Thread: Wiring winch to starter

Originally Posted by LRH110

Hi adam,
Do you not have a remote on your winch anyway, which can be disconnected with ease so the winch cannot operate without it?
If not, instead of putting in an isolater just lock the eye on your cable/nylon to your bar....

Cheers
Campbell

Yep - mine has a remote but that wouldn't stop the winch gremlins from the urban myth.... The story usually involves someone hooking a winch cable up to either another car or the towbar of the winching car (running the cable over the roof) then shorting the terminals on the winch to cause huge damage. I just can't see this happening in real life - it sounds too ridiculous, why not just slash some tyres, break some windows and be done with it? The idea of some idiot vandal taking the time to spool out a winch cable and then having something on-hand to short the terminals is just bizzare.

Anyone got a first hand account of this?

Originally Posted by akelly

Yep - mine has a remote but that wouldn't stop the winch gremlins from the urban myth.... The story usually involves someone hooking a winch cable up to either another car or the towbar of the winching car (running the cable over the roof) then shorting the terminals on the winch to cause huge damage. I just can't see this happening in real life - it sounds too ridiculous, why not just slash some tyres, break some windows and be done with it? The idea of some idiot vandal taking the time to spool out a winch cable and then having something on-hand to short the terminals is just bizzare. Anyone got a first hand account of this?

Well ... There is what has happened to me with the smoke bomb. Previous post.
Society does need gaols unfortunately, as we don't live in a perfect world.
But I will follow this so called myth up and ask a couple of my old mates about the time they witnessed something going on. ---- there life in this thread yet!

I brought from the auctions and now have a Disco 1 V8 in my yard that had a extremely hot fire in the cab. I looked around to see what may have caused the fire , found a heavy wire that had been shorted, (you can tell this as the surface of the copper wire tends to bubble a little,) tracing it from where a outlet was in the back to the remains of the battery. Guess what! no switch and more importantly no fuse either.

So in lieu of of a fuse, where ever you pick the feed up from for the winch, I would still use a isolator switch, as then if there is a short or the winch motor burns out and smoke starts, you can cut the power from the battery.

By the way, Roverrescue and myself have agreed to disagree , over a glass of red. Peace and harmony in the camp.

Too scared to find out... that's why I've got a mine spec isolator on the bulbar (isolating the winch, not the entire battery like minespec) and the lot locked with a padlock. I suppose someone who knows enough about electrics can still crawl under the car, short the isolator and then muck with the winch... hopefully that's just too much trouble for your avarage street thug vandal!

Hey Arthur - I missed the smoke bomb reference, do tell?

I don't doubt that people are mad and do some mad things, but would an idiot out to cause mayhem take the time to unspool a winch and all that? Easier to smash a window with a rubbish bin, surely?

Urban myths are a hobby of mine, so I'm always keen to find out where they come from.

BTW, I'm not wiring my winch to the starter. For no other reason than I already have an isolator waiting to be used and I want a power distribution point up high in my engine bay.

Cheers,

Adam

Plenty of anecdotal evidence here just no pictures, which is the real evidence required.

Hey Krispe - I saw that stuff too. Plenty of people there calling myth also.

I cant imagine a paperclip keeping the terminals fused for long - surely it would melt pretty quick given the size of the batteries in most 4x4s? I dropped a spanner across battery terminals when I was an apprentice and it was almost glowing in about 10 seconds.

I guess the jury is out. I'm maintaining myth until I see a pic!

My solenoid pack is inside the bonnet of my Defender and the hoods can't get at them.

Originally Posted by akelly

I cant imagine a paperclip keeping the terminals fused for long - surely it would melt pretty quick given the size of the batteries in most 4x4s? I dropped a spanner across battery terminals when I was an apprentice and it was almost glowing in about 10 seconds. I'm maintaining myth until I see a pic!

I saw a Telecom radio site stopped, when a shifter was dropped across a 50 volt buss bar, very quiet except for the Tech who's shifter was dropped, his teeth were chattering.

The paper clip is capable of running the winch when pushed into the remotes socket.

A quote from another forum; 'Everyone should have a winch power isolator anyway, having permanent power through a un-fused cable, and right at the front of the car, could be a dangerous fire hazzard in the event of a front end collision.'

Good point.
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Originally Posted by wrinklearthur

The paper clip is capable of running the winch when pushed into the remotes socket.
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Ah, of course. I hadn't thought of that.