Winch solenoid placement idea

Hi

I am in the process of attaching a winch to the XJ (with proper bumper / reinforcement) and I saw this somewhere here.



Also this one that I like




I was able to remove the solenoid pack from my X8000i (I'll replace with rods) and I was wondering about moving the pack somewhere around the glove box (maybe replacing it). What do you all think ?



It will be inside, protected from water / mud / heat, and the plug for the remove will be close.

So, talk to me !!

The solenoid pack is the high-current switch for the winch motor, yes?

If so, then keep it as close to the winch as practicable. If you end up having to, you can fab a splash/heat shield from sheet aluminum. It would be cheaper than having to rig up leads in 00 or 000AWG to carry the current back and forth...

The path from "source" to "consumer" for any high-draw application should be as short and straight as possible - both to minimise conductor losses (which can get significant quickly) and to have less wire to get hot on you (which can cause problems - like electrical fires - if you have too much wire getting too hot.)

Winch solenoids are engineered for harsh environments, so they don't need to be pampered. You can protect them if you like - but keep the leads as short as possible - this is how you can get away with using a smaller lead (I think most winch suppliers use a 1AWG or 2AWG for their wiring kits. I've supplied 1AWG for custom jobs - while I can get anything up to 0000AWG, no-one's made it necessary so far. Good thing - 0000AWG is huge stuff, and a pain to handle. I've got tooling that will handle it, but that doesn't make it any less a pain...)

where'd you find that 2nd pic? I've seen the first but not the 2nd, I like how that looks.

Right here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwade/sets/72157604557867782/with/2416917665/

check out detours off road xj backbone winch mount. i'm fabbing up one just like it in the next week or two. Seems very simple. I priced the steel out at around $100, and then will do the fab work myself. So, I'll save $200 doing it that way vs. buying it from detours.

I know, you are suppose to send me the ACAD file :laugh:

oh, duh! I didn't even look at the username!:banghead:

I'll be sending that to you soon. i prob. won't be getting the steel now until the end of next week, so it may not be until after that when I send it, so it can be better detailed.

bobfortier said:

It will be inside, protected from water / mud / heat, and the plug for the remove will be close.

So, talk to me !!

Click to expand...

Echo what 5-90 said. You don't want that big of a cable running that much draw for that distance. Hide the solenoid pack under the hood if you like, then run redundant wires to a momentary switch inside the cab. Leave the solenoid box intact in case you want to plug the remote into it from outside. That's how mine is set up and it works brilliantly. Protect your connections in the solenoid box with terminal grease and you'll be fine.

You could mount the solenoid box under the hood.
Mine fit next to the overflow bottle, helping to keep the cables short.
I cut the remote plug out and mounted in the front grill but it could be mounted almost anywhere.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwade/2659521323/in/set-72157604557867782/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwade/sets/72157604557867782/

lazyxj, so it is your jeep in the pics ? Good work on the hidden winch, I'll go the same route..