressed.
There’s constant power going to the relay (but barely any amps) so nothing extra to worry about if there’s no kill switch....

 

Run your winch leads in plastic conduit where you have rub points, and zip tie securely to prevent chafing.

I agree with keep it simple. I never saw the need for a kill switch or fuse on these. I just leave the positive lead unhooked and tucked between the battery and battery mount hold down rod until it is time to run the winch. Doesn't take but a few seconds to pull the wrench out of the winch bag along with the winch remote and hook up the lead. I've run all my winches over the years this way, and never an issue besides the added 20 seconds or so to hook up the lead when needed.

I'd be more worried about a possibly winch lead short wreaking havoc with the truck electronics than anything else. Seems it doesn't take much these days to screw those computers up.

 

At this point I can't tell if you're seriously this inept with electrical or are just trolling me.

Unless you're trapped in the vehicle while it's on fire.

And I don't disagree with that. But if the cable is damaged and grounds out it will likely start a fire.

 

I love TW. OP is gonna come back and think he can either not install one and be ok or not install one and cause a nuclear meltdown

 

And he has you to thank! Congrats

 

There is power going to the winch anytime it's connected to the battery. It's going all the way to the internal switched relay in the winch assembly. Once there is demand for current, there will be as much as the demand calls for. A short to ground will demand all that the battery can push.

 

I didn't have one in my last vehicle and never had a problem but I also never had a serious wreck in it and I protected the cables from sharp edges. The likelihood of it occurring is very low but the consequences could be catastrophic so I will be doing it when I put a winch on my current vehicle.

I've looked for a video but even on YouTube no one is stupid enough to bridge the terminals because they know what will happen. Hell, my 4Runner is due for a new battery in 6 months or so. Maybe I'll do it with my old battery.

I've seen it happen twice on two different job sites. One where a tool bag spilled into the battery compartment of a rough terrain forklift and one where a can of spray paint fell onto unprotected battery terminals. First one destroyed the forklift, second one just made a lot of smoke and destroyed the paint can and battery because there were no combustibles nearby.


Edit: https://www.fireengineering.com/fir...n-dont-forget-about-the-12-volt-battery/#gref

"Unlike high-voltage cables, low-voltage cables are body grounded, which means that if a positive 12-volt cable is cut or crushed (whether by rescuers or by the accident), it can create an arc flash, a heat buildup, and even a fire if it comes in contact with the vehicle’s body."

 

And literally eveyone else in this thread

 

TLDR OP: fuse or Killswitch if you can. If not, you're *probably* okay.