Eletrical guys...

[blazen91]

I am moving my battery to the rear of the vehicle. I bought 25ft. of battery cable last night and when I got it home, I noticed it was 2 gauge, not 2/0. I know the starter will be fine, but do you think it is too small for the winch(Warn 12000). In housing, I know 2 gauge is good for 100amp, I don't think the winch will be pulling that, but I wanted your opinons. Thanks.

 

[Roz]

well not shure on the max amp pull of the winch, but at 25' 100amps, ull have a voltage drop of 7.5%(12v will actully be 11.1v). the rated load is roughly (depends on the quality of the wire) 94 amps at 25' peak. for heat it will be roughly 2/3 peak I or 70.4amps for one min of draw.

take in mind this is rough estimate insulation temperature limit, thickness, thermal conductivity, and air convection and temperature should all be taken into account.

does that help?

 

[blazen91]

It did untill I got confused!!! Bottom line, do you think it will work. I won't be using a the full 25ft. Maybe 16'-18' to the winch.

Warn says the max amp pull at 12000# is 440 amps. Is 12v amps different that 120v amps. Or is a amp an amp?

 

[Leper]

There is an equation. I can't think of it right now. There was a thread on this last week.

In answer to your question.....No, It is not big enough. I run 1/0, 5 feet to my 9000# Warn off of a group 31 size battery. A little overkill, but just a little. If you are running a single, regular battery, I would suggest some 2/0 welding cable for the winch.
YOU MUST RUN A GROUND WIRE THE SAME SIZE TO THE BATTERY. Don't try to ground to the frame. That kind of amp draw, over that kind of distance would be very very bad for your electrical system if you try to frame ground. Steel, believe it or not, is not a good enough conductor for that reason.

 

[Roz]

amperage (I) is inversly proportional to voltage (V). so the higher the (V) the less (I). that is the reason high voltage lines are 50,000V and less then 1 amp.

i have to disagree that steel is a poor conductor, when there is a need to transmit a lot of current they use solid steel bars. if u use the same solid frame peice then it will be ok. it is true that the steel has a slightly higher resistance but only about .02-.06ohms for 20ft. every time u make a connection though, there will be a loss.

so to answer the question, 2g wire is not enough to safley sustain a 450A load unless it was below -264* outside.

BTW the formula triangle is V=IxR

 

[blazen91]

OK. Thanks to you both.

 

[onlychevy6]

amperage (I) is inversly proportional to voltage (V). so the higher the (V) the less (I). that is the reason high voltage lines are 50,000V and less then 1 amp.

i have to disagree that steel is a poor conductor, when there is a need to transmit a lot of current they use solid steel bars. if u use the same solid frame peice then it will be ok. it is true that the steel has a slightly higher resistance but only about .02-.06ohms for 20ft. every time u make a connection though, there will be a loss.

so to answer the question, 2g wire is not enough to safley sustain a 450A load unless it was below -264* outside.

BTW the formula triangle is E/IxR

So with that being said. what gauge wire would you run in this case. Keeping in mind he is in the desert?

 

[onlychevy6]

I thought that if you are pulling 268-304 total amps the AWG should be 500mcm and that is for a minimum of 75 degree celsius AWG copper.

 

[readymix]

AWG / Amperage (Up to 50’ wire length)
​

AWG max. Amperage
0000 (4/0) ----300 A
000 (3/0) ----260 A
00 (2/0) ----225 A
0 (1/0) ----195 A
2 ----125 A
4 ----90 A
6 ----70 A
8 ----50 A
10 ----30 A
12 ----20 A
14 ----15 A
16 ----10 A​

 

[Roz]

The Maximum Amps for Power Transmission uses the 700 circular mils per amp rule, which is very conservative.
so at with a resitance of .02,140*,450A, 20ft i would use 0000 (0.47") or larger. that will give u roughly 80A spare for ure junk to run off of

 

[Roz]

yeah or as readymix got to while i was being office b*@th
and the Amps is doubled for every half of the 50'
so 600A at 25' for good quality wire

 

[Triaged]

These are the specs for your winch

12V DC PERFORMANCE SPECS
Line Pull
Lbs.(Kgs.) Line Speed
FT./min(M/min.) Motor
Current Pull by layer
layer/Lbs(Kgs.)
0 30(9.14) 67 amps 1/1200(5443)
2000(910) 14(4.27) 140 amps 2/11120(5044)
4000(1810) 8.62(2.63) 210 amps 3/10340(4690)
6000(2720) 6.92(2.11) 250 amps 4/9770(4432)
8000(3630) 5.80(1.77) 320 amps 5/9250(4196)
10000(4540) 4.39(1.34) 370 amps
12000(5440) 3.86(1.18) 440 amps

440A is A LOT of current. The bigger the better but I think you should use at least 1/0.

If you need a crimper I have one for the big stuff.
This is the one I have:
http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/...emID=1372&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=crimp
$13 is a good price if you want to buy your own.