I just installed a winch so this post is informational for me and I guess I'm trying to determine why all this is necessary.
When is the possibility of a winch fire going to happen? Under use or a short right?
Under use high current would be pulled by the motor and the more load on the motor the more current drawn. Just killing power to the winch motor would cut it's power. This could be done in a few way I guess .. 1) disconnect the winch controller 2) remove the positive (+) battery lead or 3) cut the positive (+) cable. Now I guess you could have a part fail inside the winch like a stuck solenoid or something that would cause the motor to drive without command, but what is the likelihood of that happening and would it draw enough power to start a fire?
A short would be the biggest potential for fire if the heavy positive (+) winch power cable were to get cut and short to ground? If that were to happen you would need to remove power from that cable, and how can that be accomplished? I see that it would have to be done at the battery, a disconnect at the winch would not help if the short to ground was between the battery and the disconnect, so either way you would need to open the hood and quickly remove the positive (+) cable from the battery.
The way I see it is if you route your cables in a way that they can never get cut your chance of a fire are gone unless the winch malfunctions and draws enough current to melt the power cable.
So what everyone needs is the quickest way to disconnect the battery cable, right?
Am I missing something here? Please help educate.