• RME Gear & Apparel

Winch ground cable

waynehartwig

waynehartwig

www.jeeperman.com
Location
Mead, WA
UNSTUCK said:
You should always run your cables to the battery. The ground side has been known to find its way back to the battery through smaller ground wilres throughout the rig and burn them up. If you decide to ground the the chassis, make sure your battery ground wire is at least 2 guage and if you ground your winch to the frame, ground your batter to the frame, not the engine.
Click to expand...

Xactly what I was gonna say....

I've had my Warn 16,500 lb winch to the side lugs of my yellow top for over 4 years with no issues yet - knock on wood. I've pulled full size Bronco's up eagles nest and about stalled it out other times as well. ...Maybe I've just been lucky? However, one of the reasons I went with the 16.5 is it's lower current draw at 9500lbs than a 9.5ti stalled. We are still talking about 300-500 amps, though...
http://www.warn.com/truck/winches/src/165ti_winch.shtml
http://www.warn.com/truck/winches/src/9.5ti.shtml
 
cruiseroutfit

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
I Lean said:
Doesn't the side terminal connect up to the top post though? That one looks like it blew out the bottom somehow. :confused:
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I don't think it blew as much as just got extremely hot and melted right out.



FWIW Optima themselves were the ones that started the rumor, from their site "Connect high amperage accessories such as a winch to the top terminals only. Do NOT use the side terminals." A Wasatch Cruiser club member had a side lug melt out of his Optima on the Rubicon a couple years back while winching, not a pretty deal to be potentially batteryless in the middle of the Rubicon. Then he broke his winch tugging my broken rig :D
 
waynehartwig

waynehartwig

www.jeeperman.com
Location
Mead, WA
cruiseroutfit said:
I don't think it blew as much as just got extremely hot and melted right out.



FWIW Optima themselves were the ones that started the rumor, from their site "Connect high amperage accessories such as a winch to the top terminals only. Do NOT use the side terminals." A Wasatch Cruiser club member had a side lug melt out of his Optima on the Rubicon a couple years back while winching, not a pretty deal to be potentially batteryless in the middle of the Rubicon. Then he broke his winch tugging my broken rig :D
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Not disputing or being argumentative, but a loose/poor connection will cause more heat than current will. Maybe that's why it failed?
 
cruiseroutfit

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
waynehartwig said:
Not disputing or being argumentative, but a loose/poor connection will cause more heat than current will. Maybe that's why it failed?
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Nope, if that were the case I would have noted it ;)

I don't care where folks run their cables, but when a manufacture puts a disclaimer on their site following a history of winch related side post failures, I wouldn't call it a coincidence. Do what you want you will anyways ;)
 
RockMonkey

RockMonkey

Suddenly Enthusiastic
Thanks for the evidence and conjecture! I guess I'll be wiring my winch to the top terminals (both of them). Any reason not to wire the normal vehicular functions (starter) to the side terminals?
 
Bucking Bronco

Bucking Bronco

................
Location
Layton
I have mine run to the side terminals as I have on my last 2 winches without a problem. But if and when mine melts I will post it up with pic's and let you all make derogatory comments towards me
 
UNSTUCK

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
Bucking Bronco said:
I have mine run to the side terminals as I have on my last 2 winches without a problem. But if and when mine melts I will post it up with pic's and let you all make derogatory comments towards me
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I'm in the same boat. Sad thing is that while I was installing the cables I was telling myself, " I know better then to do this". I did it anyways. It fit much better.
 
waynehartwig

waynehartwig

www.jeeperman.com
Location
Mead, WA
cruiseroutfit said:
Nope, if that were the case I would have noted it ;)

I don't care where folks run their cables, but when a manufacture puts a disclaimer on their site following a history of winch related side post failures, I wouldn't call it a coincidence. Do what you want you will anyways ;)
Click to expand...

I agree, and I know it, but I haven't made a mad rush to modify it. Had I known when I installed the winch, I wouldn't have done it this way. But having the winch in, and using it to it's full? extent already and it working fine... When I bought the battery/winch they didn't have that disclaimer - I don't believe.
 
Crinco

Crinco

Well-Known Member
Location
Heber
It might have something to do with the amount of contact the side terminals have compaired to the amount of contact the top terminals have (lead to lead). The top terminals wrap around the post and the current has more area to travel through, so less heat buildup over long sustained draws.

Bart I tnink you would be ok either way, but if you go to the frame, make sure the contacts stay clean (from battery and winch) so the current doesn't find a better path back to the battery through wiring.

Off topic, did that manifold show up yet? I hope they don't cause you to miss this trip.
 
RockMonkey

RockMonkey

Suddenly Enthusiastic
FWIW I noticed today that my Warn ground cable has a sticker right on the end that says only attach it directly to the battery.
 
rondo

rondo

rondo
Location
Boise Idaho
i bought my winch used (ie worn out) froma friend and ran it for 3? years without a ground to the battery. one day it quit and i took it to 6 states. the guy tested it and said it was good, and asked if it was grounded to battery. i said "uh, nooo?" got a cable and prob fixed. he said running to chassis is always a shot in the dark but battery is best.
 
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