One solenoid for two uses

[MarkN]

I have a Warn solenoid for my winch. I want to wire in jumper cables with a quick disconnect which will be located in the front bumper. My question is, could I connect the positive wire to the same solenoid as the winch? Only one would be used at a time, and the jumper cable is a smaller gauge than the winch. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

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[fourfa]

The biggest Anderson connector they make would work… I think that’s the grey SB175 connector? Get the genuine Anderson hardware, not an Amazon clone. The parts themselves aren’t expensive. The proper hydraulic crimper to attach the wires might be (mine was).

Might be able to take the cables and connectors to a welding or battery shop, and have them do it in 5 minutes. Or order pre-made jumpers with an Anderson connector pre-made, and a matching pre-made Anderson to battery cable.

 

[jav_eee]

My phone is spying haha . Read this thread and then opened Facebook to see this

 

[MarkN]

Thanks guys, I already bought the jumper cables with the plug attached. I was hoping to use the same solenoid so I don’t have live wires in my front bumper.

Mark

 

[sharpsicle]

I have a Warn solenoid for my winch. I want to wire in jumper cables with a quick disconnect which will be located in the front bumper. My question is, could I connect the positive wire to the same solenoid as the winch? Only one would be used at a time, and the jumper cable is a smaller gauge than the winch. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

If you did this, anytime you activated the solenoid to use the winch, you'd be activating the "jumper" lead as well. I wouldn't take on that risk. I would think each should be on their own solenoid so only the one actually in use is live.

 

[fourfa]

I have a manual switch on my winch, so there’s no live power running to the front bumper until needed. Given how jumpers are used (parked) and how I use my winch (very low likelihood of a high-speed front-end collision, lol), I don’t see a problem.

I would probably have a blanking plug, just to keep dirt and snow and rain out of the receiving part of the plug

 

[Jaxmax]

How often do you need to jump people that you would want that outlet in a potential accident zone or in a wet area that might lead to corrosion. I assume no road salt but muddy water is a bad thing. Locate it at battery and need for the solenoid goes away. Not a terrible idea to have it on winch solenoid but if you need your winch to get out of a water situation, and that connector is in the water it might cause a problem…Jack

 

[sharpsicle]

How often do you need to jump people that you would want that outlet in a potential accident zone or in a wet area that might lead to corrosion. I assume no road salt but muddy water is a bad thing. Locate it at battery and need for the solenoid goes away. Not a terrible idea to have it on winch solenoid but if you need your winch to get out of a water situation, and that connector is in the water it might cause a problem…Jack

Yeah this is one of the many scenarios that I could see this being a bad idea.

Everything "seems fine" to do until one day something goes wrong. You don't plan for what you think will likely happen, you plan for worst-case risk. To me, there's just too much risk here and too high of the potential impact of failure to recommend doing it.

Last thing I would want to see is something get dirty, worn, broken, or disconnected, and the next thing you know turning on your winch lit the truck on fire. You weren't even paying attention to the jumper plug because you weren't using it, yet you had to turn it on for the winch to work and now you are inadvertently frying the crap out of your truck.

 

[MarkN]

All good points I never thought of. That’s why I posted here. Thanks for the feed back. I ll go to plan B.

Mark

 

[Mr._Bill]

All good points I never thought of. That’s why I posted here. Thanks for the feed back. I ll go to plan B.

Mark

You can use the Anderson connector for the winch, and then disconnect and attach the jumper cables when needed. The solenoid under the hood would control power to the connector, regardless of what is attached to it. Warn has a lot of pre-made cables that can be used.

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