Winch wireing

I am just about to start installing on my 90, an old Superwinch X9 that came off a Disco I scrapped.
I think I have plenty of heavy cable at hand, including that which was originally fitted, the Disco battery being much closer to the front than the 90.
Included in the original feed was this, which you helpful chaps tell me is a good idea to retain in the new wireing.

A couple of questions for anyone that can help out, would it be OK to take the main earth from the winch to the chassis to save going right back to the battery? The earth lead on the battery is 8mm dia of the copper core itself, actually the same dia as that on the original winch wires. The main reason being I have a big battery and the earth post/terminal is already quite close to the insulation on the bottom of the battery box cover.
Looking at the Superwinch web site it would appear that the winch can draw as much as 400 amps, I am having trouble finding a switch/isolator that will take that sort of current, what do other people fit, and where will I get it? Ideally I would like to have one of those isolators with a removable red handle, fitted to the front of the battery box.
Being a complete numpty with leccky things there is a good chance there are going to be further questions, so be gentle with me please.

Get an isolator off of ebay, or one of the winch specialists for about £15.
I took my earth back to the battery , seems to me to be the "right " way to do it.
Cheers

You just cant beat both cables right back to the battery.
The red plastic handled isolarors arent really man enough, the metal handled ones are much better.
Mega fuses are a good idea as well.

Is the 400 amps continuous? Usually the switch will take many hundreds of amps for a few seconds (as @neilly says check Ebay- there are a few at 1000 amps for 10 seconds) with a constant load of 100 amps. It is best practice to earth back to the battery. Check your cable csa is suitable too

My Old Landy said:

Is the 400 amps continuous? Usually the switch will take many hundreds of amps for a few seconds (as @neilly says check Ebay- there are a few at 1000 amps for 10 seconds) with a constant load of 100 amps. It is best practice to earth back to the battery. Check your cable csa is suitable too

Click to expand...

OK, I'll run the earth back to the battery, just ordered a couple of dual cable battery teminals.
I have also just ordered a
Battery Isolator Switch Removable Key Main Cut Off 24V 250A Robinson K587
off the bay. I wanted something that had a removable key and also that did'nt stick out too much.

Yesterday I dragged the winch out of the store and coupled it up to my battery with some jump leads, dead as a really dead thing absolutely bugger all.
This afternoon I first gave it the good news with a good clean up and wash down, dried everything off and took all electrical connections apart. Made sure all connections were shiny bright, gave a good smear of vasaline to all connectors and had the doris hold the power and earth terminals on the battery while I played with the hand control. IT WORKS WOOOOOHOOOO.
Maybe get round to fitting it over the weekend if the isolator and connectors I ordered turn up. Happy bunny.

The next stupid question is =============== should the big feck off fuse type link go between the battery and isolator, or between the isolator and winch. DOH

frog hopper said:

The next stupid question is =============== should the big feck off fuse type link go between the battery and isolator, or between the isolator and winch. DOH

Click to expand...

As close to the battery as possible, so before the isolator.

mick 1986 said:

As close to the battery as possible, so before the isolator.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much.

I can do seals/brakes/bearings/welding etc, but give me a bulb, a battery, and two wires and I am quite capable of burning the house down.

frog hopper said:

I have also just ordered a
Battery Isolator Switch Removable Key Main Cut Off 24V 250A Robinson K587
off the bay. I wanted something that had a removable key and also that did'nt stick out too much.

Click to expand...

Might be a bit late if you have already ordered one but I use one of these as my winch isolator which is rater to 400amp continuous load with an 800amp peak (link). I have it linked to a simple toggle switch on the dash to operate.

dag019 said:

Might be a bit late if you have already ordered one but I use one of these as my winch isolator which is rater to 400amp continuous load with an 800amp peak (link). I have it linked to a simple toggle switch on the dash to operate.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that. Here are the specs for the one I am expecting.
24V Battery Isolator Switch

K587

• Battery isolator with Unique Key
• M10 studs and requires 30.5mm hole
• Suitable for Auto Marine Plant Commercial Applications
• 12v Rated: 500 amps continuous load and 5000 amps for 5 seconds
• 24v Rated: 250 amps continuous load and 2500 amps for 5 seconds

Electrical specifications

Voltage 12 / 24 A/cont. 500 / 250 A/5 sec. 5000 / 2500
Physical specifications

No./mount. holes 2 Key w/ Material Metal Dist. mount. holes mm 38 Protection degree IP 65 Type Battery
CROSS REFERENCE

DURITE : 0-605-65

Got round to connecting the cables to the battery today and a couple of issues have come up.
I now have 2 earths and 2 lives (there are other little wires to connect later) to my battery, one of each is dedicated to the winch. The 2 to the winch I connected to the battery, the other live goes to the std 90 system via a cut off switch. When I connected this second live to the cut off switch the interior light came on even though the original earth was not connected. I'm guessing the winch earthing system is providing the earth in place of the original earth. Am I right?? I will fit the original earth to the battery anyway.
Having got the winch connected, I first tested the new winch isolator switch, and this does cut off power to the winch. Then I noticed that the hand control was working backwards, the winch spools out when it should be drawing in, and vise-versa. Pretty sure all cables are connected properly.

So, the winch is providing the vehicle earth. Problem or not?
Hand control works backwards, do I just swap cables on the winch motor until it's right?

I have searched google and it looks as though I have connected correctly, just scratching my head a bit now. One thing I did pick up was that it was not good to use the winch motor to spool out for more than a few mins as the brake system would get hot. I'm guessing this wont be a problem if I swap cables and it works as commanded by the hand control.

frog hopper said:

Hand control works backwards, do I just swap cables on the winch motor until it's right?

Click to expand...

I would swap the cables on the hand control or plug rather than rewire the motor/solenoids if you are confident you have wired the large cables correctly. It is far easy to change over the little cables (it is also far easier to mis-wire the little cables).

frog hopper said:

One thing I did pick up was that it was not good to use the winch motor to spool out for more than a few mins as the brake system would get hot. I'm guessing this wont be a problem if I swap cables and it works as commanded by the hand control.

Click to expand...

From my understanding (I have a worm driven winch so not somthing I have to worry about) the brake acts on the drum dependent on the direction the drum is turning and is independent of the motor and wiring. Therefore swapping the cabling over will not have any effect and when the winch is run in reverse to spool out there is still the risk of the drum overheating.

On this note although very unlikely to be wrong it may be worth checking the cable has been wound on the correct way if everything is definitely wire correctly. Otherwise you will be running the winch mechanism in reveres against the brake to winch in because the rope is the wrong way around. this will casue serieous overheating issues.

Thanks for the reply @dag019 . Last night I found a couple of wireing diagrams for the winch, so first thing this morning was to check again, I had put the yellow and blue cables on back to front, while swapping them over I noticed that the studs had been painted to match the way I originally had them. I remember now that when I refitted the cables I had matched them to the stud colours, (yes I can forget that much in two days !!)
Anyway, ignoring the stud colours I rewired to match the dia on line and everything worked as it should. not only that but the cables were a far neater fit.
Tidied up and clipped the cables to the top of the chassis, finished off in the battery box, and had a play.
Took the 90 into a handy field with a large walnut tree, pulled the cable out by hand, giving it a good dose of spray grease as I went. Hooked up to the tree and winched the 90 across the field. I stopped a couple of times to check how hot the winch and cables etc were getting but as it was just a rolling recovery no heat was generated. I just wanted to prove the winch operation, lube the cable, and rewind under some tension. Just for a change that all went to plan, so I am now a happy bunny.
Good job really, as Saturday a mate and I are doing a reccy on some lanes in prep for our clubs end of year green-laneing trip. It's going to be wet and muddy so winches may well be needed, along with the axes and chainsaws.