Electric Trailer winch

[1310/71]

Since you guys have winching experience....

I'm looking at mounting a cheap eBay electric winch (which I haven't bought yet - probably a 2000lbs as most of the cars on the trailer are less than 800kg) to my tilt car trailer to assist with one person loading (particularly of non-runners). My question is how to go about wiring it up in the best way.

I have a ZD30 so single battery on the front right of the car. That's a pretty long cable to run to the back of the car though. I've seen the big (Anderson?) plugs that people use on 4x4's, caravans, trailers etc so assume one of those would be best for quick connect/disconnect. I wouldn't be doing it often enough to warrant a second battery setup either on the trailer or in the tub so would power it off the main car battery.

Are there any other do's/dont's and watch outs I need to be aware of?
I have no winching experience I should add.

Cheers

 

[abouttogobush]

hey man that cable is dear and those winchs pull some juice a normal car batt and clamps like jumper leeds on the winch would be cheaper and easy way to do it

 

[tweak'e]

even easier......hand boat winch. your dealing with sliding loads so its not that much, as long as your not trying to pull it out of the mud onto the trailer.

 

[camo.b]

Ive got a 12v boat winch on mine now.will cope with a 2ton rolling weight...just its breakers constaintly trip but up to 1.5t would be perfect.got it from repco.and i use 50amp twin core cable with a anderson plug.keep the motor running tho...and you really need wireless remote

 

[1310/71]

mmm. Wireless hey, I looked at those and thought they looked like a toy.

abouttogobush - I wanted to avoid having to carry a second battery. To keep it charged I would either need to connect it up to the car; or take it off the trailer to keep charging it up. The trailer is stored in the open at a friends' property and there is no power within a reasonable distance. That's why I said I'd prefer to power the winch from the car.

 

[abouttogobush]

matey find out the winch currant draw ya need about 6mtrs of twincore cable and a breaker u can do it just get biggest cable ya can most you trim to fit the Anderson plug the cable is 2 thick

 

[camo.b]

Yep wireless remote if you are doing it yourself..that way you can work the steering wheel and line it all up while your winding it all on the trailer.

 

[Old.Tony]

As above.

4G cable would probably be more than enough for a 800Kg winch. You're looking at about 7m to the trailer though, possibly 8 depending on the length of the A-frame and the location of the winch.

Wireless remotes are okay but they have lag, so watch that, but that's what I'd do too.

 

[camo.b]

Ohh yes the lag is annoying.but the the ease of use far outweights it

 

[1310/71]

OK, good info guys.

I'll have a look at your suggestions over the next few weeks and let you know how I go. Sounds like wireless and Anderson plug with breaker is the way to go. I'll hit up jaycar and see what they have.

Cheers

 

[1310/71]

I ended up buying a wireless one off eBay.
Does anyone know where the thin red wire off the manual switch goes to? The Chinese/English instructions are not that clear.

Still welding up a mount for it before I start wiring it up. Got some Anderson plugs and wire on its way, so should come up OK

 

[1310/71]

I'm going to mount a permanent plug on both the rear step and trailer A frame, then make up a removable extension lead on Anderson plugs to run between the car and trailer for when it is use.

What size Amperage do you guys suggest for a circuit breaker, 50A?

 

[camo.b]

In the winch specs it should have the amps it draws..have you got a link for the winch you purchased

 

[camo.b]

I think this might be your winch specs...found yours on ebay...

 

[1310/71]

Looks right. But if the Anderson plugs are only rated for 50A, how are they going to handle 90A+ the winch says it draws?

So maybe, a 100A circuit breaker then?

 

[camo.b]

You can get some higher amp anderson plugs..i think they are 175amp plugs...significantly bigger tho.

 

[Old.Tony]

If you're running power all the way from the front, you'll want those larger Anderson plugs and some either 2G or 0G cable. Both are bulky, particularly 0G, but they won't overheat when drawing near 100A over 7-8 metres. Do NOT rely on the vehicle's chassis to transmit this much power!

 

[camo.b]

If you're running power all the way from the front, you'll want those larger Anderson plugs and some either 2G or 0G cable. Both are bulky, particularly 0G, but they won't overheat when drawing near 100A over 7-8 metres. Do NOT rely on the vehicle's chassis to transmit this much power!

Do you mean the return earth cable? That somtimes gets forgot about

 

[Old.Tony]

If I was running this winch mounted on the A-frame of a trailer and electrically powered by my starter battery, I'd run separate cables for positive and negative directly from the starter to the winch control box.

Some people are tempted - and I know the auto electrician that wired my car up did this too - to simply find a point at the rear of the vehicle to take the negative supply from, because "the whole chassis is negative, so it doesn't matter".

Trouble is, it does matter greatly especially after a little wear and tear. Going direct avoids any problems completely.

 

[1310/71]

I've finished physically mounting the winch. I've got some plastic caps for the ends of the 100x100 SHS to go on. Just waiting for the 175A anderson plugs; 150A isolator to turn up so I can sort the wiring side of it.

I spoke to an electrician at work and he confirmed what tony said about running both neg and pos from the front of the car, but he thought the battery would be fine. Once I get the Plugs, he's going to help source some suitable wire - his comment "as big as we can fit, with as many strands of wire" which is pretty much what you guys confirmed.

I may also have to rig up a roller of some sort for the cross bar for when the tilt is up and the winch wire running across it. Started looking at boat supplies, but they are pretty expensive.