Winch wiring to 7 pin possible?

[TowingExplorer]

I was hoping to wire my winch that is on my car hauler direct to the 7 pin (round) trailer plug on my '06 Limited with a factory class 3 hitch.

Is this possible?

My winch manual states I should put a 50A "circuit breaker" on the hot side of it's wiring and I think the Explorer has a 30A under the hood but I am not sure if all the power goes through that circuit or just the lights and brakes.

Thanks.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

No way that the 7 round can provide adequate power to a 50A draw winch. You'll have to run big wire off your battery to the back to run the winch on the back. Too little power and you can burn up your winch motor.

 

[IZwack]

Yeah you'll sometimes have the winch going for a few minutes -- a 7 pin trailer plug (and the stock vehicle wiring) cant handle that much power transfer over such a long duration.

 

[kert0307]

The only way I can see this working is if you put a battery on the trailer and somehow wired up the 7 pin connector to charge the battery when the truck is running and disconnect it when not with a relay or something.

 

[TowingExplorer]

Okay, thanks everyone for the input so far.

Guess I'll have to run an 8 awg (guess on size, 4 seems too large) to the back from the battery with a fuse up front to handle the load. Will be too bad that it will have to be a separate wire.

Do you think I can use the trailer frame for my ground since it will be attached to the Explorer via the hitch and whatever ground is supplied by the 7 pin harness?

 

[deernet]

#8 wire would probably work, your not going to have a continuous 50A load anyways, but if it were me I would probably go ahead and use #6 to be safe. You could just put a quick disconnect on your bumper and bundle the wire on the trailer side with the light harness so it wouldn't be in the way.

 

[IZwack]

Really 8? Cauz keep in mind this wire is going to run basically from your battery, to the controlling solenoid, through whatever connector you are using, and then to the winch. Thats probably at least a dozen feet after you've made it through all the turns.

I ran a 4 gauge for my Explorer's winch (a 9k model) and in one "stuck" situation, the battery post clamp melted just from getting my Explorer out. There's some serious power going through these wires.

 

[TowingExplorer]

Really 8? Cauz keep in mind this wire is going to run basically from your battery, to the controlling solenoid, through whatever connector you are using, and then to the winch. Thats probably at least a dozen feet after you've made it through all the turns.

I ran a 4 gauge for my Explorer's winch (a 9k model) and in one "stuck" situation, the battery post clamp melted just from getting my Explorer out. There's some serious power going through these wires.

You must have had a seriously high duty winch then.

The 50A I mentioned came straight from its manual. Interestingly enough, however, that winch died just last weekend and I picked up another which unfortunately doesn't list an amperage.

 

[joecrna]

Wire size increases with distance at a given voltage drop. Standard tables list size/distance calculations to limit drop to 1 volt. Won"t be home to look up my tables for a couple days. Most trailer books list these though. Check a local travel trailer dealer. I ran a "0" gauge wire back to carry 100amps to my trailer. My actual run turned out to be 14 ft at the trailer tongue.