Jeep Wrangler Forum banner

Winch install - shielding positive cable to battery?

7K views 21 replies 14 participants last post by  Serbonze 
#1 ·
I'm in the process of purchasing a winch, and a friend asked if I had researched hydraulic hose to cover the positive lead going to the battery. He seemed pretty certain that this was a generally known practice to prevent chafing and possible shorts when routing it through the grill and around the radiator.

My search on this board and Google in general have provided nothing related to this exact issue, just hits on hydraulic cable and winch wires separately.

Has anyone done this? Is it necessary?

If it's been discussed and I missed it in my search, just point me in the right direction. Thanks!
 
#4 · (Edited)
Slit a length of old garden hose and slip it over the winch positive lead, then zip-tie it in place. That will protect it from ever rubbing through and shorting to the chassis or tub.

A winch can easily draw over 400 amps, it would be very hard to find a reasonably priced or reasonably sized circuit breaker to handle that. Winch manufacturers don't believe fuses or circuit breakers are needed when the positive cable is routed properly and protected so it can't wear through, similar to the starter motor which doesn't have a fuse or circuit breaker either.
 
#6 ·
I run that plastic ribbed wiring covering over the hot lead from end to end, and also slit some old heater hose I had laying around and wire tie it around both leads where they have the possibility of something rubbing. Kind of a belt and suspenders approach. I check it annually to make sure there is no chaffing occurring.

I'm anal about safety, so I also installed a heavy duty electrical disconnect on the hot lead, so the wires are not energized for normal street driving. I did that so in the event of a front end collision there isn't an unfused 2 gage hot cable running through the front grill area where it might get pinched in a an accident and cause a fire.



This switch is rated for 300 amps continuous, 700 amps for 10 seconds and 1000 amps for 5 seconds. Winch works fine with it so far.
 
#9 ·
I have never felt the need to shield the cable unless it had to run against a sharp edge. When I did (on a non-Jeep), I used a piece of heater hose.

This comes up a lot on boats with lines rubbing against things. There is a marine product that looks like white hose.
 
#10 ·
I used split wire loom when routing my winch electric wires...
 
#12 ·
Another split wire loom user here. On the positive, from the winch, through the grill, to the battery. Zip tied about every foot to help with my paranoia of sparks and shorts.
 
#13 ·
Depending on your eyelet connector size buy some heater or rubber oil line. Run a piece of wire through it and pull the wire through. Don't use Hyd. hose for one, it's too expensive and it has a braided wire core that could conduct if the inter lining is broken.
 
#18 ·
What I like about the Battery Doctor switch is that it has a non conductive back plate on it, so your connections are made on large studs (with 17mm nuts) inside the unit and are not just hanging out there, exposed on the back side of the switch, like many of the switches that are designed to be installed in a panel or enclosure. You don't have to worry about anything coming in contact with the switch itself. It's a nicely made switch and it's not very expensive as you can see from the link below.

Amazon.com: WirthCo 20387 Battery Doctor Mini Master Rotary Dial Disconnect Switch with On/Off Knob and Bottom Cover: Automotive
 
#19 ·
I'd be wary of that particular switch, it looks very undersized for the >400 amps a winch can draw when under a heavy load. Switches up to that amount of amperage are larger and more expensive. That particular switch only mentions the voltage which has no bearing on its ability to carry the amps pulled by a winch.
 
#21 ·
I did this before I realized what the winch cable sleeve was really for.....(it was perfect length going from winch, past the radiator and all the way up to the air box).
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top