Winch Hooked Up To Battery Or Solenoid?

[Silly_Syko]

Looking to wire up a Warn VR Evo 10-S soon and had a few questions.

In general I am thinking of wiring up my winch to a solenoid instead of straight battery because I would like to use an AUX button to power it, that way there isn't just always power sitting there all the time. Just one of those safety things in my head that if you got in an accident and a cable came undone and made contact with the bumper you would have a live bumper.

What are your guys thoughts on best way to hook up a winch? Solenoid and power with Aux switch/sPod, hardwired direct to battery, hard switch under the hood, leave off terminal and just have a wing nut handy when you want to use it?

I see warn makes a little kit that is 90 dollars (honestly I don't know if its worth getting the kit or just buying the solenoid on its own for 60 dollars and buying a stubby battery cable for like 10 dollars since i would be using the JL stock AUX switches). I also seen people use a battery terminal fuse box attachment but I see those go up to 300 amp but the winch has a max amp pull of 358 under full pull so I feel like it would be over kill and also just blow all the time making it pointless.

Still new to the whole Jeep and Offroad community so I apologize if this is a dumb question or asked a ton, but any input is appreciated.

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[sourdough]

I have seen it done and done it both ways and believe a solenoid in play is best.

 

[Jim1964]

No worries about a live bumper, that’s bolted to the chassis so it’s always at B- potential. If the cable gets pinched it’ll just be a race to see what happens first, a melted cable or a dead battery. If it’s a good battery the cable will lose.

I always hook mine directly to the battery on the KISS principle; fewer things to fail.

There are high capacity fuses and breakers available, if you want over current protection that’s what I’d recommend.

 

[Silly_Syko]

I have seen it done and done it both ways and believe a solenoid in play is best.

I was looking at that exact terminal fuse and post. Right now I am leaning towards the solenoid also because I would also like the only way to power the winch is inside when the Jeep is on, so you've had no issues with the fuse blowing when winch is at full draw?

 

[Silly_Syko]

No worries about a live bumper, that’s bolted to the chassis so it’s always at B- potential. If the cable gets pinched it’ll just be a race to see what happens first, a melted cable or a dead battery. If it’s a good battery the cable will lose.

I always hook mine directly to the battery on the KISS principle; fewer things to fail.

There are high capacity fuses and breakers available, if you want over current protection that’s what I’d recommend.

KISS is a good suit to follow. Didn't think of the bumper/frame as the second ground, so good call there it would ground itself out and fry the cable or battery first most likely.

I also like having a cheaper component to replace too, if it is battery vs 60 dollar solenoid I would choose solenoid. If it is solenoid vs 20 dollar fuse block, 20 dollar fuse block.

Just looking at all my options and inputs are always valued because I am new.

 

[SH556JL]

I have my Warn winch run into the Warn Power Interrupt kit, then operated through my sPOD. All I used was the solenoid and short power cable, so could save money there as you stated.

You could use something like Blue Sea on/off single circuit switch on the power cable. This would be a solid and safe budget friendly route.

 

[sourdough]

I was looking at that exact terminal fuse and post. Right now I am leaning towards the solenoid also because I would also like the only way to power the winch is inside when the Jeep is on, so you've had no issues with the fuse blowing when winch is at full draw?

I have had to drag the full weight of my JLR once and experienced no winch issues. I do carry a spare fuse. haha, from experience with a Toyota PTO winch and factory shear pins, I learned carry weak link spares.

 

[Silly_Syko]

I have my Warn winch run into the Warn Power Interrupt kit, then operated through my sPOD. All I used was the solenoid and short power cable, so could save money there as you stated.

You could use something like Blue Sea on/off single circuit switch on the power cable. This would be a solid and safe budget friendly route.

Budget is always a concern but sometimes its worth it to pay for the functionality of it too(I don't even know what I am going to use all the AUX switches for, at the moment I am still trying to figure out if I should buy spot lights vs driving lights, this jeep is going to make me poor, lol). The isolater kit is what i was looking at, or was going to piece a marine grade solenoid and cable but I imagine we should trust warn and their namesake also. I think I might do that route of buying just the warn solenoid, a 12 inch cable, and some caps for the wires.

 

[Silly_Syko]

I have had to drag the full weight of my JLR once and experienced no winch issues. I do carry a spare fuse. haha, from experience with a Toyota PTO winch and factory shear pins, I learned carry weak link spares.

I mean the ultimate spare would just be unhooking it from the broken switch/fuse/solenoid and putting straight to battery.

 

[Sydwaiz]

I used a solenoid wired to a factory aux switch. If you want to save money and not buy the Warn kit, you can buy a cheap ford starter solenoid for like 20 bucks or so.

 

[TKL223/3]

Here’s mine.

 

[Silly_Syko]

I used a solenoid wired to a factory aux switch. If you want to save money and not buy the Warn kit, you can buy a cheap ford starter solenoid for like 20 bucks or so.

Would that make my Jeep part Bronco?

 

[Silly_Syko]

Here’s mine.

Did you make that bracket or buy it?

 

[TKL223/3]

Did you make that bracket or buy it?

I made the bracket out of scrap metal.

 

[Silly_Syko]

I made the bracket out of scrap metal.

I was thinking of doing the same, getting a piece of scrap aluminum from the box store and bending it for it. Then paint and glue some rubber or felt to the back to isolate the bracket from the metal to help the paint live longer.

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