General Winch Advice

[Rahneld]

I too wired mine directly to the main battery, but with....

and I think the vast majority of posters above did as well even if they didn't say so....

an in-line fuse rated no higher than the wiring used between battery and winch...

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[AirportDave]

Direct wired my Zeon 10S to my battery, no inline fuse, which is how the Warn instructions depict. What kind of inline fuses are you other direct-wire guys using? The 10S pulls 409 amps at max draw- that's a big ass fuse.

 

[Dagwood]

Direct wired my Zeon 10S to my battery, no inline fuse, which is how the Warn instructions depict. What kind of inline fuses are you other direct-wire guys using? The 10S pulls 409 amps at max draw- that's a big ass fuse.

That's why a fuse is useless . They make fuses rated that high of amperage but they simply won't blow, the wire shielding would be a melted puddle first. The battery would die before a fuse that high rated would blow.

 

[Dagwood]

Mine has negative straight to battery, positive to solenoid and solenoid to battery with short one foot run. Solenoid triped by aux switch.

There is a hole already there where bracket was installed, I just put in nutsert and bolted bracket to space it out over factory wiring.

Sidewinder just installed, haven't tried yet.

 

[Dagwood]

Those that chassis grounded your winch might want to upgrade your oem ground wire from battery to chassis. If not your relying on that oem ground wire being sufficient to handle such high amperage.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

Switches are for bitches. Go direct to the battery.

 

[Rahneld]

Direct wired my Zeon 10S to my battery, no inline fuse, which is how the Warn instructions depict. What kind of inline fuses are you other direct-wire guys using? The 10S pulls 409 amps at max draw- that's a big ass fuse.

I run a small winch. Clearly, as fuses are there to protect the wires/cables, if your cables can deliver more than a battery can provide (or a winch will draw) I could see where fuses aren't required, if not dang difficult to acquire at the amperages you work out @AirportDave .

 

[xtopherm]

Hello All

I’m getting ready to do my first bit of tinkering in my 2019 JLU Sport S (26,000 miles) and add a Quadratec Q Series Stealth winch. Before I f*%k up an otherwise simple task, I figured I should ask the experts if they have any words of wisdom before I set into work.

I’ve read on the dual battery system here: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/3-6l-ess-dual-battery-consolidated-information.25377/

And I’ve read about some general winch wiring considerations here: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/winch-wiring-question.7631/

Prior to reading these, I thought “I’m just gonna wire it to be used with my Aux switches and it’ll be nice and clean”. Now I don’t think that will work because of the amperage of the switches vs draw of the winch.
I also thought I would just wire directly to positive and negative terminals on the battery, but it seems that I should put the negative wire to the frame instead of the negative battery terminal on main battery.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated! Like I said, should be a simple job but a dual battery system has me thinking carefully even about the simple stuff

Winches draw a massive amount of current under load, so it's not a bad idea to wire them directly to the battery for a nice strong connection, but you might consider tossing a heavy duty switch onto one of the leads. Reason you want to consider the switch is that direct wire means the winch is always powered so any jackass with a paperclip can bridge the connectors where the remote plugs in and spool out a bunch of rope and move your jeep or wrap the rope around the jeep and pull it in an crush taillights and bend body panels. Not likely but easy to do by any mechanically minded hormone riddled teen prankster. (I got a nice switch with a removable plastic key for cheap on amazon - message me or reply if you want the link to the one I got).

 

[AnnDee4444]

Another option I am considering is mounting a disconnect switch under the hood. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Systems-Battery-Switches/dp/B000MMC914?th=1

I've also been thinking about relocating the solenoid to under-hood. This could also eliminate the need to have a switch on the winch power. https://www.warn.com/control-pack-relocation-kit-89960

 

[bobzdar]

Hello All

I’m getting ready to do my first bit of tinkering in my 2019 JLU Sport S (26,000 miles) and add a Quadratec Q Series Stealth winch. Before I f*%k up an otherwise simple task, I figured I should ask the experts if they have any words of wisdom before I set into work.

I’ve read on the dual battery system here: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/3-6l-ess-dual-battery-consolidated-information.25377/

And I’ve read about some general winch wiring considerations here: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/winch-wiring-question.7631/

Prior to reading these, I thought “I’m just gonna wire it to be used with my Aux switches and it’ll be nice and clean”. Now I don’t think that will work because of the amperage of the switches vs draw of the winch.
I also thought I would just wire directly to positive and negative terminals on the battery, but it seems that I should put the negative wire to the frame instead of the negative battery terminal on main battery.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated! Like I said, should be a simple job but a dual battery system has me thinking carefully even about the simple stuff

You can wire it to the aux switches - you'll need to have them power the relays in the relay box. If you do it correctly, you'll also be able to use the remote. The superwinch I put on mine came with a large fuse so it could be attached directly to the battery but still be protected from shorts.

 

[StrikeZ]

Get synth line it’s is lighter. I recommend Maximus 3 winch plate. Don’t waste a couple hundred dollars on a fancy hook - get rope shackles and tree savers instead.

 

[MattLaurence]

All great advice here. I ended up ordering the Warn solenoid wiring kit to pair with my Q Series winch thanks to a post on here.
I spent an afternoon taking off the factory plastic bumper and putting on a Quadratec stubby bumper.... geez I didn’t realize how... flimsy the plastic bumper was until I took it off!

I bolted the winch onto the bumper and then had someone help me lift the 200+ pound assembly onto the front and bolt it into place. Feels much more substantial.
Haven’t done the wiring yet, but more pics to follow. After getting it wired, I’m taking a day to practice recovering myself out of muddy/ steep terrain. Of course there will be pics and vids posted when that happens!

 

[RagTopDeluxe]

I was searching the forum for bull bars and winches and I see your post with what looks like a mkII Supra! Nice!

 

[MattLaurence]

I was searching the forum for bull bars and winches and I see your post with what looks like a mkII Supra! Nice!

Yeahhhhhhhh thank you
That’s the MK II project that was put on hold until the Jeep is paid off

 

[MattLaurence]

So finally got all things together and finished my install of a Q series Stealth winch. All in all it probably took me about 5~6 hours. Most of that time was spent looking through these forums for the DOs and DO NOT DOs for installing a winch and a power interrupt kit.
I opted to go for a power interrupt kit wired to Aux 1. I did this purely for overkill/ safety so that nobody can use the winch unless the circuit to it is completed by turning on Aux 1. Also I like the idea of a kill switch as I do plan on being off road, and don’t want a big electrical headache if someone rolls into me/ I hit a rock or tree and pinch those cables in the front bumper, creating a short and unleashing hard-to-find electrical demons into this new Jeep

Also, as a reference, here’s how I wired the solenoid (follow instructions in the kit for which wire connects to where):

Connect positive (+) cable from winch to one large post on the solenoid, it can be either right or left. On the other large post, connect the red heavy gauge wire and then connect the other end to the positive (+) terminal of the main battery.

Connect the green wire to one of the smaller posts (CHECK INSTRUCTIONS FOR WHICH POST, DONT CONNECT IT TO THE WRONG ONE AND SHORT OUT YOUR AUX SWITCHES), and connect the other end to the negative (-) battery terminal on the main battery. Also, connect the negative (-) cable from the winch to the negative (-) main battery terminal.

Lastly, wire in the yellow wire to the remaining small post (AGAIN, MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW DIRECTIONS ON WHICH SMALL POST TO ATTACH TO) and connect the other end to the coordinating aux switch wire under the hood.

Like others have said, hardest part was finding a way to mount it. I made a small bracket to mount mine on out of scrap steel. I’ll paint it soon, but just wanted to have it finished for now.

Tested mine out tonight, works great! Has a solid, satisfying click when you press Aux 1 and hear the power go to the winch. Time for a celebratory beer

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