Winch wiring question (12V)

chim · Dec 9, 2002

Ahhhhhhhh, so I wasn't the only one to read old old old Granville King 

Gee Harv, didja really need to put that many "old's" in the response? Heck it seems like only yesterday I was reading about the Desert Rat, "ridin' elegant", his Thutty-Thutty and all the other fun stuff in PV4. Granville's column was my favorite part of the magazine, although I did always flip to the back to see the "stuck" photos.............chim

chim · Dec 9, 2002

While it may be considered blasphemy in some circles to question Sam 'n Dave (Hold on, I'm Comin'?), I don't see their point. Their information doesn't appear to be consistent with the facts in this case.

Attached are catalog cuts I found. As you can see, the insulation on the welding cable is good for 600V (a tad more than most civilian vehicles have available). The temperature range is -50° to 105°C (colder than here in PA to a bit above boiling). Unless you wrap the cable around the engine, temperature shouldn't be a problem.

The upper temperature range for the battery cable is listed at 80°C, which is 25°C LESS than welding cable.
Didn't notice the max. voltage rating for the battery cable.

The resistance for welding cable is about 20% less than building wire. Less is good. Didn't see what the resistance was for the battery cable.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.colemancable.com/catalog/10018.pdf>Welding Cable Spec</A>

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tiewraps.com/batterycable.html>Battery Cable Spec</A>

Welding cable is pretty neat stuff, made to carry manly current and take a reasonable amount of abuse. We had half of an operating hospital fed with multiple runs of 600MCM Diesel Locomotive Cable (slightly different insulation characteristics) for about 8 months when their backup power system took a crap. I could have bought a nice tractor each of those months for what we paid CAT in rent for the genset and cables....................chim

hazmat · Dec 9, 2002

Gary you want one of these (or equivalent) to be sure you don't drain the truck battery

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.boatus-store.com/browse/item.asp?IID=16922>Isolater</A>

Sounds odd to have a female on the winch, with the male coming from the battery, unless the male end has some sort of protection over the plug to prevent unintentional welding when it bumps against a grounded surface on the vehicle or trailer..............

Chim,

I'm not familiar with this connector, But have seen many that have a male outer caseing (plastic) with female guts & vice versa. The gender of a connector is determined by the guts not the casing. Not sure what it accomplishes except to confuse people (like me).

Either way, sounds like it is well protected from Gary's description.

Inspector507 · Dec 9, 2002

hazmat........looks like this in the attached photo

Anonymous Poster · Dec 9, 2002

OK guys, I'm a little late jumping in here, so I'm gonna put a lot of information in one posting.
Welding cable is definitely superior to the automotive cable, and the assertion that welding cable can't carry current efficiently is pure BS. Carrying current is exactly what welding cable is designed to do. The insulation on welding cable will definitely withstand more than automotive stuff will too.
As far as battery charging to the trailer from the truck, do it the easy way, come from one of the ignition circuits on the truck back to the trailer battery for charging only. You don't need a large cable running thru the truck to accomplish that, #12 wire will work fine. Add a diode to this wire, and you prevent backward current flow to the truck. This will prevent the battery on the trailer from discharging when the truck is shut off by running truck accessories.
The connectors pictured are standard electric forklift battery connectors. They also work very well for connecting jumper cables to a truck and cut down tremendously on battery terminal abuse from jumper cables. Just be very sure to check polarity when you hook them up.

Gary_in_Indiana · Dec 9, 2002

Wow, Jerry... not only an expert on 110V but 12V as well! I continue to be impressed. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

The pics you posted look exactly like what I have. I know they are made at least two different sizes as my last winch used smaller ones while this one uses a size to accomodate #2 guage wire/cable. The smaller set I have are gray in color. The only thing 'special' about these I have now are that they're red and say 'Warn' on them.

Gary_in_Indiana · Dec 9, 2002

"You don't need a large cable running thru the truck to accomplish that, #12 wire will work fine. Add a diode to this wire, and you prevent backward current flow to the truck."

I'm going to have #2 cable running back there to power the winch away from the trailer, anyhow, so that's not going to be a problem. I'm not sure what, if anything, to do about a diode, though. /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

"The connectors ... also work very well for connecting jumper cables to a truck and cut down tremendously on battery terminal abuse from jumper cables. Just be very sure to check polarity when you hook them up."

I mentioned that earlier. I just use red and black clamps on the cables to designate positive (red) and negative (black). There is a polarity check device for something under $10 that will show a green light if polarity in the connection is done properly or a red light if it isn't.

em14 · Dec 9, 2002

Gary,
Check this site ... I think you may find it interesting .... http://www.hellroaring.com/
Leo

TWINKLE_TOES · Dec 9, 2002

Add a diode to this wire, and you prevent backward current flow to the truck. This will prevent the battery on the trailer from discharging when the truck is shut off by running truck accessories.

Yep, but it will also assure the battery is never charged to it's full capacity.
A battery charged to one diode drop below the main battery is ~ a 50% capacity battery, not good for a winch application.

Anonymous Poster · Dec 10, 2002

"A battery charged to one diode drop below the main battery is ~ a 50% capacity battery, not good for a winch application."
NOT SO! What do you think is inside of those fancy overpriced isolators? A diode in a DC circuit functions exactly like a check valve. The same diode converting AC to DC would yield half wave, with a reduction in the DC output voltage compared to the AC input voltage DC being roughly 73% of the AC voltage.