Winch fuse

[a_tack]

I'm not into internet arguments, so you're probably right. I'm sure the winch manufacturers don't know what they're talking about. And damn me for trying to show the poor guy a viable solution to the shitty breaker the manufacturers ship.

[SteveS]

I'm not into internet arguments, so you're probably right. I'm sure the winch manufacturers don't know what they're talking about. And damn me for trying to show the poor guy a viable solution to the shitty breaker the manufacturers ship.

Sorry, I did not mean to offend you. 100 Amps is a reasonable size for a circuit breaker, it depends on a lot of things. We do not know if the winch manufacturer that gave you that number was going for motor protection or cable protection. My point of view is that many winch manufacturers do not provide a circuit breaker in there at all and want you to wire this thing up safely such that it does not short out. They also want you to run this thing for very short periods of time when you are straining the motor.

[JBFIREMAN]

Thanks good imfo like she said its all about size and how you use it

[08Rhino450SE]

i think ima gonna go get tuned

my warn came with a huge contactor with abundant and appropriate wiring.

[SteveS]

i think ima gonna go get tuned

my warn came with a huge contactor with abundant and appropriate wiring.

Is there a circuit breaker supplied with the Warn kit?

[Chris]

I recently purchased the biggest and baddest WARN UTV winch made, the ProVantage 4500-S. It is a very nice winch, complete with 6GA wiring leads. There is no circuit breaker or fusing included.

WARN rates their winch to draw 318A at full capacity according to the included spec card,

I have also installed three different VIPER 5000 MAX winches. None of them came with a circuit breaker or fuse, either. The VIPER 5000, if I remember, was rated at 330A at full capacity.

We thoroughly use our winches, dragging our stuck wheelers through thick mud. The winch motors generate a lot of heat and do have a short duty cycle, as Steve is suggesting. When I had my Rhino 700, I had a 4500lb VIPER winch. I added a big ANL fuse to the wiring rated at 100A. The fuse burnt out on a very mild pull, something we would not even consider a "bad" stuck. It was the fasted $20 I ever burned. LoL

[jimclemjr]

Hey a_tack these aren't arguments this is a forum. As far as I'm concerned thanks for your post, it created DIALOGUE and helped many more learn the principles and finer details on this subject. Keep up the posting. This forum will honor you if you honor it. I have been corrected more than once and that is why I am now better educated and normally more diligent about checking details before posting.
For instance: I have put on Viper and Warn on ATV and UTV and never saw a factory fuse/breaker/fusible link. As SteveS said seems just like a big starter motor and never are they fused. I know enough to be dangerous on DC voltage but get lost on AC stuff with phases and cycles and the NEC.
We all have something to contribute if we remember facts is facts and just keep learning. Hope you will.

[08Rhino450SE]

Is there a circuit breaker supplied with the Warn kit?

just a humongous contactor.
my son-in-law is an electrical engineer too, Steve, and he didn't know what a contactor was.
I'm not trying to be flippant, but i am copying a wikipedia description for all the other ne'er-do-wells out there for future reference. it amazes me that people think that the warn kits are expensive. if they were to look at the hardware that comes with the kit they would understand.

Straight from Wikipedia:
A contactor is an electrically controlled switch used for switching a power circuit, similar to a relay except with higher current ratings.[1] A contactor is controlled by a circuit which has a much lower power level than the switched circuit.

Contactors come in many forms with varying capacities and features. Unlike a circuit breaker, a contactor is not intended to interrupt a short circuit current. Contactors range from those having a breaking current of several amperes to thousands of amperes and 24 V DC to many kilovolts. The physical size of contactors ranges from a device small enough to pick up with one hand, to large devices approximately a meter (yard) on a side.

Contactors are used to control electric motors, lighting, heating, capacitor banks, thermal evaporators, and other electrical loads.

[a_tack]

Hey a_tack these aren't arguments this is a forum. As far as I'm concerned thanks for your post, it created DIALOGUE and helped many more learn the principles and finer details on this subject. Keep up the posting. This forum will honor you if you honor it. I have been corrected more than once and that is why I am now better educated and normally more diligent about checking details before posting.
For instance: I have put on Viper and Warn on ATV and UTV and never saw a factory fuse/breaker/fusible link. As SteveS said seems just like a big starter motor and never are they fused. I know enough to be dangerous on DC voltage but get lost on AC stuff with phases and cycles and the NEC.
We all have something to contribute if we remember facts is facts and just keep learning. Hope you will.

I just install them the way I am told to by the people who control my warranty. If superwinch tells me I need a 100amp circuit breaker, I'm going to put one on there because they control my lifetime warranty.

I too know a good deal about ac and dc systems and am well aware that starter motors are not fused. I also realize that the motors at my job do not function the same way as a winch motor. I also realize that a 4500lb winch draw less power than most starters but is also cycled for longer periods of time. Regardless of the info provided, I will continue to wire winches with an inline circuit breaker.


On my particular application of a superwinch terra45, the winch pulls 4500lbs with 1 layer of wire on the spool @20a. With 4 layers of wire on the spool it will only pull 2755lbs @70amps. The max amp draw on my winch is only reached with the spool completely wrapped with wire, and according to superwinch, the 55' of cable is not enough to wrap the spool enough times under a load to exceed 100amps. These motors are rated at many many more amps than they actually draw. Maybe superwinch's electrical techs are dead wrong, but I feel I'm pretty safe with a 100amp breaker as I was instructed to do.

Most manufacturers bank on these principles that their winch won't wrap the spool enough times to draw enough amperage to melt the wiring and contactor. In most cases they are right. I'd rather be safe than sorry.


With this, I'm finished. Right, wrong, or in between superwinch holds the warranty so they win in my book.


I appreciate all the info provided in this thread.

[SteveS]

I just install them the way I am told to by the people who control my warranty. If superwinch tells me I need a 100amp circuit breaker, I'm going to put one on there because they control my lifetime warranty.

I too know a good deal about ac and dc systems and am well aware that starter motors are not fused. I also realize that the motors at my job do not function the same way as a winch motor. However, I also realize that a 4500lb winch draw a lot more power than most starters and is also cycled for longer periods of time. Regardless of the info provided, I will continue to wire winches with an inline circuit breaker.


On my particular application of a superwinch terra45, the winch pulls 4500lbs with 1 layer of wire on the spool @20a. With 4 layers of wire on the spool it will only pull 2755lbs @70amps. The max amp draw on my winch is only reached with the spool completely wrapped with wire, and according to superwinch, the 55' of cable is not enough to wrap the spool enough times under a load to exceed 100amps. These motors are rated at many many more amps than they actually draw. Maybe superwinch's electrical techs are dead wrong, but I feel I'm pretty safe with a 100amp breaker as I was instructed to do.

You certainly make a good point regarding the warranty from Superwinch, who apparently supplies them with a breaker? Obviously, that would not apply to the maker's warranty on those winches that are not supplied with a breaker, eh?

That Superwinch has surprisingly low current draw as compared to others, as has been posted. I suppose that could be attributed to a lower gear ratio in the reduction gears. If that ends up being practical, all the better from an electrical safety standpoint.