Splitting Power at battery

Turbogus

New member
Greetings gang from Oregon~where if the rain don't kill you, you can do it yourself.
Well, I finally bit the bullet and bought a 4 1/2 ton winch for "Black Betty" my '78 Renegade. I'm hip that the winch needs to have power direct from the battery and in setups I've seen, simply adding an extension cable works fine.
My trouble is, I already have an extension cable running from the battery to a power distibution box that powers other essential circuits (aux lights x4, audio amplifier, CB, Bi Linear amplifier, etc. and two extensions off of the positive battery terminal seems unwise.:bomb:
Is there such a thing as a Y splitter battery cable? or a 0-4 guage power distibution block? I've been searching the web over the weekend and have come up with zilch. Perhaps there's another way to attack this problem I'm not yet aware of.
Thanks and a lift of the lynch lid for any responses.
 

My experience with a winch wiring sharing with other loads was not a pleasant one. I ended up running a dedicated heavy gauge wire for the ground and positive lead to the winch from the battery. On the good note, i was able to split several circuits from the battery from its dual terminal on both the positive and negative post. The gel battery i'm currently using has a regular post on top and a wing nut post as well. With the winch running, i can run my audio, aux lamps and running lamps with very little surge. If you split it from your distribution box, it might create a surge enough to fry your electronics. IMO.
 
Likely when I'm winching all other accessory electric would be shut off anyway, and just now looking at my battery, it's a dual post type so I think this'll solve the splitting issue :rolleyes:
 

If your battery is a standard wet automotive battery with top and side terminals, do not wire the winch to the side terminals. The side terminals are for accessory use only and can not handle the load of a winch.

I would run your winch directly to the top battery terminals.

Consider an alternator and battery upgrade. I run an Optima bluetop, it's a deep cycle/starting battery that has additional stainless studs on top that are perfect for attaching the winch leads.
 
This is the mess I found on my GMC;

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WP_20170219_14_18_15_Pro.jpg


Thanks P.O.
 
Old post!

On many dual post batteries the front screw mounts are not rated for high current. High loads should go to the posts. Esp winching.


Regards,
JPNinPA

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