Thoughts about the SHUNT

So I am wiring in my 12K rear winch and came across the "shunt",, since there is no ammeter on the truck I can only assume it is being used by the protection unit, maybe to kill the start process if it detects too much current going to the starter, say a hydro-statically locked engine for example, there is no monster "main" relay so it could not protect against a large amperage short of any kind.
OK back to the winch, I have read countless times how convenient the dual post batteries are for connecting large loads like a winch, OK so far...
Now as I ran the negative and positive lines back to the battery box it became obvious that if I connect the neg. or "return" line directly to the battery I am bypassing the shunt, and not just for the winch but for the entire vehicle, all currents that originally flowed only through the shunt can now also flow through the "return" line and through the winch to the frame (which I also grounded to the winch motor)
If I grounded the winch only to the frame or to the vehicle side of the shunt then the protection unit will "see" the current going to the winch....
The question is has anyone addressed this issue? has this ever caused any trouble?

papakb said:

The shunt is only used by the STE/ICE test set.

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AHHH, cool!

I wired my winch using 2 gauge pos / neg all the way back to the battery. The badland 12k winch I used came with a circuit breaker that I wired on the positive side. If you’re using a 12v winch you’ll need to wire it to one of the batteries and get a battery balancer.


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If you look in the TM, the winch is wired to the pos and negative on the starter...this makes the ground go through the shunt.