I have a 4500 pound Ramsay winch I've had for years that I use on occasion to winch dead vehicles and such onto my trailers. It's mounted on a Reese hitch plate so I can plug it into the Reese receivers I've added to two of my trailers.

On my previous trucks, I've gone to the trouble/expense of adding the wiring from the truck battery to the rear bumper with an Anderson plug to power the winch.

Because reasons, I don't want to do this on the "new" (hard to believe it's been over a year already) truck and wish to power it with a separate battery. I don't use it much and remembering to keep a battery charged up and bring it along is not going to be an issue.

The question is, WHAT battery? AI says deep cycle AGM which makes sense, but I thought I'd ask some Real Intelligence (and experience) for some input.

Based on what I know at the moment, this one seems like a good fit.

Thanks.

If your truck has a trailer light hook up it have a hot 12v connection built in.
A simple pigtail off the plug could be made up to keep a battery in the PU box charged up.

Im no expert but aren’t Deep Cycle batteries designed to maintain even power output over a longer time period instead of automotive batteries? Because automotive batteries need the high output of current for the starter motor?

To me it would seem that a winch motor would have a similar demand for surge power as a starter motor.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
Im no expert but aren’t Deep Cycle batteries designed to maintain even power output over a longer time period instead of automotive batteries? Because automotive batteries need the high output of current for the starter motor?

To me it would seem that a winch motor would have a similar demand for surge power as a starter motor.

According to Google, the deep cycle will produce steady power over a longer period without recharging and has higher "reserve capacity". The AIBot specifically says regular vehicle batteries are a poor choice.

And we all know AI is never wrong...

Since you will be heavily loading the battery for more than a few seconds at a time, I'd go with the deep-cycle.

I have an Interstate deep cycle on my dump trailer. It probably gets similar usage as your winch would. Same battery for the last nine years. I just keep it plugged in.

What is the max draw for the winch while under load? That'll be the biggest determining factor for a dedicated battery for it. If it's less than 100A I'd suggest a 100ah lithium battery. They usually have a 1c max discharge rate, have VERY low self discharge rates, are 1/3 the weight of your standard lead acid deep cycle battery and have 2x the usable capacity.

I'd probably go with a LiFePO4 for your purposes if I was starting fresh. You'll save a lot of weight, and you can use them 100-0 with no issues. Check your max draw, and size your battery appropriately. I doubt a 4500 pound winch is going to be particularly high.

No more often than I use the winch - 3 or 4 times a year for maybe 30 minutes max - investing in a LiFePO4 or similar doesn't make economic sense to me.

I picked up a DC27 Deep Cycle Marine at WalMart for $116 out the door. Heavy sumbitch, but again, it's not like I'll be wrasslin' it around multiple times a week.

I'll build a mount for it on the two trailers I use the winch with but I don't have any angle on hand at the moment.

That’s exactly what I would have done for the same reasons.

quote:

I use on occasion

I take it these are planned uses, you keep the winch/cradle in the garage and pull it out as needed and your truck is stationary while in use? I would just add battery posts to your existing battery (Maybe it has double posts anyway?) source a pair of heavy gauge/duty wires with connectors long enough to run from the engine compartment to the rear hitch. You are not going to permanently install them. When the need arises just pop the hood, hook up the wires and run them to the back. Lay them on the ground, along the side with bungee's and zip ties or over the top.

See what electrical supply house has and car stereo shops have. Maybe MILSURP HMVEE style slave cables? (Overkill for sure and you will need to modify ends)

What's your budget? Here is an all in one kit, just don't bother with the permanent installation: Warn 24' wiring kit

quote:

Originally posted by Perception:
I'd probably go with a LiFePO4 for your purposes if I was starting fresh. You'll save a lot of weight, and you can use them 100-0 with no issues. Check your max draw, and size your battery appropriately. I doubt a 4500 pound winch is going to be particularly high.

The OP lives in Maine and LiFePO4 is highly sensitive to freezing temps. A deep cycle AGM will vastly outperform a LiFePO4 in freezing temps.

I will agree that a deep cycle is the proper solution for this application as postulated

That being said... if it were me, I would have gone the same route as suggested by Speedbird.

For one thing, you would be buying once, crying once. As your middle name is Murphy, you know darn well that sooner or later you'll lose a cell in that deep cycle and have to replace it. And you know it'll be at the MOST inopportune time. A battery is a consumable item; cables last forever.

You also know, based on real experience I'm sure, that eventually will come the day that you want to use the winch, and you'll discover that the battery isn't at full charge. It won't matter if the charger got unplugged, the GFCI tripped, or terminal clips popped off or otherwise lost contact - you'll still be outta luck.

Just my 2¢. Which is apparently 2 days short...

^^^Great! What size wire/cable would you need for a 12v 4,500 pound winch? What would the appropriate breaker/fuse be? And how much does that all cost?

How long is the run? That's what really matters in this. Probably 8g. if its longer 6g. Most of these winches have a relay that is used for switching and that includes the fusing and also lets the run be shorter. But if you had to do it yourself around me 6g marine cable is like $2/ft and the circuit breacker is less the $50 a fuse would be way less than that.

Your Super Duty should have a 7 pin receptacle on the rear bumper.

Why not rig up a plug connecting the power and ground in your bumper plug to your battery with clamps that will help to charge the battery while you’re using the winch. As I’m sure you know the power draw from a winch is very high and depending on your situation could drain the battery in under a minute… It’s not as good as running a properly sized cable from the main battery to the winch but it will help.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
Your Super Duty should have a 7 pin receptacle on the rear bumper.

Why not rig up a plug connecting the power and ground in your bumper plug to your battery with clamps that will help to charge the battery while you’re using the winch. As I’m sure you know the power draw from a winch is very high and depending on your situation could drain the battery in under a minute…

I'll look into that for sure.

Figure 30’ to the back of the truck and front of the trailer and a 5’ ground from the truck frame to the front of the trailer. Figure 100 amp draw for a 4,500 pound winch. I’m thinking 2AWG and a 125 amp fuse.

Or he runs the winch off a the $116 battery in the trailer. Simple and cost effective.

A group 27 deep cycle battery will run 100 amps @ 12v (which is probably about full load for PHPaul’s winch) for 15 minutes to a 50% discharge. It’ll go 30 minutes to 100% depth of discharge, but the battery won’t last as long which probably doesn’t matter for 3 or 4 times a year.

Running wires from the 7 pin won’t do anything to to help while running the winch, the wires aren’t big enough. They can run a small charger that could put 50amps back in the battery if you drive the truck around for 5 hours.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Figure 30’ to the back of the truck and front of the trailer and a 5’ ground from the truck frame to the front of the trailer. Figure 100 amp draw for a 4,500 pound winch. I’m thinking 2AWG and a 125 amp fuse.

Or he runs the winch off a the $116 battery in the trailer. Simple and cost effective.

A group 27 deep cycle battery will run 100 amps @ 12v (which is probably about full load for PHPaul’s winch) for 15 minutes to a 50% discharge. It’ll go 30 minutes to 100% depth of discharge, but the battery won’t last as long which probably doesn’t matter for 3 or 4 times a year.

Running wires from the 7 pin won’t do anything to to help while running the winch, the wires aren’t big enough. They can run a small charger that could put 50amps back in the battery if you drive the truck around for 5 hours.

I'd do this, but use a Group 31 battery. A group 31 has about 40% more AH over the 27 and they're usually not that much more money. Deka or Interstate.

quote:

Your Super Duty should have a 7 pin receptacle on the rear bumper.

That circuit has a very minimal amp rating and actual capacity and is of no value to offset the draw of using the winch. If you want help from the truck you need to run a decent sized cable from the truck batteries to the rear and install an andersen connector and use that to connect to the winch battery. PHPaul says he doesn't want to do this.
And it sounds like he already bought a battery.
But I second jimmy123x on my dump trailer (similar application cycle) just get a bigger battery. You don't need agm for any reason.
So when that 27 is dead just upgrade.