I just finished installing my Extreme Recovery 2000lb .95hp winch setup. It works fine, but I noticed there was not an inline fuse of any kind. I have never seen this on any other electrical accessory.

I am worried that if the motor ever siezed or shorted it could cause huge damage to my electrical system or at least the battery.

Have any of you installed winches with fuses provided? If so what size and where located in the circuit?

thanks jeff

 

Never. At least not on my 03 Prarie 650 4x4. I bought my winch seperately off of ebay and it didn't come w/ a fuse and I haven't had any trouble w/ mine since I bought the winch (warn 2.5).

 

Winches pull so much current that a fuse would be impractically huge. If the motor were to short, you would see the lights dim when you tried to use teh winch.

The main concern is the positive cable from the battery to the contactor. If that wire were to chaffe through, get smashed against the frame by a rock, or have it's insulation melted off by a hot part, the resulting short would not be good. At least if one of the cables to the motor got damaged and grounded to part of the quad, there would only be a short to the battery when the winch switch was activated.

Just make sure all the cables are well secured with plenty of cable ties to they can't rub, make sure they are routed away from sharp edges, hot parts, and are protected from damage on the trail. Be especially careful with the cable to the positive battery post. I often like to use convoluted split loom for extra protection.

 

Good points Jeffin.

Do the expensive winches like the Warn's come with fuses?

 

No winches come with fuses. The 8,000lb. winch on my Jeep doesn't have a fuse and that pulls way more amps than an ATV winch. Like jeffin said, it wouldn't be practical. The starter motor in your ATV and cars/trucks aren't fused either because they too pull so many amps.

 

Good point about the starter motor Brad, I wonder what would happen if it shorted out? What would fail, would the battery melt down, or would the electrical system fry? I would assume the leakest link would be the failure point?

 

Usually they don't dead short. Brushes get worn or part of the winding gets an open circuit or in some designs contacts get pitted and corroded.

Anyhow, if a vehicle doesn't do anything when you hit the start switch, I think most people let off the switch.

 

Usually the primary wire will fry from the defective device (starter, winch, or contactor) to the battery or terminal connection. The cooking will start at the cable's weakest point, that is, the point of greatest resistance. Such as the crimp terminals, wire frays at the terminals, or nicks in the copper wire itself. In essence, the supply cable becomes the fuse but any wire insulations that are in contact with the burning cable will be burned also, even though the copper in those did not overheat.

 

Has anyone ever put an amp probe around one of the cables while winching to see the amp draw?

If so you can fuse the hot wire with an ANN or type T fuse and holder .
They will fit nicely under the seat.

I will try to post a pick of the fuses.

I have not yet installed my winch, wife wont let me... it's her Xmas gift to me and I have to wait she said. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

But I intend to fuse mine with a ANN type fuse and not worry about burning any harness.

Here is a pic. of a 450 Amp ANN type fuse connected to a trojan battery on the electric car I built. the fuse is only about 2 inches long 1 inch wide and that is for a 450 amp. I would not think the winch would draw more than 70 amps but that is where the amp probe comes in handy.

 

I know that my starter pulls about 55 amps on the compression stroke, so you may be in the ballpark on the winch.