I have a Polaris 425 Expedition and I was going to put a winch on it. I wanted to know if the 2000lb. warn winch was enough or is it worth the extra money to puy the 2500lb. winch on it and is it needed.

 

A2500 & A2000 have same motor & gears, just different switches & wire; no way you're gonna pick up 500 lbs pull with only a switch & wire.

Diogenes

 

i have the same set up..the 2000 is plenty of power,ive been up to the fenders in black suction mud and been able to get out..i still havent had to use my snatchblock to make 4000 lb`s of pull

 

The A2000 should be enough for your needs buffalobill.
Diogenes.....believe it or not the wiring and switch in this case does make that much difference. The way the A2000 is wired does not allow for the full potential of that winch's pulling power, whereas the A2500 uses a much bigger 4way solenoid (a contactor)which more efficiently gets more power to the winch motor.

 

I don't believe it, BigRed.

Doing the math, no way the I-squared R loss difference in the resistance between the 8 gauge and 10 gauge cabling in the ten-foot run of this circuit reaches 25 %.

Considering the total circuit, even if you theoretically assume ZERO wiring resistance (impossible, unless you reach absolute zero superconductivity) for the A2500 hookup, you can't find 25 % difference, if you believe Kirchoff.

Mathematically, since the wiring accounts for such a small portion of the overall resistance in the total circuit, even if you eliminate the wiring resistance entirely (an impossibility in the real world), you do not materially change the voltage available across the winch motor terminals.

Yeah, you get marginally lower resistance, and marginally more pulling force available, from the A2500 setup, but nowhere NEAR 25 % more.

Ain't in the cards.

Diogenes

 

Well got that beat i run 6 awg and love it so how does that work out in math terms how much pull do i really have now. Plus i don,t use the solinoide.

 

Come on guys
The warn winch or any other for that matter cannot pull 2500 lbs on a straight pull simply because the battery on an atv cannot supply enough current. If you were to use a car battery and develop 2500lbs then I would take a good look at the mounting bracket attachment and/or front bumper and/or frame because if you ever needed 2500lbs of pull you would only get part of your quad unstuck. Look at it this way:Hang a car off of your bumper.

 

Sorry, Dazed; even 6 gauge won't get you to 25 % more voltage across the winch motor terminals than is available with 10 gauge. Nor will 4 gauge, nor 2 gauge, nor a solid copper bar as big around as a telephone pole.

12 volts = Current X (Resistance of switch/wiring + resistance of motor). The switch/wiring resistance is so small, compared to the resistance of the motor, even if you reduce switch/wiring resistance to zero (by some means), you can't pick up an additional 25 %.

Putting it another way, to obtain 25 % more pull, you'd have to reduce the voltage drop across the 10 gauge wire and switch by 3 volts or more; impossible by reducing switch/wire resistance, even if the resistance were reduced to zero, because the voltage drop across the 10 gauge setup is less than three volts to start with.

At 145 amps (2000 # pull), the voltage drop across 10 feet of 10 gauge wire is less than 1.45 volts (10.55 volts across motor terminals). At 188 amps (2500 # pull), the voltage drop across the same path is less than 1.88 volts (10.12 volts across motor terminals).

Unless we can get Mr. Ohm and Mr. Kirchoff to amend their laws, wiring improvements won't boost a 10 gauge A2000 hookup by anything close to 25 %.

How much improvement does 6 AWG provide over 10 AWG? The respective voltage drops are .580 volts (11.42 volts across motor terminals) and .752 volts (11.248 volts across motor terminals). 6 awg vs. 10 awg provides around 10 % more voltage across the winch motor between 2000 # and 2500 # pull.

Hey! This material could be on, "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!"

Diogenes

 

VTwin, I think ATV winches can pull at their full rating from a fully-charged battery, but not for long!

Most ATV batteries are around 14 amp-hours rating; when a heavy current draw hits them, the voltage and current available probably decay pretty fast; a long, hard winching operation may have to be shut down for a while to recharge the battery.

Tree Farmer

 

I don't think you will be able to tell much difference between the 2000 & 2500. In my opinion save yourself some money & get the 2000 & then invest in a ****** block which will double your pulling power.