Proper Cable Gauge

[jodeb720]

My cousin is has a smittybilt winch (model 97495 XRC).

It comes with a 5' 4 gauge cable that's supposed to be connected directly to the battery.

If he wants to put a longer cable (15' to be exact) how much larger does the gauge need to be for 15'.

I should point out that the cable that came with it (4gauge) is rated for 400 amps at max draw) - and I know that he's not going to use it at max draw.

According to the install instructions, it pulls
80 amps at no load,
165 amps at 2000 lb load
240 amps at 4000 lb load
320 amps at 6000 lb load
380 amps at 8000 lb load
435 amps at 9500 lb load (max winch is rated at)


Can he:

1. Upgrade to a 2gauge or a 0/2 (or is that 2/0?) and will that work?

2. He has a bunch of 4Gauge (over 30') and can he double up both of the lines and run them together from teh battery to the winch (I just read on here something about how they have to be perfectly matched or the current will over run one of the two cables?).

Any other options would be gladly appreciated.

Thanks!

Josh

[time2roll]

I wonder if this is why I read stories of these winches overheating.
Could low voltage contribute to the issue on a DC motor?

Or consider a hydraulic MileMarker winch.

[SidecarFlip]

I'd trundle down to a local TSC and get the proper length of neoprene stranded welding cable and crimp on lugs and make up the harness with that. I run 30 foot extension cables on my gas driven SMAW outfit with no issues at all, 300 amps dc at 23 OCV volts. They sell it by the foot and have crimp on lugs too. I crimp and solder on the lugs btw. Don't forget a rated thermal breaker on the positive side too. I would go with a resetable thermal breaker over a fuseable link. Easier to deal with.

[RJsfishin]

You can't go too big unless you run outta money.

If the amp ratings are single line pull, using a snatch block will cut the amperage draw by maybe 1/2, allowing for smaller cable.
For a winch that is used all day I would want the max amps....large cable.
For a winch that is seldom.....if ever used, I'll go w/ smaller cable and just take more time, like using it 20 seconds out of 200.

[SCVJeff]

As the saying goes: "Buy the Best and Cry Only Once"
Run 4/0 and have a nice day.. The last thing I'd want is to stall out my winch 3/4 through a rescue..

[jodeb720]

Interesting that you all had the same reaction to it as I did. I thought the wiring should be larger.

I'll let him know, and thank you all for the info!

Josh

[wa8yxm]

I would go with 0000 but 00 might do the job.. I'd rather go heavy than wish I had.

[MrWizard]

X2, but remember amp ratings for wire is for continuous duty safety rating
too not get hot and burn down the building, etc..

but for a 400 amp load pulling 9000# out of the mud or what ever
i would go with at least "two aught" aka "00" double aught, welding cable
and maybe "000" three aught, to play safe

and don't forget the 400amp fuse

[time2roll]

435 amps into #4 seems a bit high. My chart says ampacity of 2/0 is 330.

Manual does not seem to address wire size.

Custom cables made here:
http://www.genuinedealz.com/custom-cables?size=48