Electric winch on my log arch

[escavader]

Roughing it together I decided on one arche mounted battery with feed from atv charging system can I feed that from tender wire harness?

 

[Jim Timber]

I run a deep cycle on my log arch, and haven't had a problem with battery life. I only use mine to raise and lower the logs though. I don't drag them with the winch if I can avoid it, as it's painfully slow.

The charging system on an ATV is quite weak. They hardly handle the winch used for the machine's recovery.

 

[escavader]

I run a deep cycle on my log arch, and haven't had a problem with battery life. I only use mine to raise and lower the logs though. I don't drag them with the winch if I can avoid it, as it's painfully slow. The charging system on an ATV is quite weak. They hardly handle the winch used for the machine's recovery.

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I was told a deep cycle battery might not be as quick as a regular battery ??? I have a friend who put one on his dump trailer and it wasn't as quick as a starting battery
And I agree get as close to the wood as you can

 

[MossRoad]

Roughing it together I decided on one arche mounted battery with feed from atv charging system can I feed that from tender wire harness?

The only problem I see is that if you put a large current draw on the winch battery, if its still connected to the tender harness, that will make the winch battery and the ATV battery in parallel, and the winch will try to pull huge amps from the ATV battery, and that could smoke the thin leads of the tender harness.

It would be fine to charge the winch battery with because you aren't running large amps with the battery tender. You'd have to be sure to disconnect the tender harness to the winch battery before using the winch.

Does that make sense?

 

[Jim Timber]

The plates in a deep cycle are thicker than in a starting battery, so there's less surface area in solution due to not having as much space for more of them. I could see where if you were running a high transient load like an audio amplifier this could cause problems (needing a capacitor to resolve it), but I have difficulty believing a DC motor would be affected enough to be perceivable. I could be wrong.

 

[escavader]

The only problem I see is that if you put a large current draw on the winch battery, if its still connected to the tender harness, that will make the winch battery and the ATV battery in parallel, and the winch will try to pull huge amps from the ATV battery, and that could smoke the thin leads of the tender harness. It would be fine to charge the winch battery with because you aren't running large amps with the battery tender. You'd have to be sure to disconnect the tender harness to the winch battery before using the winch. Does that make sense?

Yes it does ill hook up a battery wire and the anderson connectors
So could i use the tender wire thats permanently hooked to my atv battery to use for the power supply for the relay controls?

 

[MossRoad]

I'd have to see a schematic, but most likely, yes.

 

[Garandman]

I've read on the 4x4 off road forums that synthetic winch cable is also sold for marine applications. Sailboats, maybe. Anyway, it can allegedly be had from a marine supplier for considerably less $$. Now you know as much as I do.

There is all kinds of cordage available and a lot of modern boats have replaced wire with cordage. This includes sheet applications that run through blocks and around winch spools.

It would surprise me if any marine application cost less than anything else, though, unless you bought a surplus cut end.

Yale Cordage makes marine, industrial, and arborist lines. 5/8" Maxibraid has a breaking strength of 27,000 lbs. But I bet it will be over $3 per foot.

Custom Cordage & Braided Rope | Yale Cordage

 

[PILOON]

I rigged n electric winch on my Mitsu CUT that has a 35 amp alternator. While at best I hauled for only a couple of hours I found that with the time it took to retract and hook up the cable that I never lacked battery power.
When winching I let the engine 'fast idle' to keep the charge up.
The winch I installed was from a pickup truck so it was a larger one that draws considerable amperage.
With 35 amps from the alternator I was not depleting the battery all that much and it was capable of recharging between retrievals.

 

[Jim Timber]

The problem with these small winches is that they're only spec'd with short duty cycles, and on top of that they're very sloooooow when loaded to rated pull.

Using one to dead lift logs so you can get a chain around them isn't very hard work. Using one to yard logs is going to prove hard on the winch (duty cycles aren't rated for heavy use like that - you'll cook it), and hard on you as you get frustrated with the performance and or smoke it emits.

It's not a Farmi, and it never will be. If you know that up front, things are a lot easier. I can load a log on my arch and be moving to the landing faster than someone using a hand winch can get the log to the height needed to get a chain under it - they're tired of cranking and I'm having a sip of pop because it tastes good, having not broken a sweat as I haul off with my load. I'd never go with a hand winch again, but a Farmi style PTO winch will crush me for productivity.