Trailer mounted winch question

[Joel/ak]

How do you power it? Obviously the easiest solution is a battery in the box but how do you keep it charged? Can you wire it into the trailer lights with a trickle charger?

What's the best way?

 

[jjeff]

Id Get a small solar panel with charge controller. Have one on a pontoon boat and it's worked for a few years it can be permanently mounted anywhere if it has a bracket or its easy to remove and store. Or If you have a 7 pin you probably have continuous power, don't recommend it though.

 

[sandman2234]

I mounted not one, but FOUR semi truck style batteries in a stainless pan on top of the gooseneck level of my Big Tex and used a 4500 pound winch to drag 2 dead tractors up on the trailer with implements dragging! Only near the end did I bother to hook up the jumper cables to the truck, mainly because I didn't want to pull the batteries down too low.
These batteries were from a Prevost that we had get stuck up at the Church and they had an electric issue and blamed it on the 3-4 year old batteries. They put new ones in, and I snagged the old ones!
Got enough capacity and charging becomes secondary!! However, I would seriously consider a solar charger mounted on the trailer for all the time, and look into hooking up the tow vehicle for when it is being pulled!
David from jax

 

[Joel/ak]

Solar is nice but prefer using truck power. We use the trailer year round but if there's a lag in use, I'll pull the battery and put in basement on a tender thevway I do my lawnmowers battery in the winter.

Wonder if I can tie into the trailer brake system. It powers it while hooked up....

 

[sandman2234]

Probably not the "trailer brake system" but you can tap into the pigtail off the truck and use the power wire to feed the battery. It is usually the white wire, the center position on the pigtail, but I am sure someone with more recent experience might be more helpful!
David from jax

 

[nyone]

I ran heavy gauge wires to the rear of my tow vehicle. Dosnt cost much more than a battery, battery box and some way to charge it. It also is always charged..

 

[Jeepnford]

I'm thinking of getting some #1 battery cable and running from the truck battery to the back bumper and putting a high amp quick connect on it. I'm putting a winch on my new car hauler and on my small trailer I use to haul a zero turn. I found out how hard a dead zero turn is to load. I figure I can run the battery cable for about the same price as two batteries.

 

[CliffordK]

My winch is on a custom 1 1/2" receiver (to be deck height). I don't keep the battery connected to the winch, and trickle charge it at home after each use, and perhaps before each use. Currently a 12K Badlands Apex, but previously 12K Badlands ZXR (which died mid use 6 months ago).

Battery is generally an Odyssey PC1700 series AGM battery.

One of the heaviest things I've loaded was an Oliver AG6 Crawler. Non running, but the tracks did roll.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

How do you power it? Obviously the easiest solution is a battery in the box but how do you keep it charged? Can you wire it into the trailer lights with a trickle charger?

What's the best way?

I recently rewired things on my 32-foot flatbed to accommodate an 8K winch.

The trailer had two batteries (for air suspension and a hydraulic pump) which I removed, then put a large AGM in the front toolbox where it's a short run to the winch.

Ran 2 ga back to the compressor and pump, over a switch so those things can be turned off, and a smaller switch to interrupt the (upgraded) charging wire on the 7-pin. That one is always hot on my Ram.

It's only a 30 Amp fused circuit, and I do not want to end up feeding the Ram from the trailer, or vice versa. That switch is only on when driving.

Also put a quick disconnect at the battery for 25-foot jumper cables, to help the trailer battery during longer and/or heavier pulls.

When parked, the trailer gets charged with a small solar panel.

 

[Joel/ak]

Thanks guys. Got some good ideas