Electric winch

[Dodger1234]

I was thinking of installing an electric winch onto my boat trailer. All the marine winches come with the 15' cord to attach to your battery for power. I was thinking that can I not install a trailer plug and the just plug it in at the back of the truck instead of running 15' of cable to the battery??
Dodger1234.

 

[JB]

Re: Electric winch

That sounds logical. If you have a 5,6 or 7 pin plug on the truck you can simply get +12V from that, BUT:

The +12V circuit in the trailer plug has to be able to supply all of the current the winch wants. Typically the +12V pin in the truck socket is fused and wired to supply electric brakes only, far less than an electric winch would draw.

There is no reason you couldn't add a battery to truck socket circuit with big enough wire and fused for electric winch duty. My guess is that you would need to supply about 50 amps for a typical winch. That is only a guess. You would need to determine the winch current draw.

 

[Dodger1234]

Re: Electric winch

Thanks JB.
Dodger1234

 

[HONKER1]

Re: Electric winch

I had the same thought about a electric winch for the boat trailer, but I was going to add a plug-in that was part of the boat battery system. Just my 2-cent

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Electric winch

i have an electric jack on my trailer. what we did was run a dedicated pos and neg directly off the Surburban battery, using a 50 amp, trolling motor fuse at the battery. the 7 prong plug has 2 large post, use one to the pos, and one for the ground, tying all the ground to the one post. if we wanted to add an electric winch, it would just splice into these 2 lines on the trailer.

 

[Dodger1234]

Re: Electric winch

Thanks tashasdaddy, I think I will give it a go and hook this up during the winter. I'm from Canada so this will give me lot's of time to work on it.
Dodger1234

 

[waterone1@aol.com]

Re: Electric winch

As usual, the devil is in the details. What is the maximum current the winch can draw ? You need to make sure that all connections along the way can support this maximum current draw. Your trailer connection may not be able to supply this much amperage.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Electric winch

that's why you run a dedicate service just for the winch.

 

[gss036]

Re: Electric winch

You will need to run at least a #8 wire w/the 50 amp fuse. The winch pulls a lot of amps when running. I have had a winch on my trailer for the past 20 years and 2 trucks wired for it. If you are getting close to the max weight/pull for the winch you should be using a snatch block. I burnt out my whinch when I first got it and sent it back for a rebuild under warranty. Be fore the winch arrived back at my house, a shop foremen called me and asked if I were using the snatch block, told him no, that I was not quite over the weight requirements for the winch. He told me that if I expected any long gievity(?sp) from the winch I should be using the snatch block. I followed his advise and the winch has lasted 18 years now. Yeh! it is slower and the guys at the ramp look at you weird, for backing up the loading line, but it still does the job.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Electric winch

that is exactly what i have on the surburban, use a 50amp trolling motor breaker at the battery terminal.

 

[Dodger1234]

Re: Electric winch

Good feedback fellas, thanks a ton. I only have a 14' boat but the reason for the winch is that 90% of the time I'm by myself and on a prairie lake trying to load the boat with a side wind is a test of patience.
Dodger1234