Power Socket in cab of DK 45SE HST

[dourobob]

Hi Folks
I have just installed a small 12 volt winch on the chute rotator of my snow blower. Tested it with a battery and it seems to work well. Now I want to set it up to work from inside the cab.

Three questions:
1 - is there enough power in the Power Socket to do this - manual says it is a 10 A fuse and I cannot find any info on the draw from the winch.

2 - if there is enough power, where can I get an adapter to plug into the socket and splice to the wiring of the winch controls.

3 - if there is not enough power there, any suggestion on how I should set it up? I bought a cheap set of battery jumper cables (heavier wiring than the winch) thinking I might have to go directly from the battery, but thought the power socket might be simpler if it is strong enough.

Thanks for any comment.
P.S. - it does feel a bit strange asking a snowblower related question on one of the hottest afternoons of the summer.

Bob

 

[Dmace]

I highly doubt a 12v power point or the wiring to it can handle the amperage draw of a winch. Some smaller ones operate on just 5-10 amps but they are real small. Even a small Warn winch with 1,500lbs of line pull will draw 6 amps with NO load and 27 amps pulling 500 lbs!

If I were wiring a winch to a tractor, I would get some good 10 or 12 gauge wire and run the power lead straight from the battery to a 3-way switch mounted in the tractor then running to the winch and ground it to the tractor.

 

[bearhawk]

If I were wiring a winch to a tractor, I would get some good 10 or 12 gauge wire and run the power lead straight from the battery to a 3-way switch mounted in the tractor then running to the winch and ground it to the tractor.

I might add to put a fuse at the battery to protect the 12 ga wire in case it gets chafed..

 

[dourobob]

Thank you gentlemen
Your observations confirm what I though would be the case.

I have the 10g wire already. Any suggestions on what size fuse makes sense for this? 20 A or 30 A or ???

Was also thinking and ON/OFF switch in the cab might be a good idea.

Also, would like a slick connector (similar to the plug in in the cab) as I will want to disconnect the power easily whenever I remove the snow blower. (Also want to be able to connect easily when I put the blower on)
Any suggestions on what I could use for the "power-to-winch" connection

Bob

 

[MichiganIron]

Even 10ga wire might be light for a winch. We would suggest 3ga with a 20amp fuse. The heavier the wire, the less amp draw from resistance. Long runs of wire require heavier gauge.

Definitely do NOT run off of the 7-pin socket. That is for lighting.

 

[kattywumpus]

Bob,
12 volt winch motors are very similar if not identical to starter and snowplow hydraulics pump motors. Normally these motors are high amperage devices which is the reason for the large gauge wire running to these devices and the relay (solenoid) used to control the motor or starter from in the cab. The challenge is not knowing the normal and surge amperage draw for your winch. One way to get a rough estimate is to use a 12 volt battery charger with an amperage meter. Preferablely a battery charger with the high amperage start function. These chargers can normally handle 55 to 100 amps. Smaller chargers will overload when you attempt to start the motor. Use the charger to start and run the winch then note the amperage drawn. This is the average/normal amperage draw. If possible preform this test with a load on the winch. For the surge amperage I would double the average amperage value and then size the wire based on the surge amperage. The fuse should be a slow blow fuse sized just above the average amperage. If the winch does require high amperage you can use a starter solenoid/relay to controller the winch from in the cab. Hope this helps.

 

[rd_macgregor]

I'm not sure I understand how you are using this. I had my snowblower equipped with a hydraulic cylinder to rotate the chute. The rotation is reversible, though. How do you do that with a winch?
I'm not expert on motors and electronics, but you might want to be sure you have extra protection for the motor in anticipation of that morning when it is pulling against a solid ice pack (like frozen windshield wipers)!
BOB

 

[dourobob]

I'm not sure I understand how you are using this. I had my snowblower equipped with a hydraulic cylinder to rotate the chute. The rotation is reversible, though. How do you do that with a winch? BOB

Hi
I unwound the cable off the spool of the winch, shortened it, wrapped it around the chute, clamped it to the chute, fastened the free end back on to the spool so it winds in the opposite direction and voila!!

When the winch operates in a forward direction one side of the cable releases and the other side pulls, when it operates in reverse the other side of the cable release and the one side pulls. It works very well when I tested it with a direct hook up to a 12V battery.

Now I want to get a little more complicated and set up the power for the winch so it is easy to connect and disconnect.

I'll try to get some pictures in the next few days if you think that might help.

Bob

 

[dourobob]

Even 10ga wire might be light for a winch. We would suggest 3ga with a 20amp fuse. The heavier the wire, the less amp draw from resistance. Long runs of wire require heavier gauge.

Hi Michigan Iron
I searched a bit further and found a sticker on the winch that says "140 amps @ 2000 lbs"

I am not sure how this measures against a 20 A fuse.

Also, the wiring for the forward and reverse controls on the winch appears to be about 12 gauge - it is certainly lighter than the 10g battery cable I was planning on using.

Would a run from the battery into the cab be considered "long" in this case (I think about 6-8 feet) and merit the 3g wire?

Thanks for your help.
Bob

 

[MichiganIron]

Sorry, the 20amp fuse was an error. If you fuse the circuit, you want to use a Slow-Blow fuse, probably 80 amp. We base this on what you are using the winch for. For rotating the chute, you shouldn't need to get to the amp rating of the winch. It's going to run under very light load most of the time. If you get a set of cheap jumper cables, you will have a heavy enough wire to start the winch properly.

The controls for the winch area low load circuit. 12ga wire is plenty for the controls. The control circuit operates a "relay" with the high load to run the winch on the flow side of the relay. The control only supplies the signal current to the relay.

We have a 9000lb recovery winch on one of our trailers. We have a battery on the trailer that we don't try to keep charged instead of a fuse. We have it in parallel with the truck battery to act as a"dump" for any spikes experienced while loading the winch. Works well, but you shouldn't need to worry about that just to rotate your blower chute.

Hope this helps.