Trailer Winch Question

[91to99]

We have an 18' flatbed trailer at work and are attempting to put a winch on it...
Mounting= self explanatory
Wiring= We have 6 trucks that would make use of the winch pulling scissor lifts and vehicles up the ramps onto the trailer. What would be the easiest way to get power to the winch?
Here are some thoughts that have come up.
1. Jumper from the trucks main battery up front
2. Separate battery on the trailer itself and use the trailer plug to charge it when in tow?

And yes I know that the best way to do this is to wire each truck with the proper gauge wire and a plug near the trailer hook up.

Sorry if its confusing, it sounds better in my head. :gee:

 

[GSequoia]

Battery on the trailer. You would either need absurdly long jumper cables or a second truck to jump the winch.

 

[87manche]

Battery on the trailer. You would either need absurdly long jumper cables or a second truck to jump the winch.

yes, use the 12V accesory pin on the truck to charge it, but make sure to disconnect it when winching or you will overload the little wires in the trailer connector.

If you think it will be a problem with random people not disconnecting it I would

Install a battery switch in the battery box that disconected the truck and connected the winch or not wire the battery to the truck and just hook it up to a battery charger. Maybe use a marine style one that you can leave in the box so you just need to plug an extension cord in and not deal with dragging the charger and such out to it.

 

[91to99]

Thank you for your responses. New battery on the trailer it is.
What size winch would you suggest?
Will a 3k pound one do the trick?

 

[DrMoab]

yes, use the 12V accesory pin on the truck to charge it, but make sure to disconnect it when winching or you will overload the little wires in the trailer connector.

If you think it will be a problem with random people not disconnecting it I would

Install a battery switch in the battery box that disconected the truck and connected the winch or not wire the battery to the truck and just hook it up to a battery charger. Maybe use a marine style one that you can leave in the box so you just need to plug an extension cord in and not deal with dragging the charger and such out to it.

Or just use an isolator. So the current can flow from the tow vehicle to the trailer battery but not the other way. I use a set up like this on my M416 trailer. I never have to worry about leaving it hooked up and someone not turning the inverter off or something.

 

[GSequoia]

I'd get at least a 6,000 pound winch for a trailer. Another thought is to look for a Warn 8274. The made a ton of them so they are fairly available on the used market, sometimes for a nice cheap price. They're big guys but you don't have to worry about that on the trailer.

Ryan - What isolator do you use?

 

[DrMoab]

I don't know. Just some no name brand I got from the parts store. For that application it doesn't need to be fancy. It just needs to isolate the battery on the trailer from the battery on the tow vehicle.

If Vince can find me a left hand Battery tray on the UK I will set up a better management system with two batteries on my jeep but that's for another thread.

 

[GSequoia]

Do you recall about how much it ran? I'm thinkign of getting an isolator for the auxiliuary battery system I use for the fridge, I would ultimately use it on a powered trailer too, I'm sure.

I don't really have room for duals in the XJ plus by having it divorced I can more easily move it between the big Jeep and little Jeep.

 

[DrMoab]

It was around $25 plus the wiring to hook it all up.

Room is the reason I want a battery tray that sits on the LH side of the engine compartment. With the snorkel I can just use an inline filter of some sort.

 

[nipper]

have an anderson socket put on each vehicle and the trailer then make up 2 metre link cable out of battery lead the same system used by semi trailers with a tail lift

 

[POSJ]

have an anderson socket put on each vehicle and the trailer then make up 2 metre link cable out of battery lead the same system used by semi trailers with a tail lift

Did all of your punctuation keys break at the same time????

 

[87manche]

Or just use an isolator. So the current can flow from the tow vehicle to the trailer battery but not the other way. I use a set up like this on my M416 trailer. I never have to worry about leaving it hooked up and someone not turning the inverter off or something.

that's not the problem here.

the problem is that the 12V acc pin in the trailer harness is very likely 14ga or smaller.

pull a ton of amps with a winch while it's connected to the truck and you will smoke a 14ga wire, or at the very least pop a fuse.

big gnarly 2ga wire and anderson connectors if you want to run it from the trucks electrical like was suggested.

or a completely seperate power system on the trailer.
Since he wants it to work with multiple trucks a power system on the trailer is the one that makes sense.

Could probably even do a solar charger/maintainer for the battery.
and I'd do a 6kish winch.

 

[cf_collins]

that's not the problem here.

the problem is that the 12V acc pin in the trailer harness is very likely 14ga or smaller.

pull a ton of amps with a winch while it's connected to the truck and you will smoke a 14ga wire, or at the very least pop a fuse.

big gnarly 2ga wire and anderson connectors if you want to run it from the trucks electrical like was suggested.

or a completely seperate power system on the trailer.
Since he wants it to work with multiple trucks a power system on the trailer is the one that makes sense.

Could probably even do a solar charger/maintainer for the battery.
and I'd do a 6kish winch.

I like both ideas. Use the Anderson connectors to connect the system on the trailer, to the 6 regular trucks, increasing available battery capacity. And still be able to get the benefit of a a stand alone winch system with other trucks.