What size trigger wires for winch solenoid - Maxwell HRC 6

[Fed]

So long as the breaker doesn't exceed the cable rating you're good to go.

[Fed]

What was getting me concerned was the guide that showed a need for over twice that given the distance!!!

The guide said to use 10.5mm² for total runs of 10M - 17M or 5M - 8.5M from battery to the winch.

They double the length to work out the voltage drop, the amps have to get to the winch then back to the battery.

[ozscott]

Sorry mate - the guide that Finga posted. The one from the manual shows that my existing cabling is fine.

Cheers and thanks

[Grand_Marlin]

Some good advice in there Ozscott

We use 6 B&S for the 50A circuits (rated to 125A) and 2 B&S for the bigger winches.
I have 6 B&S on the Maxwell Winch in my 800 Patriot and it works fine.
4mm for your solenoid trigger wires.

Remember you can't go too big with the wire but you can go too small.
As Fed said, if the breaker is the right size to protect the wire you can't go wrong.

Cheers

Pete

[ozscott]

Thanks Pete - I dont know if you can get 6 B&S in tin coated? Do you know the best place to get the 6 B&S and crimp/solder lugs to suit?

Cheers and thanks

[Grand_Marlin]

6 B&S is hard to get in tinned.
8 B&S is readily available but not big enough.

If you have to use non tinned wire, make sure you use good quality lugs and cover them right over the shank in heatshrink.
Non tinned in the bigger sizes is less prone to corrosion than smaller sizes like 4mm.
If done this way you wont have any problem with it.

Cheers

Pete

[finga]

Oi Pete. Your talking about 4mm automotive and not 4mm cross sectional area aren't you??

And as for the as long as the breaker suits the wire then dokky dokky. Well I disagree.
A lot of control circuits stipulate circuit protection size to protect the.......well.....the complete control circuit including switch and relay.
3A may be all you can use in that circuit to protect the guts of the relay.
If any more current then the 3A you may blow the sh!ter out of the relay or switch.
I don't know and Pete would know better then I. But.......you have to protect the weakest link which may be the relay or even the switch.
Just because your using 6 b&S cable for the winch is no reason to use a 125A breaker is it??
Same theory??

Cheers Alfred

[Grand_Marlin]

Oi Scalbert,

Yes, 4mm automotive sizing.
4mm and 6mm is commonly measured in automotive terms in the boating fraternity.
Above that normally B&S / AWG or CSA.

Re: breakers... You need stronger glasses

I said so long as the breaker suits the wire ... maybe I should have said if the wire suits the breaker.... tomaato / tomarto
In this case we were referring to the correct wire size to suit the supplied 50 amp breaker, not the trigger wire.
The point was if the 50amp breaker doesn't exceed the capacity of the wire then you will be fine.
I agree, of course you have to protect the circuits... as per manufacturers recommendations.

It was refreshing to see someone attack another fellow Ausfishers professional credibility instead of their punctuation for a change

Cheers

Pete

[finga]

Well if I stuffed it up so could anyone else.....couldn't they??

I was referring to the 10A protection on the control circuit. It may be not good.

Cheers then matey......and get to work

[Fed]

What sort of fault are you looking to protect against in the control circuit Finga?
Don't say 'blow the sh!ter' because that's in the critical cable length basket.

[TheRealAndy]

I don't like the use of the e word (earth) for DC installations and especially for DC in boats. There's the negative and positive wire.

I dont like the word negative!!! Negative is below zero. positive is above zero!

I specifically stayed away from this thread, could not handle another wire size debate Could not help myself in the end Had to check up on you lot.

[Fed]

I've been waiting for this thread to hot up, where's Googleboot?

[finga]

What sort of fault are you looking to protect against in the control circuit Finga?
Don't say 'blow the sh!ter' because that's in the critical cable length basket.

Well it could blow the sh!tter out of something

Is there any electronics in the switch or relay??
About about the coil in the relay??
I don't know what's in the relay or switch but if someone recommends 3A protection on the control circuit I'd be using it. I wouldn't be using 10A because it was just convenient.

What if there is a fault in the control circuit that places a 10A load on the control circuit (circuit protection 10A) and the contacts of the switch are only rated to 4A??
The fuse doesn't blow but the contacts in the switch melt together.
End result....Switch is buggered. A 3A breaker or fuse instead of 10A would have protected the switch.
What's the switch worth against the price of the correctly rated circuit protection from word go?
That scenario would be commonplace now as more and more switches become smaller and smaller and more expensive.
The same could be said about the coil in the relay. Circuit protection that's too high could melt the coil in the relay if there is a fault that doesn't blow the 10A fuse. How much are those reversing relays worth??

Why don't we use 10A fuses or breakers in GPS's or Sounders or radios seeing the wire going to it would carry the current no worries at all.

Yeah. Your right Andy. What should it be called then??
Ground gives some people the idea it goes to the main body of the hull of the boat....especially aluminium boats. Negative does mean minus but the terminal on the battery says N or Negative.
Maybe they're negative and positive relative to the median voltage??
I'm buggered if I know.

[finga]

I specifically stayed away from this thread, could not handle another wire size debate Could not help myself in the end Had to check up on you lot.

There's no debate Andy. Just making sure we're all talking about apples instead of apples and oranges. There is always confusion in cable sizes. Some use cross sectional area and some use automotive sizing. No-one is wrong.....as long as we know which one is used

Where is Googleboot??

[timddo]

Ozcott

Try googling up Solar cables - Tinned cables

http://www.springers.com.au/product.asp?SKU=936

However they are saying there 10mm2 cable is 21.74 auto cable
So there 16mm2 cable is 34.78m2 @ 9.90 twin sheath.