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How did you wire your winch?

How did you wire your winch?


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Chile1

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There are other places to mount it, I chose this location as it was close to the battery and worked with the supplied battery cable length. Also with this location the AUX switch wiring was long enough to reach the solenoid without splicing. (No bid deal but nice and clean)
4xFUN, would you be able to share the specs to the part you fabricated? i love how clean your install was and i would like to try to replicate.
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Headbarcode

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I installed my winch per Warn's own factory installation instructions, directly to the battery. I see no reason to complicate things or to second-guess the manufacturer.
Directly to battery as instructions say. I agree why over complicate things.
Most vehicles that these winches would be mounted to don't have factory aux switches, so being able to go directly to battery is easy enough for a larger amount of their customer base to install themselves. To your average DIYer, electrical installs tend to be the most daunting tasks. Warn also sells their own solenoid kit that includes everything needed for those looking for an added level of safety and less potential liability. It even includes a toggle switch for those without aux switches.

A winch creates a high current circuit running to the front bumper that can make a frontal collision more interesting than it needs to be. If the jacketing on the power cable was to chafe through from vibration over time, a dead short would be caught quicker if it only happened while the winch was being used and ones attention was on it, rather than if it was hot all the time and allowed to wreak enough havoc before it became obvious.

In my opinion, it's nowhere near enough of a complication to outweigh its benefits. Not to mention, the peace of mind in knowing that I'm never turning my back on a hot high current circuit on my Baby.
 

Catiajockey

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Most vehicles that these winches would be mounted to don't have factory aux switches, so being able to go directly to battery is easy enough for a larger amount of their customer base to install themselves. To your average DIYer, electrical installs tend to be the most daunting tasks. Warn also sells their own solenoid kit that includes everything needed for those looking for an added level of safety and less potential liability. It even includes a toggle switch for those without aux switches.

A winch creates a high current circuit running to the front bumper that can make a frontal collision more interesting than it needs to be. If the jacketing on the power cable was to chafe through from vibration over time, a dead short would be caught quicker if it only happened while the winch was being used and ones attention was on it, rather than if it was hot all the time and allowed to wreak enough havoc before it became obvious.

In my opinion, it's nowhere near enough of a complication to outweigh its benefits. Not to mention, the peace of mind in knowing that I'm never turning my back on a hot high current circuit on my Baby.
Exactly, I want the safest option. For me it is about preventing a fire in case of a minor collision or chafing of the wire. To that end I am wondering if just installing a 400 amp maxi fuse block would be enough.
 

Headbarcode

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Exactly, I want the safest option. For me it is about preventing a fire in case of a minor collision or chafing of the wire. To that end I am wondering if just installing a 400 amp maxi fuse block would be enough.
For under a hundred bucks, I feel that the Warn solenoid kit is the end all hookup option. I just installed it a few hours ago. It includes everything needed for a seemless install. Only things I didn't use in the kit was the toggle switch and 2 of the 4 small gage wires because I already have the factory aux switches.
 

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Catiajockey

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For under a hundred bucks, I feel that the Warn solenoid kit is the end all hookup option. I just installed it a few hours ago. It includes everything needed for a seemless install. Only things I didn't use in the kit was the toggle switch and 2 of the 4 small gage wires because I already have the factory aux switches.
yep, I ordered it today from Amazon. I tried to piece together my own kit but never could quite be certain the relay would be right. So just ordered the Warn kit.
 

PocketsEmptied

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For under a hundred bucks, I feel that the Warn solenoid kit is the end all hookup option. I just installed it a few hours ago. It includes everything needed for a seemless install. Only things I didn't use in the kit was the toggle switch and 2 of the 4 small gage wires because I already have the factory aux switches.
Also just installed mine today along w/ a bumper and winch, turned out great love having it hooked to an AUX:

Jeep Wrangler JL How did you wire your winch? 1632710033422
 

alksion

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Also just installed mine today along w/ a bumper and winch, turned out great love having it hooked to an AUX:

Jeep Wrangler JL How did you wire your winch? 1632710033422
Going to hook mine to aux. What do you feel are the main advantages to aux over the battery? I like that no one can turn it on when parked.
 

omnitonic

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I have mine wired direct to the battery, because that's what the instructions said I had to do. I never really considered alternatives.

I'm not that worried about it. I am highly motivated to avoid ass-ending anyone with my Jeep. If I do, I lose the Jeep, the house, the music studio, the workshop, and everything else I ever worked for.

Maybe that's just in my imagination. Hell, they're paying people $18 an hour to cook chicken at a gas station these days. If anything, my employer needs to step up pretty seriously with the wages if they want me to keep eating 100,000 miles of shit every year to move their freight.

Anyway, it's just as well that I stay highly motivated to never, ever mess up, and maintain a spotless driving record.
 

PocketsEmptied

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Going to hook mine to aux. What do you feel are the main advantages to aux over the battery? I like that no one can turn it on when parked.
Piece of mind. The wire's not energized down to the winch unless the AUX switch in on, so it should eliminate any possibility of short conditions until the switch is turned on at which time you'd be acutely aware of it. Less puckering during water crossings, etc. Also it wouldn't be energized when the vehicle is off so you can't forget and run it and drain your battery in short order. But most of all because pushing buttons feels good.
 

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Headbarcode

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Going to hook mine to aux. What do you feel are the main advantages to aux over the battery? I like that no one can turn it on when parked.
Mainly peace of mind knowing that there's not a high Amp circuit thats hot all the time when you're not around to keep an eye on it. Not even just in the event of a frontal collision, but a short in the power cable or the internal wiring of the winch created by the vibrations of normal driving. You'd be completely unaware of it until it was already causing damage or problems. If that same electrical short were to manifest with a solenoid wired in to kill power, you're more likely to catch it sooner when it's only getting powered up when needed, because your attention is now focused on it.

It should also be noted that, assuming the power cables are routed smartly, the chance of actually having an issue is extremely small. I just look at it as a low cost opportunity to have one less question mark in life.
 

Catiajockey

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Also just installed mine today along w/ a bumper and winch, turned out great love having it hooked to an AUX:

Jeep Wrangler JL How did you wire your winch? 1632710033422
Thank you so much for posting that, I have been out in the garage trying to figure out a mounting position. That is K.I.S.S simple and I'll be copying that.
 

Catiajockey

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Even easier with the pre drilled channel.

Jeep Wrangler JL How did you wire your winch? 20200518_214017
That is well done but it is also A Lot. It looks like you have the V6. The 2.0 as shown @PocketsEmptied pic is what I have. One of my goals is to insure that I don't hinder access to anything I might need in the future. For example, I don't want to have to remove my relay to get to he battery mounting bolt. Further up the thread there is someone that used the bolts on the firewall/cowl. That's not bad either but I also wanted to keep this all as far away from engine heat as possible.
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