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Lets talk more winch wiring, remote mounted battery

posford

:flipoff2:
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After a bunch of figuring and measuring, I've found that to make the winch work on my M715 wrecker build, I have 2 options.

Convert the mechanical winch I have to hydraulic with the hydro motor I have, I would have to have an engine mounted clutch pump, and the rest of the hydro system obviously. Clutch pumps are $$$ and used market isn't existent from what I've seen.

OR run the Ramsey RE10,000 I have. Seems to be the better option as I have almost everything I need for an overbuilt setup.

Truck has a 65 amp alternator and a group 31 starting battery up front already. I have a pair of group 31 deep cycles that I bought for $40 (thanks Batteries+ Bulbs) for a readywelder. Seems I could put both of those in the bed with the winch, separate from the starting battery, and run a (possibly smaller than typical?) charge cable front to back with a key on activated solenoid to charge the rear batteries only when the motors running. End goal of this truck is to have a robust recovery truck.

65 amp alt is brand new, wasn't planning on an electric winch when I bought it. Should be sufficient with the amount of battery reserve I have?

Bigger cable is usually better, but being that the alt is small, is 4 gauge cable sufficient to run to the rear batteries? Constant duty solenoid, anything over 65 amps should be good, right?

Winch has newer solenoids on it, no real use on them except function testing. I also have a Warn contactor solenoid, is it a worthwhile upgrade if the solenoids are good?

Thinking about adding a wireless remote to the setup, are they pretty good these days? Never used one.

Thanks
 
If you're gona draw heavy off that second battery you need full size wire. 0/2 would be my suggestion. Winches draw 300 minimum.

That alt is pretty low amp for running a winch. It will do but you're gona pull the battery mostly, then if you stall you're sol. I'd run a 100a alt and the bigger the bat the better. If your gona run it in the bed just get one of those big ass 8b truck batteries
 
If you're gona draw heavy off that second battery you need full size wire. 0/2 would be my suggestion. Winches draw 300 minimum.

That alt is pretty low amp for running a winch. It will do but you're gona pull the battery mostly, then if you stall you're sol. I'd run a 100a alt and the bigger the bat the better. If your gona run it in the bed just get one of those big ass 8b truck batteries
I guess part of what I said wasn't clear. Plan would be 2 group 31 deep cycles in the bed, and a group 31 starting battery under the hood. Why? Because I have them already. Otherwise an 8b would be badass, but I'd probably start getting closer to the cost of kitting out the hydraulic system.

I need to get a length of 0/2 for another truck, maybe I should buy enough for 2 trucks, but trying to not spend an arm and a leg if I don't have to
 
I guess part of what I said wasn't clear. Plan would be 2 group 31 deep cycles in the bed, and a group 31 starting battery under the hood. Why? Because I have them already. Otherwise an 8b would be badass, but I'd probably start getting closer to the cost of kitting out the hydraulic system.

I need to get a length of 0/2 for another truck, maybe I should buy enough for 2 trucks, but trying to not spend an arm and a leg if I don't have to
Any mining near you?

We use lots of 2/0 (by the way, it's 2/0 not 0/2, and you say it two-ought) cable for mobile underground stuff. The cable comes in an assembly, called GGC (ground-ground check) and has three 2/0 conductors, two grounds and a #10 ground check wire in it.

It's a little work, but you can strip out the conductors from it and end up with nice wire similar to welding cable.

If you can get some scrap stuff, even if you pay scrap price, it'll be worth it.
 
Any mining near you?

We use lots of 2/0 (by the way, it's 2/0 not 0/2, and you say it two-ought) cable for mobile underground stuff. The cable comes in an assembly, called GGC (ground-ground check) and has three 2/0 conductors, two grounds and a #10 ground check wire in it.

It's a little work, but you can strip out the conductors from it and end up with nice wire similar to welding cable.

If you can get some scrap stuff, even if you pay scrap price, it'll be worth it.

Also, if you dumpster-dive around big factories that do a lot of welding, you can find some 2/0 ground cables that have maybe one cut in the insulation. Worked for a large manufacturer for over a decade. Once OSHA started visiting, we quit taping up the cables. The lazy maintenance men would just toss them in the trash cans when changing them. 15-30 foot long 2/0 copper hitting the dumpster. Usually had 10-15 usable feet with intact jacket.

Wireless is the way to go if you do a lot of winching by yourself. The cheap HF/scamazon/fleabay wireless controls seem to work fine for me, and I've abused them a lot.

X2 on getting a better alternator IF you are planning on winching a lot, and I think a 4ga cable is plenty with either alternator. I think I'd install a 50A circuit breaker in line so you don't pull off the cable, or a switch to shut off the charge circuit while winching with either alternator choice. It's very easy to burn your shit down by building an electrical system to the bare minimum. You end up using everything right at its design limits. You can get away with that intermittently, but eventually, you will get burnt (figuratively and literally).

Let's see some pics of this classic!
 
Terrible pics, phone takes weird pics for some reason.

Just wrapping up the Ford 300 swap. Its a hammered old truck thats been abused all its life

kimg0573-jpg.jpg


kimg0621-jpg.jpg
 
To muddy this even more, tomorrow I'm going to pick up a belt driven hydraulic pump. Was used on a home built plow, but its an Eaton B model pump, which could be rated at 4.5 GPM or 7 GPM, depending on application. $75 with valve and tank, its worth a shot
 
when you hit the winch button it's going to draw from every connected battery.
not just the ones at the back.

you either need to find a way to isolate the rear batteries and limit charging current, or use big boy wires.


I would run bg boy wires and upgrade the alternator so i didn't have to worry about killing bed mounted batteries during use.
 
If you're gona draw heavy off that second battery you need full size wire. 0/2 would be my suggestion. Winches draw 300 minimum.

That alt is pretty low amp for running a winch. It will do but you're gona pull the battery mostly, then if you stall you're sol. I'd run a 100a alt and the bigger the bat the better. If your gona run it in the bed just get one of those big ass 8b truck batteries
I personally would run as large wire as you can afford IE 4/0 WELDING Cable.

Also I have a formula that cable diameter required depends on a few factors.

Draw of load.
Length of wire load to battery.

Using the larger wire takes the math out of the equation.
 
or you could just look up a ampacity chart from any number of the reputable wire dealers online and avoid all the math and the pain in the ass of running wire that's way larger than you need.

fuck running a 4/0 wire down a chassis.
 
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I have other uses for the juice hence why I ran the 4/0 cable down my frame rail.

Wanted it to jump my friends trucks when their shit wont start, its easier to go around front of them abd back up to their truck than try to turn around on a highway and be against the flow of traffic.


ampacity chart

 
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Assuming the winch draws a max of 370 amps, looks like 2/0 should suffice to run front to back
 
I think having winching batteries close to the winch is a good idea, for OP's particular truck.

But if you're going to have separate batteries why bother tieing into the alternator and starting battery with big ass cables? Or if you're going to tie the winch into the starting battery and alternator with big ass cables, why bother having rearward mounted deep cycle winching batteries?

OP, I would do the batteries like you're going to do, and just run a battery isolator with a small (but still appropriately sized) charging wire back to your winching battery bank.
 
I was starting to imagine having a constant duty solenoid that was in the charge circuit, powered on when the keys on, but killed when you hit the winch button, not sure if the cycling of that would kill it, or it the millisecond delay would still overdraw the charge circuit
 
I was starting to imagine having a constant duty solenoid that was in the charge circuit, powered on when the keys on, but killed when you hit the winch button, not sure if the cycling of that would kill it, or it the millisecond delay would still overdraw the charge circuit
the problem there is you're going to be breaking a contact that has probably a shit ton of current going through it.
it's gonna arc and burn up the contacts in the solenoid.

you could do a battery isolator that just remains connected all the time, but meh. You lose voltage to the second batteries and if you run the winch hard and discharge your winch batteries it's gonna take a long time to charge them back up at small amps.
of course you've got a 60A alternator, so i guess that isn't such a big deal, unless you're planning on alternator upgrade.

my unsolicited spend your money on the internet opinion is an upgraded alternator and direct wire, just to save being pissed when you're in the middle of something and the batteries die.
 
the problem there is you're going to be breaking a contact that has probably a shit ton of current going through it.
it's gonna arc and burn up the contacts in the solenoid.

you could do a battery isolator that just remains connected all the time, but meh. You lose voltage to the second batteries and if you run the winch hard and discharge your winch batteries it's gonna take a long time to charge them back up at small amps.
of course you've got a 60A alternator, so i guess that isn't such a big deal, unless you're planning on alternator upgrade.

my unsolicited spend your money on the internet opinion is an upgraded alternator and direct wire, just to save being pissed when you're in the middle of something and the batteries die.
Ok thats what I figured.

And I'll admit you're not wrong. The more $$ I need to dump into the electric winch setup, the more appealing it is to build the hydro system for the mechanical winch. I need more info about mounting an A/C clutch on a Saginaw though and keep coming up short
 
why clutch the pump when you can just run it and dump the pressure through a relief?

yes, less efficient, heating the oil blah blah blah.
tractors do it every day.
put a 5 gallon reservoir where you want to put batteries and send it.
 
Yeah let me add more parasitic drag to this 300 I6:flipoff2:

Just re-checked my numbers, guesstimating the hydro motor I have, a p pump isn't going to generate the pressure wanted anyways, so nevermind I guess :laughing:
 
Yeah let me add more parasitic drag to this 300 I6:flipoff2:

Just re-checked my numbers, guesstimating the hydro motor I have, a p pump isn't going to generate the pressure wanted anyways, so nevermind I guess :laughing:
does it really matter at this point?

it's gonna be slow and underpowered, might as well embrace it for the functionality.
:flipoff2:
 
does it really matter at this point?

it's gonna be slow and underpowered, might as well embrace it for the functionality.
:flipoff2:
I'll take slow, but I don't want underpowered. Worm gear Ramsey electric should pull anything I want with a clapped out military truck as long as I can keep juice to it.
 
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