Winch battery?

Butch(OH)

Well-known Member
Got my brand new 10,000lb winch mounted on the gooseneck trailer and need to buy a battery. Which battery group number should I buy? Regular or deep cycle?

Thanks in advance!
 
For a trailer Winch the ONLY battery(s) Id use would be a true Deep Cycle (More like Golf Cart Batteries) NOT those wimpy RV/Marine so called "deep cycle" they sell at Wally World. Trojan and others make them at 12 volt or you could use two regular 6 volt Golf Cart batteries (Trojan or other brands) wired in series. Id also use good heavy gauge cables.

While driving down the road a hot charging connection via your 7 pole trailer wiring plug can charge the trailer battery via your trucks alternator

Sure, about any 12 volt or Wally World half A$$ RV/Marine "Deep Cycle" will "work", but not as well as a true deep cycle golf cart type of battery will. Your money your use your choice

John T
 
(quoted from post at 03:50:54 05/22/13) Got my brand new 10,000lb winch mounted on the gooseneck trailer and need to buy a battery. Which battery group number should I buy? Regular or deep cycle?

Thanks in advance!

If you will be using that winch a LOT, go with a deep cycle. If you will use it only occasionally, go with a 12 volt battery that will also fit either your truck or one of your tractors.

Or, if you have a tractor that will not be used at the same time you are using the trailer, just put THAT battery on the trailer.
 
JohnT,
I purchased a deep cycle excide from Rural King for my 2000 lb wench. It works for what little I use it.

However, after buying the excide battery I purchased a battery conductivity tester which can measure CCA. My excide battery measured only 500CCA. The deep cycle battery that came with my 10k dump trailer measures 1000 CCA.

Deep cycle batteries don't give you their CCA, so unless you take something to the store to measure the batttery before you buy it, you really don't know what you're getting.

Excide also makes a very large lawn mower battery. It measure over 400 CCA. Go figure.

I rigged up a way to connect my dump trailer battery to the battery of my IH C, which I use to pull gravel out of my old gravel pit. That way my dump trailer battery is getting charged when I using the trailer. The same could be done with any wench battery. Charge it off the truck when not in use.

George
 
From a real quick look, it looks like its ONLY that very bottom 6 volt battery Id consider a Golf Cart True Deep Cycle but you would need 2 in series for 12 volts. When I see terms like cranking or starting I still view such as combination quasi deep cycle RV/Marine use which just arent the same a pure deep cycle batteries like used on mules and golf carts etc.

HOWEVER it also depends on how one uses the Winch. The RV/Marine quasi deep cycle is able to deliver a high short burst of current (maybe winch the tractor up the ramp, the hardest pull requiring most amps) plus still has some long term deep discharge capacity. But if theres gonna be a bunch of winch use over a long time before the battery can be recharged THEN ID OPT FOR A TRUE DEEP CYCLE.

IN HINDSIGHT I may back pedal just a bit away from my first post. There are times where a deep cycle is best (lots of use over long period before re charge) but maybe for a one time hard heavy pull and youre done for a good while then a quasi deep cycle RV/Marine (with that high amp short term capacity) may be okay??????

John T
 
I'm with Rusty Farmall , If you're only using the the winch a couple times a year , just take a good battery out of a tractor. No point in having that expensive battery deteriorating out in the hot sun . That's what I do , no problems. Use it weekly ? Get the Deep Cycle....
 
Ran truck battery power (+ and -) to plug at rear bumper using welding cable in poly sleeving. Plug winch or dump trailer into this using mating plug. No extra batteries to keep up with, and idling truck while using power eases battery load. Made a set of jumper cables that uses same rear plug for extra reach when needed. Also installed dis-connect under hood to kill power line to rear when not used. Worked good for about 8 years now.
 
Have you considered a long pair of cables connected to the truck battery and a jumper plug at the rear of your truck? Just plug in when you need to power the winch. That way the battery will be in active use and charged, you save the cost of a second battery and have the capability of jumping from the rear of your truck to boot.
 
Keep in mind the battery never lasts as long as you think it will. Probably not a bad idea to have a heavy-duty line running from the truck's charging system back to the trailer so you can use both the truck and trailer battery to power the winch on heavy pulls.
 
Great minds think alike! I must have still been typing when you hit send! What did you use for cable connections? Those flat Anderson connectors that are kind of the standard are nice but a bit spendy.
 
Hi Chris, also noted the near simultaneous reply time and suggestion offered, not sure it relates to a great mind on my end though, more like self preservation! I used forklift battery style connectors (Anderson)? where both halves are the same, believe it was mcmastercarr p/n 7043K8 and 2/0 cable. IIRC they were only $11.00/pair when I bought. Bit the bullet and put this fix on 2 trucks and 2 trailers-after I had come-alonged a 5k# dead crawler onto a trailer at a 4th of July show in 85+ degree wx. Decided it was cheaper than a heart attack! LOL.
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Works slick as a smelt. Have winch receivers built onto the tongues of both of my trailers.
winch2.jpg
 
Wow! thanks for all the tips and ideas. Trailer gets pulled by three different trucks so I"m thinking a separate battery may work best for me? Now question number two. Local rental place has solar charger/maintainers on their dump trailers. Since I wasn"t interested in renting their hi priced trailers they weren"t much interested in talking to me about how the chargers have worked out. Guessing from looking at the size of the wires that they wont cut it for daily heavy usage? Trailer gets used heavily on weekends followed by inactivity during the week. Plan on searching the "net this AM but wanted to ask here too.
 
I use a wench to drag logs onto an 18 ft trailer to cut up for firewood.

I used light welding lead from the truck battery to the rear where I plug the wench lead into a 50amp stove outlet.

Keep the truck idling and you battery doesn"t die. I don"t use the wench enough to justify a battery that will probably be dead the next time I need it and the welding lead, outlet and connectors cost considerably less than a heavy battery does.

TyWrap the welding leads to the frame and use red electricians tape to identify the hot leg.

The local electrical supply house had welding lead for a good bit less than the welding supply, too.
 
I bought a set of the longest battery jumper cables that I could find on Amazon. I run them from the battery to the winch cables when I need them. They are long enough to reach the battery fairly easily on a long bed crew cab. Lets me use the trailer and winch on any truck and don't have to worry about a dead winch battery. Also cost way less than a good battery.
 
I put my winch under my cross bed tool box. Since I have a diesel with 2 battries I have enough power from the battreis. I have 2 trailers and don't need a winch for both. This works very well
 
I did something similar with my 3000 pound winch. Built some 4 gauge booster cables with smaller clamps, intending to use them for boosting garden tractors and such, not really for regular vehicles. These cables are long enough to reach a trailer from the battery on my pickup. After getting the winch I got three of the Anderson connectors and cut the cables about a foot from one end and made a "splice" with two of the connectors. I put the other one on the wires coming from the winch. I can now plug a short run if I have a battery close by, or plug the long part on for using the truck battery. I did it this way so it's not dedicated to just one vehicle. I fixed a plate on the winch with a hole to hook over a ball installed on the top of my trailer tongues. I have four different ones that I need to pull something up onto from time to time. My cables are still useable for the original purpose if needed.

I can use the winch on just about any trailer with just about any vehicle doing it this way. Or, I can use it from a hitch on the vehicle if I'm doing something besides loading a trailer. When not in use it stays in a box in my shop with the extra cables, etc.
 
agree on all points. Two good quality six volt golf cart batteries in series are the way to go. Its more exspensive to buy 2 batteries but you get twice the amperage and longer life. You will notice it big time when calling on that winch to pull its hardest.
I have a pair of 6 volt trojans in my hunting trailer that sits long periods without use and forgetting to re-charge. They are going on 6 years now and still are working good.
 

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