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when i did this i initially looked at kits, but wasnt impressed with a lot of them as far as clamps connectors and cable construction. a lot were copper clad aluminum cables and 150 to 175 amp connectors and light duty clamps.
so i did it separate components. and i wanted it switched on instead constant hot. so that was the upfitter and 500 amp continious duty isolator.
i wanted to be able to run a high amp draw winch if i needed to.
I was always taught that if you're going to jump start another vehicle, do not put the ground to your battery, but hook it to another ground source. So for those if you that have the ground secured to the battery, are you not afraid of any damage it might cause to your system.
Installs look good, but it just seems not the best to install the rear plug under the hitch. I know I'd smash that in a snow bank.
This is why I mounted mine up on the bumper. I had the same feeling about mounting it low to the bottom of the receiver. I never take my hitch out, so that acts as somewhat of a "buffer" for anything that would impact the plug in its current position.
Originally Posted by FreshPow
What kit are people buying?
I bought everything separately. Way cheaper that way and everything fits like it was made for this. A lot of the "kits" will either leave you with way too much cable somewhere that you need to wrap up or you'll come up short. You can buy the cable, ends, shrink tube, anderson connectors, etc off of amazon or wherever. You can either solder or crimp the ends on the cables. I do a lot of large cable making, battery cables, etc. so I have a hydraulic crimper that I use now but for years I used flux, solder, and a propane torch.
I was always taught that if you're going to jump start another vehicle, do not put the ground to your battery, but hook it to another ground source. So for those if you that have the ground secured to the battery, are you not afraid of any damage it might cause to your system.
That is generally not done to protect your system but rather reduce the chances of having a spark (pos/neg clamps too close and touching each other or sparking off a post over battery) and possibly igniting trace elements of hydrogen that can be released from a car battery while charging. No chance of that happening with a quick disconnect on your end and the only concern would be where you place the clamps on the other vehicle. Personally, I just hook them to the dead battery posts and go with it. Could something happen...maybe but I have never had an issue or directly witnessed an issue or had any friends that have ever had an issue doing this.
I’ve read too many stories about electrical systems getting fried while jumping or getting jumped.
I used to freely jump people until I fried my second alternator. Now I'm a lot more reluctant to do that. I'm not sure why the alternators are damaged are so easily and is it because I put the ground on the alternator case? Either way, I want to have jumper cables though.
I’ve read too many stories about electrical systems getting fried while jumping or getting jumped.
I ended up buying this NOCO. I think I paid $230 for it during a special sale Amazon was having.
The whole reason that I added the cables like I did was because I did the drivers door lock delete after my truck was broken into twice. If the battery dies on the truck, you may not be able to open the drivers door since there is no longer a cylinder lock on the door handle. How do you get into the truck to open the hood if the batteries are dead? That is why the jumper cable setup was added to my truck. If the batteries are dead, these jump batteries don't do a bit of good. You would have to be able to open the hood to use it and that's not possible if the doors are locked and the batteries are dead. If you are able to get in the truck and open the hood, then definitely use the jump battery. Those things are fantastic for jump starting your own vehicle with no one else around to help. But also, with the cables and connector setup, I don't need to open the hood on my truck to jump start it.
But each to his own. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!!!!!
I used to freely jump people until I fried my second alternator. Now I'm a lot more reluctant to do that. I'm not sure why the alternators are damaged are so easily and is it because I put the ground on the alternator case? Either way, I want to have jumper cables though.
Don't jump start the other vehicle with your running vehicle. If your jumper cables are of proper size and you have a good connection they should be able to easily start their vehicle without your vehicle running.
One thing that I did that I haven't seen mentioned above is adding a continuous duty solenoid. I don't really want all that cable under the truck being live all the time, even with a fuse inline. I have upfitter 3 hooked up to activate the solenoid, so if I need to use my winch, I just flip the switch and power it up and turn it off again when I'm done.
I wanted to do this but was not able to find said solenoid. Mind sharing what you found?
Pretty sure this is the exact one I'm using. If you plan on using this for a winch, I would verify that the amp draw of the winch does not surpass the rating of the solenoid. There are higher amp rating ones available. The max draw of my winch is 300 amp, but I won't ever use the full capacity of the 12k winch anyway, so there's a lot of room. I have my breaker hooked up between the battery and this solenoid, so the breaker would trip before it surpasses the rating of the solenoid anyway for added protection. Hope that helps.
Pretty sure this is the exact one I'm using. If you plan on using this for a winch, I would verify that the amp draw of the winch does not surpass the rating of the solenoid. There are higher amp rating ones available. The max draw of my winch is 300 amp, but I won't ever use the full capacity of the 12k winch anyway, so there's a lot of room. I have my breaker hooked up between the battery and this solenoid, so the breaker would trip before it surpasses the rating of the solenoid anyway for added protection. Hope that helps.
Sorry for the late follow up. I will caution you that the item you linked to is a poor choice for any kind of high current duty. It is rated for 80 amps continuous with a VERY SHORT duty cycle - 5 seconds on, 50 MINUTES off. Quite a few reviews noted that the actuating coil gets very hot with continuous use. Typical of the Chinese crap flooding the market nowadays.
Sorry for the late follow up. I will caution you that the item you linked to is a poor choice for any kind of high current duty. It is rated for 80 amps continuous with a VERY SHORT duty cycle - 5 seconds on, 50 MINUTES off. Quite a few reviews noted that the actuating coil gets very hot with continuous use. Typical of the Chinese crap flooding the market nowadays.
That's a really good catch. I've monitored the whole system for heat every time I've used the winch and never found that this even got warm. With that said, I will certainly look at getting something a little better. Thanks!
