Can 14 2 electrical wire be used to connect 2 12 volt winches to 1 12 volt battery the winches will be 12 ft apart?

Answer 1

That all depends on the current drawn by each winch when it's running.

The Handbook of Electronic Tables and Formulas for American Wire Gauge

says that the maximum DC current for #14 wire in power transmission service

is 5.9 amperes.

-- If the winches are fed by separate runs of 14-2 from the battery, then #14 is OK

as long as one winch doesn't pull more than 5.9 amps when it's running.

-- If both winches split off from one end of a single run of 14-2, then

. . . . . If they never both run at the same time, then #14 is OK as long as

neither winch pulls more than 5.9 amps when it's running.

. . . . . If they sometimes both run at the same time, and the sum of both of

their running currents is more than 5.9, then the #14 wire is too small for the

single run from the battery out to where they split.

The bottom line is: A piece of 14-2 should never carry more than 5.9 or 6 amps

for more than several seconds. If it does, then the wire gets hot, and the winches

run slow and overheat, because part of the voltage is getting lost in the wiring,

and they're not getting the full 12 volts that they need to run.