Winch wiring (Anderson and gator clips)

[Outdoorsben]

Planning my winch wiring and kicking around a few ideas. I'm curious if anyone has an experience with this particular idea. Instead of wiring a switch into it I was debating of running an Anderson connector to essentially some jumper cable gator clips. I'd keep the battery gator clip section in my recovery kit and keep the routed winch wiring disconnected in the engine compartment. Anyone do this or thought of this? Pro's/Con's??? All thoughts are welcome.

 

[Outdoorsben]

That can work as handy expedient..
But ’alligator clips dont have the current carrying and repeatable efficiency of other type of connection.
If you have permanantly installed wiring, but wanted a disconnect means not using a switch, a pair of Anderson or similar connector disconnecting adjacent to the battery will be superior.

Appreciate the feedback. Didn’t know about the gator clip limitations. So your suggestion is to just splice in some gator clips from the wiring direct to the battery. Then connect as needed.

 

[john61ct]

I use Anderson as the standard, permanent terminations nearly everywhere a quick disconnect is useful, spec'd to handle more amps than will ever be actually used.

Then make up pigtail / adapters for any other connection types desired.

 

[rayra]

no leave the gator clips out entirely and just run some wiring extensions from the battery to a grill or bumper plug and amend the winch's wiring with a matching plug. It's not difficult or even particularly expensive.

/but speaking of anderson plugs on jumper cables -

/all in my build thread, last couple pages, link in my sig

 

[dreadlocks]

yeah if anything you got it backwards.. put an anderson pigtail directly on your battery with heavy gauge wiring, plug winch w/another anderson into that.. and then cut the end off your jumper cables you carry and put a matching anderson on that.. so if you need to hook up ANOTHER battery (ie, jump start), you can just plug your vehicle end into the anderson and not worry about any sparks or gator clips shorting together.. just use that pigtail as a high amp feed, a dust boot would be a good idea but its not required as andersons are self cleaning.

 

[Outdoorsben]

Anderson on jumper cables to jump is genius.

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'll scrap that idea and go forward with Anderson only.

 

[robert]

no leave the gator clips out entirely and just run some wiring extensions from the battery to a grill or bumper plug and amend the winch's wiring with a matching plug. It's not difficult or even particularly expensive.

/but speaking of anderson plugs on jumper cables -

/all in my build thread, last couple pages, link in my sig

Same thing I did with my jumper cables, works great. My winch is hardwired but I leave the positive wire disconnected unless I'm going off-road. I started doing that after reading about folks having their winches messed with (I think it was a thread on Pirate) but I've also heard of people having problems in a wreck or when a solenoid goes bad.

Warn and some of the other winch manufacturers make setups for their modular winch assemblies if you don't feel like sourcing the parts yourself but it's cheaper to go to a forklift sales/repair place and they can either build or sell you the parts you need. Let them know what you'd doing with it and they can recommend you the correct sized wire and connectors.

 

[rayra]

yep, I'm using rotary cutoff switches under the hood and in the back of the vehicle to cut off the winch plugs. They're kept dead until I need to use them.

I've been using Powerwerx.com for a lot of electrical components and all the Anderson stuff, been a satisfied customer.

 

[robert]

yep, I'm using rotary cutoff switches under the hood and in the back of the vehicle to cut off the winch plugs. They're kept dead until I need to use them.

I've been using Powerwerx.com for a lot of electrical components and all the Anderson stuff, been a satisfied customer.

I that a Blue Sea switch? Is the winch routed through it? I'd like to add a switch inline so I don't have to reattach the wire, not that it's hard, it take me longer to find the correct wrench in the bottom of the tool bag, but I'm lazy.

 

[rayra]

Yes, the Blue Sea, rated for 300A continuous. And yes that cutoff is there specifically for the front grill plug / winch. The Oceans? rotary in the back is rated at 275A continuous, it also controls power to the 1000W inverter in the back. My cabling system is all 1/0, ALT is 200A+ and I also replaced the charge lead from it with 1/0, combiner solenoid is 200A, the plug connections are all SB175. I figure the whole mess is good for 200A for far longer than any winch can take it.

 

[bas157]

If you want a switch instead of disconnecting all the time, Warn sells a kit for that: https://www.warn.com/power-interrupt-kit-62132 (<----not the cheapest place to buy)

edit: I don't see the above specifically listed for winches, but I know Warn had previous sold a kit listed as a winch disconnect. I've got one out in my shed, I'll have to see if it is the same item number. Maybe Warn figured they'd sell more if they didn't specifically say it is for a winch so people may decide to use in non-winch applications

 

[rayra]

eh, that Warn kit is just a bundled solenoid and switch kit. For $103. You can get a 200A solenoid for $38 and a bit of wire and a switch.
I already use such a solenoid as an automatic combiner / disconnector on my dual battery setup. And another ~$40 got me the 300A continuous rotary switch that my front grill plug is connected thru.