Winch Electric

[snowcat]

Getting week in my old age, I'm mounting a cheep electric winch on my trailer to pull the gen set, bottles, MIG etc up the ramps, Looking at the price of cable coupled with the price of a connector and the PITA it to root around the truck I was just going to put a battery on the trailer, Its a 0.9HP motor what sort of size battery should I go for and how much life would I get between charges?

As I said work isnt heavy, I can just get everything up the ramps with mandrulics at the moment.

 

[mike 109444]

Using an online calculator 0.9HP at 12v gives 73A So if you know the Ah of the batter then could be calculated.

 

[AndyStobbs]

If you have a towbar with twin electrics you could run split charge to the trailer battery and charge it as you drive.
That will be 0.9hp shaft power, so electrical requirement will be greater. How much use will it need, in time terms to load all of your gear? That will dictate battery size.

 

[Tengtooltom]

Install a split charging relay on your truck, Run twin heavy cable to tail of truck. Fit an Anderson plug to cables and bolt to truck. Make up another link cable with Anderson plug http://www.pcscables.co.uk/category/118-anderson-plugs/ to run to extra battery on trailer and keep the extra battery charged.
Or put second battery into back of truck and wire up as above.

Andy is able to type faster than me

 

[snowcat]

I only have light electrics, split charging would be ideal and a much neater job, running cables in all honesty just seams like more work and expense than I need than I need for something that only hauling the odd bit of gear on and off.

I have several Cteck smartcharges, and pluging in overnight inst an issue.

On a busy day winch would probably only do 3 or 4 pulls.

 

[AndyStobbs]

Given what you say,
A battery suitable for a 2.0L ish diesel engine should be upto the job. Would go for 70Ah for some extra capacity, and taking into account the battery will never be as good as its label and performance will deteriorate with time.
Keep in mind that automotive batteries are not built to cope with repeated discharge cycles, so if you are frequently running it down, lifetime will be shorter.
As long as your ctek charger is capable of re-charging over night you shouldn't have a problem. Rule of thumb is charge current 10% of rated Ah, so thats a continuos 7A for bulk charge, tailing off as battery voltage comes back up.

 

[Woody.v8]

You would be aswell with a leasure battery for that job as your not after CCA ,
And what about a little elcheapo solar charger to keep it trickled up?

 

[snowcat]

Solar charger thats an idea I hadn't thought of, might be enough just to keep the it topped up.

 

[madkayaker]

You could install a split charger on the trailer powered off a tail light circuit then just drive with the lights on?

 

[Robotstar5]

Fit an Optima yellow top battery, designed for deep cycling and rough use.

 

[snowcat]

We were using optima's on some of the site equipment some years ago, great battery but bloody expensive IIRC..


I do have a 6amp socket by the rear door, with a 240V inverter plug ed in for rechargeable battery, I could potentially plug a Ctek into the inverter then charge like that, bit of an arsed about way of doing things mind..

Spent enough in the last couple of months changing the truck and trailer, looking for this job not to snowball

 

[madkayaker]

Just plug your trailer into the socket that will charge the battery. Best if done through a voltage controlled relay so it doesn't charge the battery when van if off http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_761185_langId_-1_categoryId_165734

 

[DrNik]

heres one thing you can do, if you tap off all the wires and put a diode on each one and connect them all to your battery (i'll draw a diagram if needed) everytime you brake/indicate or put your sidelights on the battery will charge, and top it up, if you make a note to drive with sidelights on then battery will always stay charged, you have to use some diodes otherwise you'll lightup like a christmas tree lol, just dont try and use the winch if your battery is flat and the sidelights are on as it will blow your sidelight fuse in the towing vehicle otherwise works a treat and works on any towing vehicle, 6 diodes from MAPLIN's about £4, done, and no need for special batties, just a normal car battery

 

[normspanners]

My experience of 12v winches and I have had loads of them on my recovery trucks when pulling hard IE a car onto the back of my trucks etc sometimes with no wheels on one corner or more ! is the winches like the engine running to keep the voltage up when the voltage drops you start to have solenoid/ motor issues coz as the volts drop the amps go though the roof. But doing what you want I would go for the biggest I could afford to keep the voltage high for as long as poss, and if doing a hard pull do it in bursts/ pulses to keep the heat down in the motor and solenoids. And as you say keep it charged asap. I had issues with split chargers coz they would never fully charge the second battery I ended up fitting two alternators and have two separate systems.

 

[Robotstar5]

I had issues with split chargers coz they would never fully charge the second battery.

The problem using diode type split chargers is the 0.7 volt drop which is a decent percentage at 12 volts!

 

[FranV8]

Cheapest bang per buck big ish battery I found was replacing the battery on my Honda Civic (2.2 diesel) £60 oem Yuasa from Honda themselves.

 

[armalites]

I have an electric winch on my trailer and I just connect a battery when I need it, it's not permanent.

I've just stuck some Anderson connectors on the battery and winch to make things easier.

I use a big Optima Yellow Top and it copes no problem without being connected to the vehicle.

I bought a wireless remote set for £19.99 on ebay, makes loading a dream.

 

[normspanners]

I bought a wireless remote set for £19.99 on ebay, makes loading a dream.

Are they OK then, I was a bit dubious about the price, when I was buying them they where £100 150 ?

 

[DrNik]

robotstar, the loss of 0.7 volts is fine, when the car alternator is pushing out 13.8v sometimes 14v, 0.7 loss still means the battery on the trailer will be getting 13.1-13.3v which is more than enough to trickle charge between jobs

 

[normspanners]

Dr Nik
The problem is the vehicle battery gets to a higher voltage quicker, and cuts the alternator voltage down so it does not properly charge the second battery, because of the volt drop of the diode or even the longer cable to the second battery, this always happens on vehicles with two batteries even fitted as standard ( pajero ) etc even the difference beween battery makes can make a difference, and stop the second battery getting a full charge then heavy use with a winch or starter motor causes the second less charged battery to fail early. I have seen this many times and the only way to do this properly is to fit two alternators OR have a change over relay to disconnect one battery from the alternator at a time, on a timer controlled basis.
Boats have a similar problem, you need at least 14.5v to 14.7 for about 10 hrs to charge a battery fully.
Most cars batteries only have about 70% charge in them because they are not run long enough. Low charging rates cause early sulfation unless they have a equalising charge.