Controlling Winch Power: Switch vs Power Interrupt

[A Sober Animal]

So as I wait for my winch spacer plates to be delivered, I'm trying to understand the options I have for running power to my winch. From what I've read so far, the general advice is that your winch should never be always connected to power due to a variety of reasons (draining battery, fire hazard in crash, etc.). As a result, I want to figure out how exactly I want to control the power to my winch when I install it.

I am very set on controlling winch power via my Voswitch JL300, which I will be installing later this month. I like the idea of being able to turn it on only from the inside of the vehicle, and not having to open the hood to run power. Given the switch panel has 6 switches that can be controlled from it - and it'll be hard for me to fill in all of those options - I like having the winch run through it.

I think the only concern I have has to do with amp draw and messing up the electrical. Each of the switches is rated for 30 amps, which I think is enough, but I've read comments about winches pulling amps in the several hundreds under full load - is that going to fry the switch? Are there other concerns I need to worry about?

Or, do I need both a switch (if I want to control from the inside of the vehicle) and a power interrupt to do this right?

TL;DR: I want to control my winch's power via a switch, can I do that with one alone or do I also need a power interrupt? What other considerations do I need to factor in?

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[mark203]

[...]

I think the only concern I have has to do with amp draw and messing up the electrical. Each of the switches is rated for 30 amps, which I think is enough, but I've read comments about winches pulling amps in the several hundreds under full load - is that going to fry the switch? Are there other concerns I need to worry about?

Or, do I need both a switch (if I want to control from the inside of the vehicle) and a power interrupt to do this right?

TL;DR: I want to control my winch's power via a switch, can I do that with one alone or do I also need a power interrupt? What other considerations do I need to factor in?

Your winch pulls hundreds of amps, and will fry any 30 amp switch you put it through.
You will need to have your switch control a high-current relay which, in turn, controls the winch power. Warn makes a power interrupt kit for this purpose that costs ~$75-80.

At the higher end would be something like the Blue Sea Systems 7700 relay that has a few added features, but has a street price of about $160-180. Nice benefit to something like that is it has a manual over-ride, and manual lock-out.

 

[OutdoorMike]

So as I wait for my winch spacer plates to be delivered, I'm trying to understand the options I have for running power to my winch. From what I've read so far, the general advice is that your winch should never be always connected to power due to a variety of reasons (draining battery, fire hazard in crash, etc.). As a result, I want to figure out how exactly I want to control the power to my winch when I install it.

I am very set on controlling winch power via my Voswitch JL300, which I will be installing later this month. I like the idea of being able to turn it on only from the inside of the vehicle, and not having to open the hood to run power. Given the switch panel has 6 switches that can be controlled from it - and it'll be hard for me to fill in all of those options - I like having the winch run through it.

I think the only concern I have has to do with amp draw and messing up the electrical. Each of the switches is rated for 30 amps, which I think is enough, but I've read comments about winches pulling amps in the several hundreds under full load - is that going to fry the switch? Are there other concerns I need to worry about?

Or, do I need both a switch (if I want to control from the inside of the vehicle) and a power interrupt to do this right?

TL;DR: I want to control my winch's power via a switch, can I do that with one alone or do I also need a power interrupt? What other considerations do I need to factor in?

Yes you need a "power interrupter" as they call them, Warn makes one for there winches that will work. Its really just a solenoid (a electromechanical switch) that's switch-controlled by your "low voltage" switch to allow the solenoid to switch the high amp side and turn it on. You basically need to have the two wires from your aux switches you've installed in your jeep to be on the "control" side of the power interrupter and put the high amp draw device (winch) on the other side to be switched.

You can NOT just plug the winch into the switch to turn it on as you have read about already like you mentioned. Yes there are potentially hundreds of amps and it not go well if you connect that switch directly into the winch.

 

[SmoothJeepOperator]

I'm in the same boat, looking to do the exact same thing (even have the same switch, except the 200 instad of the 300).

Do I need to be concerned with the winch and battery/alternator set up? I recently bought the Apex Badlands 12,000 pound winch. I also recently replaced my stock battery with a Die hard gold battery which has 640 CCA. Should I be worried that should I actually need to use the winch that the battery and alternator wont be able to keep up?

 

[A Sober Animal]

Little bit of a zombie thread here coming back to life 9 months later. Ultimately, I ended up installing the warn power interrupter for this per the advice given here, and I haven't had any issues.

I'm in the same boat, looking to do the exact same thing (even have the same switch, except the 200 instad of the 300).

Do I need to be concerned with the winch and battery/alternator set up? I recently bought the Apex Badlands 12,000 pound winch. I also recently replaced my stock battery with a Die hard gold battery which has 640 CCA. Should I be worried that should I actually need to use the winch that the battery and alternator wont be able to keep up?

I'd recommend doing the same - install with the warn power interrupter. It was an easy install, and I have almost the same setup as you (JL300 vs JL200, and Apex 10k vs 12k).

 

[hybrid_eg]

im bringing this up from the dead. I desire to do the same with my Voswitch. I presume Warn Power Interrupt Kit will work on other brand winches? I bought SB X2O Gen2 10K
Thanks!

 

[jlandry287]

im bringing this up from the dead. I desire to do the same with my Voswitch. I presume Warn Power Interrupt Kit will work on other brand winches? I bought SB X2O Gen2 10K
Thanks!

It’ll work with any brand winch.

 

[Left Field]

What he said ^^^
I just put the Warn interrupter on with a new SB XRC. Works perfect.

 

[AusJeepNoob]

You can also use something like a Stinger SGP35 which is essentially the same as the Warn relay. Not sure what rating the Warn relay is but the Stinger is 500 amps so gives some headroom over what the winch is likely to draw.

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