Power Winch

[JimS123]

Looking for a light duty 12V electric winch that can be powered by a cable with a "cigarette lighter type" plug. Is there such a thing?

 

[bruceb58]

Not a chance. Even with no load, those things are going to draw 10A..with a load, over 30A.

 

[JimS123]

The Master Lock winch I just googled showed 4-6 amps, with 20 amps at load. My power outlets are good for 20 amps. Probably too close.

 

[fhhuber]

Want too much from a typical lighter plug...

But there are relatively inexpensive winches with battery clips that hang on your trailer hitch ball.

 

[bonz_d]

Thought I had one but my 13 year old grandson just moved back south. dang it!

Sorry I couldn't resist. :embarassed: :facepalm: :lol:

 

[MH Hawker]

Thought I had one but my 13 year old grandson just moved back south. dang it!

Sorry I couldn't resist. :embarassed: :facepalm: :lol:

if he is like mine the grocery cost will kill you :lol::lol:

 

[SkaterRace]

I have one that I was planning to use but it draws 30 amps and I don't have a single use for that so it has to go.

 

[JimS123]

Thought I had one but my 13 year old grandson just moved back south. dang it!

Sorry I couldn't resist. :embarassed: :facepalm: :lol:

Is he 12 volts?

 

[bonz_d]

Don't know about 12V but he is fully charged!

 

[CraigBarnard]

I had a small electric winch on mine and used a booster pack to power it up.
I found however it was not that practical.
Ended up moving it to my cargo trailer and put a hand crank back on the boat trailer.
For the 30 seconds it takes to load the boat it just wasnt worth it.

 

[airshot]

Honestly I haven't seen any cig liter sockets that will hold up to 20 amps for more than just a second. I have seen many fry at 15 amps. Personally I would trust anything at 10 amps or above for a cig socket. You could easily add heavy wires to a plug at the rear of you vehicle to "plug" in your winch then unplug and put away, I have seen that many times at the ramp, actually considering it for my 22' boat.

 

[SkaterRace]

airshot has the right idea only thing to think about is weather you have a 30 A fuse to connect to.

 

[H20Rat]

airshot has the right idea only thing to think about is weather you have a 30 A fuse to connect to.

If you are going down the route of a plug in the back, it is best to run fairly heavy gauge wire directly to the battery and fuse it up there. I'd never try pulling a 30 amp feed off the existing vehicle fuse box, way too much to go wrong and $$$ to repair.

There are wire gauge calculators where you tell it the amps, and the distance, and it spits out the minimum wire size. (it will most likely be substantially larger than what seems to be needed, but voltage drop at 12v is pretty bad.)

 

[SkaterRace]

If you are going down the route of a plug in the back, it is best to run fairly heavy gauge wire directly to the battery and fuse it up there. I'd never try pulling a 30 amp feed off the existing vehicle fuse box, way too much to go wrong and $$$ to repair.

There are wire gauge calculators where you tell it the amps, and the distance, and it spits out the minimum wire size. (it will most likely be substantially larger than what seems to be needed, but voltage drop at 12v is pretty bad.)

If you car has a 30 AMP fuse use it that is what they are made for. Otherwise yes your only other option is to run it to the battery.

 

[airshot]

If you run it directly to the battery add a 30 amp inline fuse. I would not trust using the circuitry already in the car unless you know for a fact that you have a 30 amp fuse with nothing connected to it. In my opinion I would run my own wires of proper gage and add an inline fuse.

 

[JimS123]

Its just as I figured - even the small ones take too much power. This is just for a little fishing boat, to make things a little easier when I retreive alone on wavy days, using my daily driver SUV. Not worth the trouble to run wires.

If I get that old and feeble I'll just use my main towcar that is already hard wired for a Powerwinch.

Thanks to all for the comments...

 

[bonz_d]

Its just as I figured - even the small ones take too much power. This is just for a little fishing boat, to make things a little easier when I retreive alone on wavy days, using my daily driver SUV. Not worth the trouble to run wires.

If I get that old and feeble I'll just use my main towcar that is already hard wired for a Powerwinch.

Thanks to all for the comments...

Jim, I can relate. As I've stated many times in this forum, I use an unimproved ramp that doesn't even have a pier. So yes when the wind get blowing it gets tuff sometimes. And I certainly am not getting any younger!!

 

[SkaterRace]

Jim, I can relate. As I've stated many times in this forum, I use an unimproved ramp that doesn't even have a pier. So yes when the wind get blowing it gets tuff sometimes. And I certainly am not getting any younger!!

You might not be young but you have more knowledge than us young ones that are still learning a lot.

 

[airshot]

Been thinking about this thread, as I stated before I have been giving thought to a power winch myself, I am not getting any younger and my 22' boat is not getting any lighter, however the ramps do appear to being getting steeper! I have an extra deep cycle battery I use for my power lawn sprayer as the motorcycle battery in my utv is not enough power, so....I could just slide the extra deep cycle battery in the back of my suv and run the winch cables directly to that battery. Hmmmm....how much winch do I need for a 2500 lb boat? Will a 2000lb winch pull a 2500lb boat up a trailer?

 

[JimS123]

My family boat's trailer has a powerwinch 712 on it. The boat weighs 2300 and it has worked effortlessly for 32 years now. I would recommend that model for you. I know there are other brands (some say better), but I'm a happy customer of PW.

I ran the wire / breaker that came with it from the battery, thru the firewall and under the carpet to the trunk of my dedicated towcar. I guess you could use a second battery, but seems like a waste to me since the car already has one.

My winch is also bolted on with a QD fittings and I store it in the trunk at the ramp. No sense to tempt fate.