12v winch

[Wiliam HensonParticipant @wiliamhenson14652]

Hi

I am thinking of buying a 12v winch to wind my 3" traction engine into it's trailer but can't find any info as to how big a battery I need. Anybody any ideas please

Bill

[Wiliam HensonParticipant @wiliamhenson14652]

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Have a look through the Warn site they give minimum battery requirements for all their winches

**LINK**

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

I use the battery on my car to winch my 3" Burrell onto it trailer !

Cheers H

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I have a similar winch, just use the car battery, but with the engine running.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Bill,

I have a 2000lb pull winch I use to haul my Petrol stationary engines into my trailer which is also up a steepish ramp, I have been using an old gel battery which used to be used on my wife's electric scooter, I changed my wife's scooter batteries about four years ago and its only recently that I had to scrap them.

My largest engine is a tank cooled Lister L which is no light weight.

Martin P

Edited By martin perman on 26/11/2014 12:08:56

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

I use a separate battery which is carried in the trailer,and keep it regularly charged with one of the small modern battery chargers,I would not use my towing vehicles battery as modern motor vehicles electrics/electronic are so complicated,expensive and all to easily damaged.One suggestion is to use a battery of the same type size and spec as your cars battery,so should your cars battery fail either on the road or at home you can swap the trailer battery onto your car and get you out of trouble. On my big trailer winch which needed a large battery I use the same battery as the one fitted to my tractor,so effectively I have a spare battery which can fitted to winch or tractor should one fail. Be careful when buying a winch ,look at the line speed specification,if the line speed is high your engine will whizz up into the trailer like a rocket. For a 3 inch model why not consider a geared hand winch,very reliable,no flat batteries , cheap. I have used hand winches to load stationary engines for 40 years weighing from 4cwt to 27 cwt with my wife winding the handle and me guiding the engine ,though now with us both now past 70 an electric winch may become necessary on the half ton engines. When I had a 2 ton 6 inch Burrell an electric winch was essential ,though when you get to this size the winch needs to be well over rated for the job, Also look into the synthetic winch cord which is a strong as steel and expensive but sits on the winch drum without springing and uncoiling and no sharp wire ends.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Speed should not be a problem if the winch comes with a pulley block with a hook attached, you pass the winch cable through the pulley block and anchor the winch hook back onto a secure point on the trailer, you then take the pulley block to the load, this then allows the winch to work up to its max pull and halves the winch speed allowing a slower controlled pull.

Martin P

Edited By martin perman on 26/11/2014 15:08:08

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

I kept first 1st post brief to suggest a car battery would be fine, but I to use a car battery which I keep in the boot i find this I don't have to 'pop' the bonnet, stretch the leads so far and I also use it to run my steam raising fan.

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

If you are going to use a seperate battery consider fitting one of those "split charge" devices, as used by caravan owners.

[Wiliam HensonParticipant @wiliamhenson14652]

Thanks for all the comments, tomorrow I'm going to a trailer place to see what they have in winches

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

William,

May I suggest you look at the internet as well as the price of winch's at trailer stockists can be very expensive.

Martin P

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