IBS and winch ground cable connection

[Don-T]

Has anyone installed a winch on a 2025 Ram HD truck? I just completed installing a Vice Design hidden mount with Warn winch on my new Big Horn. The last thing I had to do was to attach the winch ground to the battery negative terminal.

As I was going to do this I realized there is something called an IBS sensor on the negative terminal. The part number is Mopar 68370876AB. I am not able to find any real information on it so I don’t know if it is safe to run the current from the winch through it.

I did find a discussion on 5th Gen Ram saying the IBS is only rated for about 200 amps so the winch current, up to 450 amps, can’t run through it. It was discussed that it is also a bad idea to bypass the IBS as the trucks computer may not be happy about it.

Does anyone know the current rating of the IBS sensors in our HD trucks? Considering the electrical systems are set up for a lot of additional add on equipment I wonder if there is not a problem with the load from the winch?

 

[dstock]

Looking to do this myself down the road, have a 3500 on order currently. Can you not attach the negative cable to the battery post clamp bolt? I think my Ram 1500 has something similar, I haven't attached anything to where that sensor attaches, I attached at the battery post clamp bolt instead. That said, I do not have a winch.

How did the Vice Design hidden winch mount install go?

 

[AH64ID]

These trucks have had an IBS for a long time, so not anything new for the 25’s.

It’s recommended to put high amperage grounds on the engine block, which is what I did for the winch on both of my 4th gen trucks that had an IBS.

Looking to do this myself down the road, have a 3500 on order currently. Can you not attach the negative cable to the battery post clamp bolt? I think my Ram 1500 has something similar, I haven't attached anything to where that sensor attaches, I attached at the battery post clamp bolt instead. That said, I do not have a winch.

How did the Vice Design hidden winch mount install go?

You don’t want to bypass the IBS with the load, which going to the battery post let bolt does.

 

[dstock]

These trucks have had an IBS for a long time, so not anything new for the 25’s.

It’s recommended to put high amperage grounds on the engine block, which is what I did for the winch on both of my 4th gen trucks that had an IBS.



You don’t want to bypass the IBS with the load, which going to the battery post let bolt does.

Copy that.

Sorry to the OP for the hijack....

If everything has to run through the IBS, and you can't attach directly to the IBS, for accessories like lights, air compressors, etc., would you then run a separate ground bus bar off the chassis ground?

I also have a DC-to-DC charger for the house battery in our camper, and the owner's manual for that says to go direct to the negative terminal of the battery. Haven't had any issue running this way for a couple years now on my 1500 but if needs to be done differently then I will make the change. The Renogy DC-to-DC charge has an additional input for vehicles with intelligent alternators, which is connected to a "run" circuit, and that is connected per the manual.

I ordered the aux switches on the 3500 so that will mitigate the accessory issues, but DC-to-DC will still be a factor.

 

[Don-T]

These trucks have had an IBS for a long time, so not anything new for the 25’s.

It’s recommended to put high amperage grounds on the engine block, which is what I did for the winch on both of my 4th gen trucks that had an IBS.



You don’t want to bypass the IBS with the load, which going to the battery post let bolt does.

Thanks for the comment. I did see something about grounding to the block in the 2023 body builders info, after I made the original post. I will have to see where on the block I can attach the ground. There is so much crap on these 6.4 engines it is hard to see a good ground spot.

 

[Don-T]

Looking to do this myself down the road, have a 3500 on order currently. Can you not attach the negative cable to the battery post clamp bolt? I think my Ram 1500 has something similar, I haven't attached anything to where that sensor attaches, I attached at the battery post clamp bolt instead. That said, I do not have a winch.

How did the Vice Design hidden winch mount install go?

The Vice Design winch mount went in much easier than I thought it would. The only thing I had to work at was bumper alignment when I put it back on.

 

[AH64ID]

Copy that.

Sorry to the OP for the hijack....

If everything has to run through the IBS, and you can't attach directly to the IBS, for accessories like lights, air compressors, etc., would you then run a separate ground bus bar off the chassis ground?

I also have a DC-to-DC charger for the house battery in our camper, and the owner's manual for that says to go direct to the negative terminal of the battery. Haven't had any issue running this way for a couple years now on my 1500 but if needs to be done differently then I will make the change. The Renogy DC-to-DC charge has an additional input for vehicles with intelligent alternators, which is connected to a "run" circuit, and that is connected per the manual.

I ordered the aux switches on the 3500 so that will mitigate the accessory issues, but DC-to-DC will still be a factor.

For small accessories ground to anywhere. There are multiple ground points for up to 50A. Anything above 50A is suggested to be grounded to the block.

The aux switches only have a pos connection not both pos and neg. There is a single ground with the aux switch wiring, but not enough for all 6 switches.

These trucks don't use smart alternators.

 

[dstock]

For small accessories ground to anywhere on the block. There are multiple ground points for up to 50A. Anything above 50A is suggested to be grounded to the block.

The aux switches only have a pos connection not both pos and neg. There is a single ground with the aux switch wiring, but not enough for all 6 switches.

These trucks don't use smart alternators.

Sorry, just to clarify "For small accessories ground to anywhere on the block. There are multiple ground points for up to 50A. Anything above 50A is suggested to be grounded to the block" Did you mean for small accessories ground to anywhere on the chassis? Or everything just grounds to the block?

 

[HarryN]

Have not studied the grounds on the Trucks yet, but on the vans, you definitely don't want to connect to the battery negative.

Find the diagram for the official ground points.

 

[AH64ID]

Sorry, just to clarify "For small accessories ground to anywhere on the block. There are multiple ground points for up to 50A. Anything above 50A is suggested to be grounded to the block" Did you mean for small accessories ground to anywhere on the chassis? Or everything just grounds to the block?

Sorry, anywhere on the frame, cab, or chassis.

 

[dstock]

Sorry, anywhere on the frame,

Cool, thanks.

 

[Don-T]

I new have the winch grounded to the engine block. I found an unused threaded hole just in front of the starter.