is there any way to slow down a DC motor?

[Wyld Bill]

Is there any way to slow down a winch motor besides re-gearing it? I was thinking maybe a heavy duty resistor wired in series with the motor kind of how they do on heater blowers for the different speeds.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

When I looked into getting an electric crab block instead of a hydraulic one, I was told no way could you do it without burning up the motor. I am interested in what the brain trust here can come up with.

 

[BIG DOOLEY]

Variable rheostat or resistors.
blower motors in a car are DC and they variable speed.
Most motors with Brushes can be varied.
ex. I use a large rehostat 10 AMP to control my Metabo grinders.
Indusrial grinders are usually AC/DC

 

[Willl]

Good luck finding a one with enough wattage to handle a winch motor load.

 

[mikehaugen]

with a winch, you are drawing a lot of amps. DC motor speed is controlled by voltage. Even in industrial applications, lesser voltage is applied to a motor (many times by a dc drive). There are drives capable of handling 500+ hp dc motors, it's just a matter of how much you want to spend. I think a resistor to lower the voltage would work if you only want 1 speed. That said, however, I can't say for sure that a winch motor is going to hold up well to this.

 

[woodsmith]

Why does it need slowing down and what are you intending to do with it? Also what winch is it?

It might be better to get a different winch that has a slower speed, or if it is not difficult to do with your winch, change the gearing.

If you are able to fabricate it then you could remove the winch drum and replace it with a chain sprocket and then use the chain to drive the drum on a separate mounting via a larger sprocket. That would give you any reduction you want.

I was thinking also of some motor controllers used for electric vehicles. Some are as low as 24V for small forklifts and warehouse tugs.
You could look at Curtis for example and see how much current their 24V controllers can handle. That is assuming that you can have a 24V supply to run your winch with.
With that set up you could have full electronic control of the winch speed.


I am planing on running a winch from the traction motor, via a pto, of my electric tractor. That will give me a 48V, 400A fully speed controlled winch.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Slowing the motor down would be easy to do with a rheostat BUT by reducing the voltage to reduce the speed, you are going to be reducing the power. Most winch motors are underpowered as is so I dont think you would want to be doing that. If you want slow, stronger, you will have to regear it or get a more powerful winch.

 

[jejeosborne]

This will slow it down by a factor of 4. Or multiple speed options in second pic. Just get a couple block and tackles.

 

[WilliamBos]

Is there any way to slow down a winch motor besides re-gearing it? I was thinking maybe a heavy duty resistor wired in series with the motor kind of how they do on heater blowers for the different speeds.

A frequency drive.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Slowing the motor down would be easy to do with a rheostat BUT by reducing the voltage to reduce the speed, you are going to be reducing the power. Most winch motors are underpowered as is so I dont think you would want to be doing that. If you want slow, stronger, you will have to regear it or get a more powerful winch.