Winch ground

[302B4]

Could I ground my winch to the frame, or body, or block?

May seem stupid, but I just wired in my battery disconnect switch, well if I hook up the winch directly to the battery it defeats the purpose of the switch. It flows the ground. So could I ground to anywhere else? Or spend $50 on some more wire and run all the way to the switch?

[chevyfiedRAT]

Hook up the negative to the switch and run it right off the batteries, when running it though the frame as a ground you could ( it's happened) screw up your smaller electronics aka radio, compass, temp, and or windows/locks




Sent from my smartass phone

[steveh]

Wire the winch direct to the battery hot and ground. It will have no ill effects on the battery disco for the rest of the vehicles electrical. You want to do it this way because it can pull some major amps under load.

If you want an emergency disco for the winch, add a dedicated disco that can handle a surge of 200-300 amps. Something like racers use works great.

As far as grounding to frame affecting other stuff, then there are some bad grounds, because in 12vdc, ground is ground, but the path back to the battery can be less than stealer if the connections are not excellent. It's still a bad idea to ground high current items to the frame or body. Path of least resistance is best.

Use a dvm to check resistance of grounds, and fix any that are more than 1 or 2 ohms max.

Read my post on Ohms law, it's all in the math, tkaes the guess work out of it.

[DRM]

I ran my XD9000i grounded to the frame on my 4Runner, but I also ran a #2 ground from the battery right to the frame as well - and both cables were pretty much as short as possible.

Worked fine for me :shrug:

[steveh]

Originally Posted by DRM

I ran my XD9000i grounded to the frame on my 4Runner, but I also ran a #2 ground from the battery right to the frame as well - and both cables were pretty much as short as possible.

Worked fine for me :shrug:

Yep, as long as the ground path has the right size pipes, ground is ground.

[302B4]

Well here is how I wired my disco switch.

There is one ground that runs from the switch to the battery. One ground from the switch to the block. One ground from block to body. Is this okay?

[302B4]

And when I hooked the winch ground up to the battery, the switch no longer worked. My guess is because it is bolted to a plate that is bolted to the frame and that gave everything a ground once again.

[302B4]

Bumpity bump.

[steveh]

Originally Posted by 302B4

And when I hooked the winch ground up to the battery, the switch no longer worked. My guess is because it is bolted to a plate that is bolted to the frame and that gave everything a ground once again.

Yep, and when I think about it, I am not following what you are trying to accomplish. What do you want the disco switch to do? Cut off power to everything, or just the winch? Be very specific when you reply, if you want us to have a shot at providing some decent feedback.

[302B4]

Originally Posted by 302B4:14263297

I just wired in my battery disconnect switch

First post.

[bigbaggedbeast]

and rememeber do not use side posts for your winch pos neg cables they cant handle heavy load and will melt down ... top posts only

[DMG]

If you want to be certain that your winch will work, wire it directly to the battery, both positive and negative. If you want the system disconnect to work, put one in the winch ground cable.

[apeters89]

He's wiring in his battery disconnect on the ground side of the battery. Bypassing the switch for the winch bypasses the switch for everything 'cause the winch body itself is grounded.

[DMG]

Originally Posted by apeters89

He's wiring in his battery disconnect on the ground side of the battery. Bypassing the switch for the winch bypasses the switch for everything 'cause the winch body itself is grounded.

That is why I suggested he put a disconnect in the winch ground, too.

[apeters89]

Originally Posted by DMG

That is why I suggested he put a disconnect in the winch ground, too.

Might as well just run the winch ground to the primary disconnect at that point, or just go to frame. As long as there's good ground from the frame to the battery it will be fine.

[DMG]

Originally Posted by apeters89

Might as well just run the winch ground to the primary disconnect at that point, or just go to frame. As long as there's good ground from the frame to the battery it will be fine.

This may just be a rust belt thing but if you want your winch to still work next year when you need it, you ground it to the battery.

[steveh]

Well, I would not wire the disco on the ground side like you are doing. And i would not wire a winch the way you are doing it.

I would wire the winch direct to the battery, and have the disco on the positive that feeds the vehicle systems. KISS

Again, I asked you what your goal is here, and you think you answered, but you haven't. I'm not sure you know what your goal is. Hopefully your getting a feel for how electricity works or... not ...

My point is, you are trying to put to many systems in series with each other, when they should be in parallel.

[apeters89]

Originally Posted by steveh

My point is, you are trying to put to many systems in series with each other, when they should be in parallel.

I don't really see him putting any systems in series. I think he just came across a problem with the metal chassis of his winch allowing everything to bypass his ground disconnect.

There's a reason you're supposed to run EVERYTHING through the disconnect, whether it's on the positive or the ground side of the battery.

[Wyoming9]

The point being was this being used as a anti theft device??

Or where there electrical gremlins that kept drain the battery.

Every battery disconnect I have seen over the years has been on the ground side. Perhaps because it was easier less wires to deal with.

Most winch manufactures suggest running direct to the battery with these new computers in vehicles. Having a bad ground between your winch and the frame would be similar to welding on a vehicle with a poor ground it will seek a ground any place it can find one .

It could be a nice 14 gauge wire for something.

[chevy_man]

If you try and disconnect the negative side, it'll be a pain in the ass to actually get it to shut everything off.

Just put one in line with the positive side of the battery, and it'll actually shut off everything. And DO NOT run your winch through it. Some are capable of pulling 400A+ and the disconnect will fail eventually. I've actually seen quite a few go up in smoke (literally, smoke and flames) on construction equipment. It's entertaining when you don't own the vehicle, but if you have an electrical fire in your engine bay it'll be a hell of a memory.

[roselina366]

Hmm you are absolutely right.This is the way to do this process rightly and easily.