Wiring a winch to Aux switch?

[newbie5150]

Since the 2024 Rubicons come standard with the Auxiliary Switches, if you opt for the Winch, will they wire it to one of the Aux Switches for you? If not, how difficult is that to do? Total newbie here on anything electrical.

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[OrneryBear]

Since the 2024 Rubicons come standard with the Auxiliary Switches, if you opt for the Winch, will they wire it to one of the Aux Switches for you? If not, how difficult is that to do? Total newbie here on anything electrical.

good question I hadn't even thought of. It should be fairly straightforward to wire up the winch if not. Possibly the dealer could do it for you as part of delivery if they don't.

I'm interested to know out of curiosity.

 

[ConqSoft]

good question I hadn't even thought of. It should be fairly straightforward to wire up the winch if not. Possibly the dealer could do it for you as part of delivery if they don't.

I'm interested to know out of curiosity.

You wouldn't want to wire the winch directly to the switch; would require a relay. I don't know if they do that from the factory, but would be a nice addition if they did.

 

[OrneryBear]

You wouldn't want to wire the winch directly to the switch; would require a relay. I don't know if they do that from the factory, but would be a nice addition if they did.

I wasn't implying wiring it directly to the switch. Wiring in a relay is easy.

 

[newbie5150]

I wasn't implying wiring it directly to the switch. Wiring in a relay is easy.

I'm watching this back and forth like a tennis match thinking "what the fuck is a relay?" lol

 

[yokramer]

I'm watching this back and forth like a tennis match thinking "what the fuck is a relay?" lol

Relays use small power to make big power go

 

[nsfw_andy]

I’m running aftermarket switches but I ran a wire to where the winch remote controller connects to the solenoid that activates winch in/out to my switches since I don’t have a wireless winch remote.

 

[GtX]

I'm watching this back and forth like a tennis match thinking "what the fuck is a relay?" lol

You can think of a relay as an electronic switch.

A low current signal activates the switch. This allows you to control a high current device (winch, compressor, lights) with a low current device like the auxiliary switches. If you ran the high current through the switch you'd blow the fuse or the switch.

Relays are also useful for turning on/off a device when another device turns on/off. You might run a signal from your high beams to the relay to turn on your offroad lights when you activate your high beams.

OP's question isn't clear since it could refer to the winch power or controlling in/out. Winch power cannot go through the auxiliary switches because the current is too high. In this instance you'd use a high current relay and turn the relay on/off with the switch. Controlling in/out is possible with the auxiliary switches. Just be careful if you set them to latching in UConnect.

 

[dstevens]

If you get the factory winch option then it is wired directly to the battery.

Using the aux switched to wind/unwind would not be that great. Some of the time you want to be out of the Jeep to control the winch.

Using the aux switch to isolate the winch would be possible. You can't use anything like a regular relay - the winch uses around 400 amps at max pull.

However warn makes a solenoid exactly for this purpose
https://www.warn.com/power-interrupt-kit-62132

The advantage of using a solenoid / interrupt is that you can isolate the power to the winch. By default the winch has a pretty hefty power cable which is not fused. It is always a good idea to not ground it by mistake.

 

[grimmjeeper]

Yep. The winch motor is wired directly to the battery. It draws more power than even the alternator can provide so it hits the battery directly. You can use the Warn power relay above and wire it to the aux switch so you can disable the winch until you turn the switch on.

It is possible to use 2 of the aux switches to control the winch. One for "spool out" and one for "spool in". They have to be separate switches and you'd have to work out a way to keep from turning both switches on at the same time or set up the wiring so that one would automatically cancel out the other. If you don't, you can short out the battery and that's a good way to burn your Jeep to the ground.

Honestly though, I prefer having the standard winch remote. It's easy enough to plug it in and run the winch with it. The cable is long enough to run it into the cab if you want to. But it also lets you watch the winch as you're using it.

 

[Chocolate Thunder]

Since the 2024 Rubicons come standard with the Auxiliary Switches, if you opt for the Winch, will they wire it to one of the Aux Switches for you? If not, how difficult is that to do? Total newbie here on anything electrical.

I’m curious, why do you want to wire it that way rather than just having it wired directly to your battery as is commonly done?

 

[Ratbert]

I'm not sure why someone would want to wire it to an aux switch. Safety?

Fortunately mine wasn't wired through an aux switch by AEV. I'm using all four of them for other things.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Personally I see the power interrupt kits as a gimmick to sell more parts. The battery itself is pretty much mounted in the front grill/ fender in most cars, I think they are far more likely to short out in a minor accident than my winch feed is. Even warn lists their power interrupt kit in the rear/ hitch mounted/ temporary connection part of their catalog. In that application it makes some sense as the winch won't even be connected to the lines most of the time. As far as using the aux switches for spooling in and out, that seems inconvenient at best. I'll stick with the wireless controller that I can run from inside, outside, next to, or behind my vehicle without having to climb back in every time I want to bump the line or slack it to adjust the rigging.

 

[Flip]

I kept mine simple and safe, works flawlessly.

 

[jbcrane]

Mine's wired to the WARN solenoid, then to AUX3. I don't want power to the winch 24/7 for a number of reasons, including safety. There are enough stories, like of the EVO remote freaking out and activating the winch to destroy itself, or being in an accident and having that much hot juice in the engine bay - I thought it better to control power independently. When I called the dealer to ask they said they just wired it to the battery, 'like everyone's been doing for years.' My first call to WARN produced the same answer. My second call, however, produced a different answer , recommending the solenoid, which is how I was leaning, so that's what I did.

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