Winch wiring install tips

[Gilbey]

Just got 2018 Suzuki King 400 ASI, getting ready to install winch on it. Noticed the wire loom up front on top of frame to pass wires through but not quite sure where the loom comes out at. I am assuming by the battery but it is not visible........would you guys just wire direct to battery as I had on previous quad or is there a better spot to wire to? I had noticed a wire junction on top of driver rear wheel with nothing connected to it and was curious if my leads could bee run to that? May have to go to dealer to see if a mechanic there can give me some insight to this process. Thoughts and ideas greatly appreciated.

[MarkinAR]

I'd run the power wire that goes directly to the winch to the battery; those carry quite a bit of amperage and need the heavy wire to the power source.  The winch solenoid though can be wired to about anything since it's low draw.  Last one I did, I put a rocker switch providing power to the solenoid so it's not hot every time the key is turned on.  With a separate switch, the solenoid only clicks closed when I want it to.  I took power from the ignition switch for the rocker switch.

Folks often use the ignition switch for the winch solenoid directly and if it's always on it tends to burn the ignition switch up quite frequently.

[Frank Angerano]

Absolutely @MarkinAR spot on and solid advice! 
Use the rocker switch that comes with the winch to control for sure and direct to the battery with an inline fuse on the power lines.  
 

 

[JacobSlabach]

always wire your winch to your battery.  on polaris sportsman 570s (i just put a 3500 winch on my 570 the other day), they have directly under the front storage box two terminals for accessories.  one is hot, the other, ground.  if your atv has a similar feature, i would NOT suggest using it to feed the winch UNLESS it has wires running directly to the battery, which mine did.  this is the second of two winches ive installed and the 3rd that ive owned on a sportsman.

should be super simple, main thing is to remember to hook those feed cables that feed the winch relay directly to the battery or if your atv is set up like a 570, the the accessory terminals (that are wired straight to the battery)

another tip, the two winches that ive put on and the warn winch that was on my sportsman 500 when i bought it were not wired to the ignition at all, but could operate with the switch on or off.  i prefer this way as its simpler to wire and you are not hooking the winch setup to any factory wiring on the atv except the battery.  I wire the power feed to the winch switch to the power from the battery on the winch relay.  done deal, works the same and you dont have to turn your atv on to operate the winch.

[Travis Pal]

Thanks for the great tips, this helped me big time today