Thread: Winch Isolators

Since there are four of them in a winch control box (two wind in, two wind out?) I would think that one would not be enough.

I just remove the positive cable from the battery when not in use.
Which means I connect it before a 4wd trip and disconnect it afterwards.
Cost is $0 to do it this way. Nothing fancy required.

last winch i fitted came with a heavy duty relay for the main battery cable to the winch wired to the ignition circuit, winch wouldn`t work unless ignition was on

I just use a battery isolator.

Battery Master Isolation Kill Switch 12 / 24v - eBay 4x4 Accessories, Exterior, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 24-Oct-09 08:58:33 AEDST)

I've been looking at this also and I've come to the conclusion that you either do the simple thing of disconnecting the positive winch lead at the battery (and reconnect it before going off road) or you put in a battery master switch.

Personally, I wouldn't put in a relay as to carry the peak current of a winch they're going to be very expensive (and maybe hard to get). For example, I've seen one at ARB that will take 200A continuous at 12v and they wanted around $380 for it; and that's well short of the peak current that (say) a 9,000lb winch can draw.

On battery master switches, I first of all looked at the Hella 40-4650 battery master switch which had an impressive rating of 1000A at 12v but when I read the fine print this was for 10 sec only. The continuous rating was 50A at 12v which I reckon is not going to safely cover a lot of potential winching scenarios.

Now I've come across the Narva battery master switch range which have a continuous rating of 300A at 12V. Maybe I'm overly cautious but this sounds more the goods to me. - As to how much they cost, I'll find out some time next week, assuming of course that they're available in Oz.

Originally Posted by DeeJay

I just use a battery isolator.

Battery Master Isolation Kill Switch 12 / 24v - eBay 4x4 Accessories, Exterior, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 24-Oct-09 08:58:33 AEDST)

These work a treat,
Try Tamar marine Jock
Cheers

Originally Posted by DeeJay

I just use a battery isolator.

Battery Master Isolation Kill Switch 12 / 24v - eBay 4x4 Accessories, Exterior, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 24-Oct-09 08:58:33 AEDST)

These look very much like the Hella 40-4650 switch which Hella rate at 50A continuous for 12V not the 100A continuous claimed in the e-Bay ad.

Disconnecting the positive from the battery seems the simplest idea. Or you could open cct two of the control wires between the control box and the socket. You will probably need a DPST switch. One pole for each direction. Mount the switch in the cab or in the engine bay. No relay required.

Originally Posted by Mellow Yellow

These look very much like the Hella 40-4650 switch which Hella rate at 50A continuous for 12V not the 100A continuous claimed in the e-Bay ad.

I was being lazy, I just posted one to illustrate. I have a pretty good marine one. Hella I think.