Start Battery or Second Battery. (Winch).

[Tonks]

Hello All,

Should a winch be connected to the start battery or the second battery, i think the start battery,

What are your 4s & against and opinions on this,

Cheers Tonks

[97_gq_lwb]

Start battery reasons because i said so lol.

[megatexture]

Starter or have a isolator to loop to the aux (if its not a deep cycle) for occasions like winching

[oncedisturbed]

mine is off a crank battery (prev owner turned it into an aux batt WTF so haven't got round to changing it to a hybrid), crank batt's are usually where they are connected due to the extra OOMPH they put out for the winch, you could also use a hybrid battery Crank / Deep cycle combo which work well

[threedogs]

Winches like CCA or cold cranking amps

Start batteries have cca normally 700

[macca]

Definately start battery, and have the engine running while winching if possible.

Use the hand throttle to hold at 1200 - 1500 rpm. (Advice from my auto electrician).

Not a good idea to link batteries through your isolator as they tend to burn out.

If you want to link batteries use jumper leads or fit a HD switch to join the two of them.

Your winch will work really well if you can keep the volts high.

Thats what I do and it certainly works well for me,

Cheers Macca

[04OFF]

Definately start battery, and have the engine running while winching if possible.

Not a good idea to link batteries through your isolator as they tend to burn out.


Im pretty sure that with most dual battery isolators, if the engine is "running" , the 2 batterys are linked automatically (as is the normal operation of the isolator) anyway Macca.

[macca]

Im pretty sure that with most dual battery isolators, if the engine is "running" , the 2 batterys are linked automatically (as is the normal operation of the isolator) anyway Macca.

Yes you are right under "normal" conditions. There are "smart" systems that voltage sense and straight on / off systems.

When using the winch off the starter it pulls the voltage down and the isolator (if it is a smart type) will be isolated as it thinks the starter needs charging before allowing charge to any other battery.

If it is just an isolator it will in fact link the batteries as you say, the problem then is the isolating solonoid may be asked to pass a very high current / amps.
In that situation the amps = heat = damage.
They are generally rated at 200amps which is very good, if they are in good condition it may be OK for a quick winch job.

To get around that problem, link the batteries as posted above and you will have 2 batteries doing the work and reduce the risk of damaging the system you have for isolating dual battery setups.

Cheers Macca