For those of you who have a winch-do you have circuit breaker/fuse protection?

200A for a winch!?



You're not the ATV winch is just as good guy are you?

 

This is why I put in a 200A breaker, suggested from the Comeup winch site


"A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. The basic function is to detect a fault condition and then interrupt the current flow.

To choose the correct circuit breaker amperage rating for you COMEUP winch, we need to know the current draw at full load. For example Seal Gen2 9.5rs, the current draw at 9,500lbs is 380A



We want to choose a circuit breaker that will allow full load current draw for a set period of time. The circuit breaker manufacturer will provide a chart similar to the one shown below. The opening of a circuit breaker is not determined only by the amperage rating, but by the amount of time and the percentage over its amperage rating at which it is being operated. The higher the percent of the load current to amperage rating, the faster the circuit protector will trip. This chart is for reference only, you should refer to the circuit breaker manufacturer’s chart for the specific unit you are considering.







For our Seal Gen2 9.5 winch, a 190A circuit breaker would be ideal because it can hold full load current of 380A for 30 seconds."

 

that inverse time trip curve you posted is what I was trying to explain earlier, and that a fuse is not appropriate overcurrent protection application for a motor that sees variable speeds/amp draw.

 

Second a big manual switch, whether or not you use a fuse. Make sure it is on the ungrounded side of the circuit, "upstream" of everything else, and on as short of a conductor as possible. This will minimize your chances of a shirt circuit prior to the switch and keeps the winch out of the circuit if it does short. It also keeps the winch truly de-energized when turned off.

My switch is by the driver's side hood hinge. When the switch is closed, the hood stays up in case I need to kill the power.

 

This

If you can understand what is in this post you can understand that this is a 100% viable option for winching. I run one as well and it has worked very well. If you sized the wires appropriately it will protect the wires and winch from an overload situation.

 

I run a Fisher snow plow it is not fused just a relay it's motor is equally as hefty as a winch motor the relay will drop out if the current is too high, granted the duty cycle is lower.

 

That's a pretty nice set up. I like that.

 

I use these for winches, if there's an issue just unplug it.

https://powerwerx.com/anderson-sb-connectors-sb350-350amp

 

I did same thing, nothing has burn down yet. I keep the switch off until I might need to winch which doesn't happen very often.

 

I have one of these and think it's worth the money.

 

Neither have I. 3500 amps though, oof.

As for inrush, I don't see it. I see the current increasing as the load does. The voltage isn't fluctuating, per se.

Now you've got me curious. I do have a book that I have affectionately titled," everything you wanted to know about motors, but we're afraid to ask." I'll go check it out later, and give the correct title.

 

All the DC motor circuits I've seen (of significant HP) have a resistor circuit to limit the starter current. Last I checked the warn manual I never saw such a thing. I'd be curious myself if these motor are different than I'm used to, and what the inrush current would be, especially under load. I can do an experiment as I have a fluke 325, hook it around the field winding and use my wireless controller to winch against a small loads and maybe have someone hold the brakes also and see what happens to the current.

 

@pearing I sell a product that is made specifically for 2nd and 3rd gen Tacoma's that addresses your switch requirement. Feel free to check it out here: https://www.lambtekinnovations.com/products/05-current-toyota-tacoma-winch-switch-bracket-kit or at the link that @dk_crew provided below. If you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to chat. If you decide you're interested in a kit, shoot me a message and we'll work something out

I don't have too much to offer on the fuse side of things; what I can say is that redundancy can never hurt, however I personally don't run a fuse in addition to my switch for a couple reasons: 1 - the switch remains in the off position unless I anticipate the use of the winch. 2 - with the potential amp draw that winches are capable of, fuses may not prove to be the most reliable, which could possibly be detrimental to a situation requiring a swift recovery.

@dk_crew & @Naveronski thanks for chiming in

 

Just curious, are these disconnect/fuse switch talk for piece of mind to prevent electrical short or fire during extreme winching failures? Never heard of winch manufacturers recommending adding any type of fuse or switch during install. I can see the point of adding a simple disconnect switch by the battery if you don't want a live wire in the front of the truck on when not in use. A fuse seems pointless.

 

it was peace of mind for me. I didn’t want an unfused hot wire going up to the winch contactor when I’m not using it 99% of the time. I had no desire to fuse the circuit because of the amount of current it draws is expected, and to differentiate between a winch pull or a short may be difficult to coordinate. I don’t foresee any catastrophic failure of the winch, rather some failure due to wire chaffing or something in the engine bay.

 

I went through a similar quest a while ago installing my winch. As someone who designs electronics and electrical systems for a living, I would not feel OK running without a fuse or using a switch with a fuse. This started my quest looking for that perfect solution. Quality breakers seemed difficult to find or too expensive when something quality was found, the same I found with fuses. From my experience, anything circuit protection that is no name imported can not be relied on to have any reasonable tolerance to the load and time tripping curves. These solutions also required more splicing, more connections and mounting more crap; all sources of additional connection resistance (significant at 300A+ (P=I^2*R)) and items to fail. Then I found the Littlefuse ZCASE series fuses. These things are designed to see these loads in lift truck and other high current DC applications and the best part, its a single fused connection AT the battery terminal. They come in different terminal configurations, I chose the 2 way mount version giving me a spot for the factory harness, the winch and an accessory branch. Below are the parts I bought and what the install looks like.


876-199 Littelfuse | Mouser Canada - Battery Clamp


882-854 Littelfuse | Mouser Canada - Fuse Holder


3298400.ZXSTA Littelfuse | Mouser Canada - 400A Fuse

Note1: You will also need a spare M8 nut and washer for connecting the factory harness.
Note2: Littlefuse also makes a really nice cast battery mount with a dummy battery post and 2 fuse locations. This series takes M10 fuses and not M8 fuses (both marketed as ZCASE but not well defined in documentation). M10 fuses are a higher current series and not easy to find on the market.

 

I just doesn't seem right to have that much power unleashed... don't really do it anywhere else in the truck. Thats all. I agree that it is a tricky balance and one I will probably forgo from the discussions here.

 

Nice-yes this is what I am looking for. I have priced things out... I can do it cheaper with fabrication; but I like the idea so I am in. Can we swap out the single M series for a 3 way M series?

 

I understand that - having the right tools/knowledge/experience can certainly save a pretty penny for some!

I sell my kit in 3 different options: Option 1 is all inclusive, option 2 is the bracket, hardware and winch lead, option 3 is just the bracket and hardware. Option 2 or 3 would allow you to purchase a 3-way M series switch, which would be the beat way to get one since I don’t carry any stock of them.

 

My winch is straight to the battery, never had a problem.