P500 Badlands winch install

[Ichybod]

I just picked up a Badlands 3500 winch. I mounted the contactor under the hood on the passenger side on a bracket that seemed to be made just for that purpose. The blue and yellow winch wires just reach the winch, but the battery wires won't reach the battery.
I know a lot of people swap the battery wires with the winch wires and mount the contactor near the battery. Anyone have a recommendation for an alternate place to mount the contactor?
The winch wires (yellow &blue) are 3 feet long, battery wires are 6 feet long.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Admin]

 

[shakemandril]

I made a small 1/16th steel bracket by making a 90 degree bend and then mounted the contactor using an existing bolt through my bracket.

 

[Code54]

The other option is to get some spare wire (I think I used 6 gauge if I recall correctly) from home depot and just run it how you prefer.

 

[Ichybod]

The other option is to get some spare wire (I think I used 6 gauge if I recall correctly) from home depot and just run it how you prefer.

That's what I was thinking of doing, but the manual says not to use longer wires than what was provided. I take it that's just a CYA on their part.

 

[Code54]

technically you don't want to lengthen the wire without increasing the gauge but if you are talking about a foot it should not make any difference. If you were adding 25' of wire then I would say we need to make some calculations.....

 

[ohanacreek]

https://www.bluesea.com/articles/1437

BUT the 4500lb warn can draw 300+ amps and it's wired with a 6ga wire.

Not sure how that works, wires GOTTA get hot with that much voltage loss going into the wire.

 

[ohanacreek]

I've got 4ga on mine. I re-wired it.

 

[joeymt33]

I put the clamp meter on my warn 4000lb winch. I pulled enough to stall it just for a second and the meter read 321 AMPS! I quickly checked the wire and it wasn't even hot. I then did a rolling pull up a small incline and the winch would pull ~50 amps. The wires still not hot. I decided to leave it alone. I performed this test back when I got my RMP battery box and wanted a fuse close to the battery. I installed a 100 amp fuse but keep a 200, 250, and 300 in the glove box.

It still doesn't seem right to use a 6ga wire though. Like you say, it's got to get hot during a long hard pull. I still may upgrade it one day.

Joey.

 

[Ichybod]

I put the clamp meter on my warn 4000lb winch. I pulled enough to stall it just for a second and the meter read 321 AMPS! I quickly checked the wire and it wasn't even hot. I then did a rolling pull up a small incline and the winch would pull ~50 amps. The wires still not hot. I decided to leave it alone. I performed this test back when I got my RMP battery box and wanted a fuse close to the battery. I installed a 100 amp fuse but keep a 200, 250, and 300 in the glove box.

It still doesn't seem right to use a 6ga wire though. Like you say, it's got to get hot during a long hard pull. I still may upgrade it one day.

Joey.

I'm going to replace my original battery wires with ones 3 feet longer. The originals are 6ga. I'm going to upgrade to 4ga just for peace of mind.

 

[Code54]

WOW - they really draw the current. That just seems rather high.
I am running a 4500 Superwinch and it pulls 178amps at 4500lbs. A lot of the 4000lbs winches come with 6g wire so if you are going to extend it two foot you would drop one gauge size (very generally speaking) so 4g should be fine.
You also need to remember the winches are not run at 100 duty cycle (nor are rated to ever be run close to that). If you were running it at the rate the wire would become hot and the winch motor would also burn out. This is partly how they get away using small (6g) wire and not having to have something like 2/0 wire for a 6 foot run.
Here is a nice guide for the amp draw, length and gauge in case anyone is interested.

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/12-volt-wire-gauge-amps.htm

 

[Ichybod]

WOW - they really draw the current. That just seems rather high.
I am running a 4500 Superwinch and it pulls 178amps at 4500lbs. A lot of the 4000lbs winches come with 6g wire so if you are going to extend it two foot you would drop one gauge size (very generally speaking) so 4g should be fine.
You also need to remember the winches are not run at 100 duty cycle (nor are rated to ever be run close to that). If you were running it at the rate the wire would become hot and the winch motor would also burn out. This is partly how they get away using small (6g) wire and not having to have something like 2/0 wire for a 6 foot run.
Here is a nice guide for the amp draw, length and gauge in case anyone is interested.

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/12-volt-wire-gauge-amps.htm

That makes a lot of sense. The manual for my winch says it's drawing 276 amps @ 3500lbs! It has a duty cycle of 5%, which means after 45 seconds of continuous use you have to let it rest for 14 minutes, 15 seconds.

I've learned a lot from this thread, because I'm really a neophyte at all this. Knowledge is power!

 

[William]

I picked up a badlands 3500 and learned right off the bat the wires were too short. Now I'm waiting on my KFI extended 4 gauge wires to come in. Also if you have a strongmade bumper you have to get longer bolts to mount the winch!

 

[Shive]

Badlands 3500# winch.I had this small container mounted on the floor for storage. It's a rubbermaid trash container for auto's.There is a drain hole in the floor under the container and the wires from the battery just reached inside the cab through the drain hole. I had to enlarge the hole a little so the wires and loom would fit. After mounting the contactor switch, I cut the corner of the container to fit back where it was originally. The wires and remote switch fit with a little extra room. The red wire is tapped into the 12v supply wire if I decide to add another power point. If I decide I don't like it I can always move it by extending the wires, but for now I'm leaving it.