With a winch it's a good idea to ground right to the battery.

 

I contacted Warn a couple weeks ago in reference to the thread about the Xterra's charging system. Here is what they have to say.

We are unaware of this issue on the Xterra’s charging system. Winches need a solid ground to the battery due to the amount of amps used to power the winch. With an inadequate ground to a frame bolt the amount of amps traveling though will not be able to keep up with the demand of the winch. While making the battery ground cable bigger and using the same frame bolt for the winch might be sufficient for the winch, we are unsure if this would just provide the same situation as attaching it to the battery. What you can expect to see with an inadequate ground will be a lower life expectancy from the winches solenoids and motor.

 

Great response, thank you for that information. Sounds like they are saying it will work just make sure you don't get any voltage drop (i think thats the right term) and keep the connections clean to keep the resistance down. But the safest way is to run a direct line back to the battery. Thanks once again for the info, I will more than likely buy enough cable to run both power and ground.

 

Well, what they are basically saying is that if you run a cable from the frame to the battery and then from the winch to the frame using the same bolt as from the battery, you should be good.

However, the way they make it sound, don't use the frame as an actual conductor for the ground. The first big thing is that the stock negative battery cable would not be large enough.

 

The first big thing is that the stock negative battery cable would not be large enough.

I wonder if this cable can be upgraded and still be able to have the Hall effect sensor mounted on it.