10K winch on trailer questions

[KB9UDE]

I am looking to put this winch on a trailer but have a question about powering it. According to the manual with the cable all the way out and loading to 10K load it draws 310 amps. I have no intentions of using all 100ft of cable or loading 10K but want to be prepared for the extreme. Would I be better off extending the 4 guage cables from the trailer to truck battery -OR- should I have a Deep Cycle battery sitting on the trailer next to the winch and pull power off the 30A circuit in the 7 pin RV plug to charge deep cycle battery?? Do you all have a better option??

10,000 Lb. Capacity 12 Volt Electric Winch

Here is the manual:

http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/67000-67999/67577.pdf

 

[Diamondpilot]

I would go with the battery on the trailer. Many reasons but first is it will cost less by the time you buy the cables and plug. Second is it can be used to pull said truck up on the trailer when it brakes down and you have to use your buddy's truck and your trailer to rescue it.

Chris

 

[KB9UDE]

Here we go with the GM product jokes again...LOL :laughing:
Seriously though-Thanks for the info, Chris.

I would go with the battery on the trailer. Many reasons but first is it will cost less by the time you buy the cables and plug. Second is it can be used to pull said truck up on the trailer when it brakes down and you have to use your buddy's truck and your trailer to rescue it.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

No GM jokes but I guess I missed the opportunity.:thumbsup:

But really, I would want it to be fully independent from the truck. A deep cell battery can be had for around $70 in my area and a battery box is $10 along with a $15 battery maintainer from WalMart and you are set.

If you were to go with 4 ga wire you would need about 25' for the pos to get from the battery to the rear bumper area plus about 5' for the neg, then another 5' for both the pos and neg from the winch to the trailer tongue. I would also want a circuit breaker. You would also need some type of heavy plug to handle the current. Last time I priced 4 gauge wire it was expensive, about $3 per foot. I could not see you saving any money at all.

Chris

 

[Skyco]

4 AWG wire is nowhere near big enough to power a 310 Amp draw winch, you'd have barely 7 volts at the winch under load, a 45% voltage drop!
I have 2/0 on my rear winch feed and that is marginal, it drops 14% or I have about 11 volts at the winch..
Go with the batt on the trailer....2/0 is probably $4 a foot nowadays, it would far exceed the cost of a battery and charger to run it from front to back of your truck

 

[powerstroke444e]

I have 0.2 on my 8,000 ramsey on my trailer that runs to truck batt which is my favorite as you don't have to worry about charging the batt on trailer.

 

[kebo]

Skyco nailed it. When you are starting out with 12.9VDC, you have to pay close attention to the DC wire resistance on longer wire runs when it will be sourcing some pretty serious current. As he mentioned, the voltage drop on 4AWG would kill you on such a long run, it can/will make a big difference on the other end. A DC battery source right at the point of use will make the wire resistance losses very minimal. This will provide 12.9VDC (or very close to that) to give you maximum pulling power, when it's needed.

If you do use a smaller gauge wire from the truck battery to the trailer battery for charging, I would install a disconnect on that wire so that whenever you actually use the winch, the truck battery can be taken out of the circuit. You don't want the winch trying to pull more current (from the truck battery) through the "charging" wire than it's capable of carrying.

With the battery mounted very close to the winch, you can run 2/0 pretty easily and it won't be that costly. Heck, you could even bi-wire two 2/0 runs (for DC+ and DC-). That would nearly double the current carrying capacity of the wire from the battery to the winch. That doesn't add anymore pulling power to the winch, but it does help it to pull it's rated load.

 

[jlsmith]

I have a 12k on my trailer with a battery next to it. I ran a cable to my trailor plug to charge the battery and this seems to b working fine. Most of the time I don't even plug the cable in and it stays charge for 4 or 5 towings.

 

[KB9UDE]

I knew there would be quite a loss of voltage in the wire but had not read specs yet. Thanks for the info. I will be looking for a deep cycle battery to use.

 

[Blast Chamber]

Here's what I made for my trailer. The box is attached to a 2" draw bar so I can move the winch to my truck receiver, or just remove it altogether.