Winch battery disconnect switch, to install it, or not to install it...

[ShadowsPapa]

For reference, my example was based in reality, lol. Here’s a pic of the dual bus bar running my rock lights which are connected to the Aux Switches through the previously pictured terminal strip:

The area you show there is about all I have left to use - the driver's side is full -

And you've seen the area between battery and fender - full of "stuff".

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[HooliganActual]

I might run some of the lights together but what I'm thinking right now is separate positive leads that are grounded to a common local post that grounds to the chassis if that's possible.

Then get a single bus bar for your negative leads.

Here is a pic of my house battery setup:

In the middle at the bottom, below the whitish box with the two red switches, are 2 single bus bars. One holds all my negative leads from the various loads and runs off to ground and the other holds all of the positive leads. Same deal, Blue Sea Single Bus Bar on Amazon or Marine stores.

 

[KevinM60]

Then get a single bus bar for your negative leads.

Here is a pic of my house battery setup:

In the middle at the bottom, below the whitish box with the two red switches) are 2 single bus bars. One hold all my negative leads from the various loads and runs off to ground and the other holds all of the positive leads. Same deal, Blue Sea Single Bus Bar on Amazon or Marine stores.

That will work

 

[HooliganActual]

Here's another clean setup that looks pretty good.
https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...-admin-warning-no-politics.23705/post-1245553

I'll look these options over and see what works best for me.
Thanks for the input.

Yeah, what he has there is a single terminal strip rather than a double terminal strip. I prefer the double terminal strip because it doesn't require that both my incoming lead and my outgoing lead to be on the same lug. In an example where we talk about the factory Aux Switches, a setup like @ShadowsPapa or I have shown simply means that if you want to change what is hooked to Aux 1, you only have to lift those leads on the one side of the terminal strip. In the example you linked, you would have to undo the nut on that lug and lift the out going lead without lifting the incoming lead and then put the nut back on. It works fine and accomplishes the same thing, it's just not as clean...

 

[jn2275]

I posted this in the "what did you do TO" thread also but is applicable here too. Today I installed a Warn Winch Power Interrupt Kit that I wired up to the Mopar Aux switches. I made the bracket out of some scrap .063 6061-T3 aluminum that was 4-1/4" x 12". For the terminal board I used a 7-way trailer wiring box for water resistance. I put a strip of camper foam tape under the bracket so it doesn't scratch the fender.

The Redline hood struts clear the bracket with plenty of clearance and so does the hood. Keep in mind this is on a Mojave with the higher hood. You could drill the holes down further for the Solenoid and Junction box if clearance is an issue on the other models.

Parts
WARN 62132 Power Interrupt Kit
7 Way Trailer Junction Box
Camper Foam Tape
Misc Nuts, bolts, terminal ends and shrink tubing.

If I was going to do it all again I wouldn't have used the Warn kit and only picked up a Solenoid since a lot of the kit went unused. The red power cable was also barely long enough to reach the battery so I may end up making a longer cable in the future to increase the bend radius where it hooks up the the battery.
Also If I was buying the metal to make the bracket, I would get a piece of 1/8" thick 2" Aluminum angle like this. The thinner piece I used has some flex but seems rigid enough for now. I'll keep an eye out on the bend for cracks as I suspect that's where they would develop.

I still plan on routing the cables to the winch under the air filter box and wrapping them in some tubing for protection when the air filter I ordered arrives.

 

[KevinM60]

I posted this in the "what did you do TO" thread also but is applicable here too. Today I installed a Warn Winch Power Interrupt Kit that I wired up to the Mopar Aux switches. I made the bracket out of some scrap .063 6061-T3 aluminum that was 4-1/4" x 12". For the terminal board I used a 7-way trailer wiring box for water resistance. I put a strip of camper foam tape under the bracket so it doesn't scratch the fender.

The Redline hood struts clear the bracket with plenty of clearance and so does the hood. Keep in mind this is on a Mojave with the higher hood. You could drill the holes down further for the Solenoid and Junction box if clearance is an issue on the other models.

Parts
WARN 62132 Power Interrupt Kit
7 Way Trailer Junction Box
Camper Foam Tape
Misc Nuts, bolts, terminal ends and shrink tubing.

If I was going to do it all again I wouldn't have used the Warn kit and only picked up a Solenoid since a lot of the kit went unused. The red power cable was also barely long enough to reach the battery so I may end up making a longer cable in the future to increase the bend radius where it hooks up the the battery.
Also If I was buying the metal to make the bracket, I would get a piece of 1/8" thick 2" Aluminum angle like this. The thinner piece I used has some flex but seems rigid enough for now. I'll keep an eye out on the bend for cracks as I suspect that's where they would develop.

I still plan on routing the cables to the winch under the air filter box and wrapping them in some tubing for protection when the air filter I ordered arrives.

This is what I went with on the winch solenoid.

I bought the power cable to the battery separate and connected the on/off to one of my factory aux switches.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The Redline hood struts clear the bracket with plenty of clearance and so does the hood. Keep in mind this is on a Mojave with the higher hood. You could drill the holes down further for the Solenoid and Junction box if clearance is an issue on the other models.

Note most of mine is lower profile. Could likely still be a bit higher, but I also wanted to keep the PDC and battery clear as much as possible, besides the Overland hood clearance.
The struts will clear if you don't use something too thick under that fender bolt. Note I had to use a lower profile bolt and counter-sink it into my acrylic, otherwise the strut body just tapped the top of the stock bolt and that drove me nuts, thinking of vibrations and so on with them possibly touching.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

This is what I went with on the winch solenoid.

I bought the power cable to the battery separate and connected the on/off to one of my factory aux switches.

To tidy things up, the short hot cable from battery to winch solenoid powers both the snow plow and winch since you can't possibly use both at the same time.
That way I have only one large cable to the battery terminal. The battery side of the solenoid is a terminal or junction for both winch and plow.
Otherwise, I'd have to run a power cable from the plow fuse to the battery positive. One is cleaner.
Ground is another matter - I probably could put a junction somewhere and run a single ground cable from battery to the terminal and then attach both winch and plow grounds to that, but this isn't that bad as it is. (and I'm running out of space)

 

[jn2275]

Yeah, what he has there is a single terminal strip rather than a double terminal strip. I prefer the double terminal strip because it doesn't require that both my incoming lead and my outgoing lead to be on the same lug. In an example where we talk about the factory Aux Switches, a setup like @ShadowsPapa or I have shown simply means that if you want to change what is hooked to Aux 1, you only have to lift those leads on the one side of the terminal strip. In the example you linked, you would have to undo the nut on that lug and lift the out going lead without lifting the incoming lead and then put the nut back on. It works fine and accomplishes the same thing, it's just not as clean...

I personally didn't like the look of the exposed terminal strip so that's why I went with the trailer junction box. The terminal strip in the box can be popped out of the clips and there may be enough room in the box to mount a double terminal strip. I'll have to look into his. Thanks for the idea.

 

[@californiajeeping]

I wired mine. Why? You don’t need an unfused 2awg or 0 awg running to your front bumper full time. If you have an accident it will short and catch fire.

 

[HooliganActual]

I personally didn't like the look of the exposed terminal strip so that's why I went with the trailer junction box. The terminal strip in the box can be popped out of the clips and there may be enough room in the box to mount a double terminal strip. I'll have to look into his. Thanks for the idea.

I feel you and I certainly wasn't trying to slam your install. It is perfectly fine. It's a matter of preference really. I have a couple of Blue Sea Double Terminal Strips in use that actually have a black cover that goes over them so that you don't have to see the terminals; look into those. Having spent 40 years in industrial maintenance, I like the things that give me a visual indication without having to pull off covers. When things are "hard to look at", people tend to not look at them. lol

 

[jn2275]

Note most of mine is lower profile. Could likely still be a bit higher, but I also wanted to keep the PDC and battery clear as much as possible, besides the Overland hood clearance.
The struts will clear if you don't use something too thick under that fender bolt. Note I had to use a lower profile bolt and counter-sink it into my acrylic, otherwise the strut body just tapped the top of the stock bolt and that drove me nuts, thinking of vibrations and so on with them possibly touching.

Good thinking there. If I end up changing the bracket to a piece of 1/8" angle I'll have to check that clearance. I could always countersink the mounting bolts into the bracket like you did too.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Good thinking there. If I end up changing the bracket to a piece of 1/8" angle I'll have to check that clearance. I could always countersink the mounting bolts into the bracket like you did too.

I used a piece of 3M weatherstrip caulk as sort of clay - put it on the bolt and carefully closed the hood. Opened it and the caulk was down to nothing where the top of the bolt head was.
I can't believe I even thought it through before just putting it together and then being ticked at myself later!

 

[jn2275]

I feel you and I certainly wasn't trying to slam your install. It is perfectly fine. It's a matter of preference really. I have a couple of Blue Sea Double Terminal Strips in use that actually have a black cover that goes over them so that you don't have to see the terminals; look into those. Having spent 40 years in industrial maintenance, I like the things that give me a visual indication without having to pull off covers. When things are "hard to look at", people tend to not look at them. lol

None taken. That's one thing I like about these forums. Lots of open dialog, different backgrounds, ideas and such get exchanged and we can do our own installs as we like in the end.

 

[KevinM60]

I wired mine. Why? You don’t need an unfused 2awg or 0 awg running to your front bumper full time. If you have an accident it will short and catch fire.

That's the purpose of the solenoid or cutoff switch. Either one keeps the power fro

Yeah, what he has there is a single terminal strip rather than a double terminal strip. I prefer the double terminal strip because it doesn't require that both my incoming lead and my outgoing lead to be on the same lug. In an example where we talk about the factory Aux Switches, a setup like @ShadowsPapa or I have shown simply means that if you want to change what is hooked to Aux 1, you only have to lift those leads on the one side of the terminal strip. In the example you linked, you would have to undo the nut on that lug and lift the out going lead without lifting the incoming lead and then put the nut back on. It works fine and accomplishes the same thing, it's just not as clean...

Comparing the single and double strip I see what you mean. I do like the double better.

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