Batt. charging ideas

[Gordon Gould]

The winch I just picked up from harbor frieght draws 37.5 amps. My ford 4500 generator puts out 22 amps.
My marine battery is rated at 875 marine cranking amps at 125 amp hrs.

What does all this mean?
How well will the generator keep the battery charged to run the winch and how will the battery do if I just run the winch off the battery and not connect it to the tlb?

To me it looks like you could run the winch for about 8 hrs if the generator can take running full load alot of the time.

The 125 amp hrs means you can draw 12.5 amps for ten hrs. Or 25 amps for 5hrs. ( Amps X Hrs = 125 Amp-Hrs ). The Marine cranking amps is the most currant the battery will supply for a short time and does not matter in your case.

So, if the generator supplies 22 Amps and the winch is drawing 37.5 Amps the battery needs to supply 15.5 Amps. 15.5A X 8 Hrs = 124 Amp Hrs. In real life things change. But I think it shows that it would at least be a reasonable set up. The generator being the weak point. You wont always be drawing 37.5 Amps unless the winch is really working all the time. And the battery wont always give you 125 Amp-Hrs unless it is perfectly charged, new, and around 70*F. And of course the battery will be recharging some during the time the winch is not running. Hope this helps.

gg

 

[PILOON]

I rigged my CUT to haul logs last summer.
The set up is an 8000 lb winch rear mounted with quick connect cables to tractor battery and about 25" of hand held control cable to allow me to be at a safe distance and better see the progress.
My cut has about a 1000 amp CCA battery and 35 amp alternator.
I hauled some 20 wet cedars (20' long) in clumps of 3-4 at a time with all the cable wound out and then some chain extensions as well.
Left motor running and never had any issues at all. Took my time as chaining etc allowed battery to recharge.
My only concern is that I need some good method of preventing the tractor from being pulled backwards when logging. That's a 'next project', meanwhile I simply chock the wheels and play with the remote winch controls.

Don't over think the problems, try it out as best you can and improve if necessary later.

My winch is mounted on a plate that adapts to my trailer rear mounted '2" sleeve'.
Since I actually hung up one pull that pulled the tractor backwards over the chocks I guess you can say I proof tested my welds. LOL.

 

[o2batsea]

Gosh, some truly wrong info being handed out.
First of all, do not run the winch from the start battery. You absolutely must have a dedicated winch battery or you run the risk of being stranded with no start battery.
Second, do not parallel the two batteries or you will, again, find yourself stranded.
Third, don't worry about recharging in the field for the moment.
For winching you must use a deep cycle battery and not a starting type of battery. Best is an AGM (absorbed glass mat) type. I prefer Deka brand from East Penn Mfg (made in USA).
For deep cycle batteries bigger is always better so buy as much battery as you can afford. Group 31 or larger. Two if you can fit them.

If you want to try to recharge them while in use, you need a high amp alternator...at least a 100 amp unit, preferably 150. It should be separate from the generator.The alternator will never put out that much as the rating is for peak RPM...like 6000. Your tractor is never going to spin that fast, so maybe you'll get 30-40 amps from it at the most. That may be enough to refill the battery but won't keep up with a winch.
I'd look again at the winch. the 37 amps is likely no load draw. A winch when it is winching will skyrocket to 2-300 amps.

 

[Gordon Gould]

o2batsea is correct. My advise is bad. After reading his post I looked up some winch info and found that 300 Amps is more typical. My explanation of amp hrs is OK but the battery life I came up with is way wrong because you will draw a lot more than 37 Amps. Here is a sight with some info: How to choose a Winch ? 4WDH Advice on Choosing a Winch-RH3

Sorry for the bad advise
gg

 

[o2batsea]

I'd recommend a hydraulic winch over an electric one for skidding. The 'lectric one will just devour your batteries in no time. The hydraulic one should be able to tap into the tractor's system and need only a couple hoses and a spool valve.
The electric winch may seem like a cheaper alternative but after you figure in the cost of the batteries, cables, uprating the charging system, blah blah blah the installation is more than the winch!
Can you sell the electric one? look for a hydraulic one from a roll off or wrecker.

 

[chuck172]

Well they say experience is the best teacher, but he who learns by experience is a fool.
The installation is done. Tested, works good. I don't know how the charging system will work yet. My land is a wet mess right now. I'll let you guys know how I make out. Thanks for all the good advice and knowledge.

 

[Rio_Grande]

THEN call me a fool..... Cause I jump in.

 

[mopacman]

An electric winch will boug down when you pull a heavy load. This makes a high amp draw on a batt. If you use a snatch block it cuts the pull speed in half and does not boug down as much. It cuts down on your amp draw. I find that it pulls a load just as fast with the snatch block as a single line because it does not boug down. You do not use a deep cycle battery because they are made for low amps for a longer time. The best battery for a winch or a hydrulic pump is a diesel starting battery with lot of reserve. I have a 8000 pound winch with a motor off of a electric fork lift that has no trouble breaking a 3/8 cable. It has been in the back of a pick up with a boom for twenty years. I park it above my log spliter to put 4 foot dia logs on it to split. I can use it all day long and not recharge the batt. and still start the truck. I use two deca diesel batt now.

 

[Natureboy]

Chuck 172, just curious as to how you made out with your setup?

 

[David Devuono]

Starting batteries are designed to start a vehicle and can't be brought down below 50% charge without causing it damage shortening its life. I have no experience with Diesel start batteries but my experience with diesel engines is that they require lots of amps (big battery) but start quickly. Deep cycles are most definately a better choice. Marine starting batteries are usually deep cycle. Electric winches are intermitent duty. If your lucky it will have good thermal protection. One of the biggest problems will be tightly packing the cable. Once it gets kinked, it will be weaker and more difficult to pack. A device to help pack the cable is a must for a working winch. Some of the smaller ones have a spring loaded plate but it does not help alot. Today 100 amp alternators are common (my silverado has a 160 amp) so you could build a good electric winching setup but we are not talking about a 250 dollar winch. My formula is two deep cycle batteries (group 27 min) a Warn 8274 (8000 lb with 150 ft cable, spur gear, not planetary) and custom made self spooling jig.

 

[chuck172]

You're right. What is the device to tightly pack the cable. Winding the cable is my biggest problem.

 

[tanglefoot]

I agree with Soundguy. That's a big battery on the 4500, and it will handle the winch.
Butch

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. is likely a huge 4DLT .. that's a haus of a battery....

soundguy

 

[chuck172]

I just pulled out the old generator in the ford 4500 and put in a 105 amp delco 10si one wire alternator.
The 12000# winch really does a good job yanking out firewood trees.

 

[Soundguy]

aux tach drive?

soundguy

 

[pat32rf]

I run 8000lb winches (some China, one Ramsey) on my JD 4300. Have an Optima yellow top hooked up as main winch power source. This is kept charged off the main battery circuit. I have killed the battery once, broken a cable once, in the past 8 yrs....
Everything rides on the 3pth with the winch plugging into a 2" receiver.
I drag the logs out to where I can hook a chain from the winch bracket to the log, lift and skid.

(got three 8000lbers that get moved between tractor, float and pickup truck.)

 

[N8ghz]

Excuse me if I missed this being said before.
I only skimmed thru this thread, and thought I'd add this.
sorry if it has been mentioned.

A common item for dual batteries is a device called a battery isolater.
It allows both batteries to be charged from one source gen/alt, but will not allow the 2nd battery to discharge the starting battery, these are common in RV's, and not very expensive to buy.

 

[Soundguy]

...or build....