I am going to be putting my new winch on this weekend hopefully when I receive the Curt winch mount. This setup will be so I can put on and take off my winch from a front receiver.
I am going to go buy a couple quick disconnects from 4wp for the wiring and I started thinking if whether or not I need to or I should also install a relay/solenoid and switch in my truck so I can turn the power on and off from the inside the cab switch. This would be so that the winch cables do not have constant power to them when the winch is not on the truck.
Is this something I should do or do you think it'd be alright without hurting anything to not put in the relay switch and solenoid.
If I go with the solenoid, I'll have to go to the JY and get one out of an older ford or lincoln that was hooked to the starter.

 

There isn't really a pressing reason to do it. I don't know about the quick-disconnect kits but I would hope they have some kind of cover to keep the unused end sealed up.

 

regarding quick-disconnects: Anderson PowerPoles. Accept no substitutes.

here's their web site

 

^^^ Yes, those. We use those on fire trucks and they are great. I suggest a liberal amount of silicone lube and the caps for them as wel.

 

Thanks. I am new to electrical so could someone tell me exactly what I'd need on that site to have a good disconnect? Thanks again guys for the help.

 

it's pretty straightforward, actually. just choose the connectors you need based on the wire gauge and expected current flow.

 

I love those things. We cut the ends off a set of jumper cables and put a connector on it too. Makes jumping someone so much easier, from the front or rear of the truck.

 

I used the warn disconnect on the sport trac. Basically it was the big powerpole. I didn't have it fused or switched, but I wanted to. The solenoids were spendy, and I didn't want to have to pop the hood for a manual switch to use it. BUT.. With no protection, someone could easily short it out and probably catch the truck on fire, lol.

 

I went and bought the Warn disconnects also from 4WP. I asked them about placing a solenoid and they said it'd only do any good if I was running the longer cables to the rear of the truck. I asked them if I could short anything out by getting water on the disconnect and they said I couldn't.
Does that sound right? How would I catch my truck on fire? I am clueless about this.
Thanks.

 

If somehow the power and ground got connected it would cause a ground in the system and heat the wires up super hot until they would melt the coating off and take out anything they touched. Nasty stuff

 

Thats a great idea

 

I bought large plastic wire loom and put it around the cable, to prevent rubbing or chafing. This atleast prevents it shorting that way. I don't think water would be much of an issue, never was with mine in Oregon (plenty of water). Someone could intentionally stick something in the connector to short it, but it's somewhat unlikely.
My connector was hidden behind my license plate, that was locked into the front receiver. Out of sight, out of mind.

 

Yeah I'm sure you could get something to cover it, even a zip lock bag with a rubber band would be better than nothing. I wonder what would happen if it got submerged?

 

winches get submerged all the time and they still work........

 

Yeah but those are sealed, not a open plug.

 

if they have the quick connects........

 

What is your point? I asked what would happen to a OPEN plug and you start talking about a winch? I'm asking about a plug that is OPEN, not plugged in to anything.

 

Quick disco FTW...



Never had any problem out of them, and they should come with a cap.





As for the rear on the 04, I leave them disconnected at the battery, if I think I am going to need the rear winch I just pop the hood beforehand and connect them...only takes a min. If you’re worried about the front you can do the same thing…in most cases you know you’re going to be going off-road, not like it sneaks up on ya…lol so just connect to the battery beforehand.

 

because dont they come with cover so when there unplugged they have a cover on like seabass's?

 

I'm not disagreeing with that part, I'm saying hypothetically the cover falls off and you don't know. I was just wondering. Maybe I'll just go stick a extension cord in the bath tub. Lol jk

 

heh...

well, if you do that experiment, compare apples to apples -- stick the extension cord in the bathtub, but only run 12V DC through it, from an auto battery.

alternating current and direct current are different beasts, and behave differently in capacitive and inductive loads, so you cannot assume a given property of a DC circuit is the same as an AC circuit.

the short story [edit: hahaha! this is short???], as far as this situation goes -- as long as the water does not have a large saline (or other conductive mineral) content, there probably won't be an issue with the connector getting occasionally dunked underwater. You don't want to have something like that permanently underwater, due to an increased deterioration rate in the physical connector, the wiring, and the bond between the two (solder, crimp, etc). Further, if there are two dissimilar metals in the bond (copper wire and aluminum connector, for instance), then increased humidity will accelerate the reaction between the two metals, forming an insulating layer between them as the corrosion takes place -- this, in turn, increases the resistive load on the circuit, causing higher current draw. The increased current draw could exceed the engineering specification of the wiring in the circuit (causing it to also heat up) which will further increase the resistive load of the circuit, thus demanding an even higher current draw... eventually, the fuse or circuit breaker protection will kick in and resolve the problem before any real damage has occurred. if you don't have a fuse or circuit breaker in the circuit, then... well, mother nature and darwin have provided a less effective method of terminating the current flow in the circuit. there is a much higher likelihood that you'll enjoy that sort of circuit failure much less than you would the failure of a simple fuse, though...

 

Mine didn't come with a cover. Wonder if I can get them on line.
So I should not let the positive and negative cables coming from the battery to the disconnect touch at all? If so, I'll have to figure something out for that.

 

Seabass,
It looks like your cables are touching eachother. No problems there? I would think the insulation is enough to keep them from contacting eachother. I could be wrong.

 

You can't let the bare wires touch, they will have a coating on them which prevents them touching anything metal. You can zip tie them together, it won't hurt anything unless the metal ends get grounded somehow.

 

Thanks Ranger. That's what I originally thought but I thought I was reading that the wire coatings couldn't even touch. I'm good to go now. Just waiting on my winch carrier now!
Then it's Aussie locker in the front time.