Powering an electric winch

[Pikey Dave]

As the title says.

I have recently acquired a Dutton Lainson TW9000 electric trailer winch to fit as a winter project. The winch comes with a loom to fit to the vehicle to provide a supply direct from the vehicle battery, I'm not particularly comfortable with this for various reasons:-

1. I don't want heavy cables running the length of the Disco connected directly to the battery, this is asking for trouble.
2. Unless I put an isolator in 1 above, I have a permanent live which will cause allsorts of corrosion issues.

I'm leaning towards a dedicated battery mounted close to the winch on the trailer, charged from the towing electrics. I'm toying with a waterproof box (Stainless naturally) sealed, with a vent pipe brought up to high level. Integral IP68 isolator.

Discuss

[A1an]

Don't forget to pop an electric fence energiser unit inside the battery box, a shocking surprise for any would be thief trying to steal that stainless work of art while you're at sea.

[HDAV]

Vented battery? Suggest glass mat battery charging off trailer socket is good idea I happen to know where you can get IP rated while unmated connectors not cheap ( most are only ip rated when mated)

[ShinyShoe]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

[*]I don't want heavy cables running the length of the Disco connected directly to the battery, this is asking for trouble.

70AMP - ouch..
that'll sting if you have a short!

[*]Unless I put an isolator in 1 above, I have a permanent live which will cause allsorts of corrosion issues.

At least it wouldn't need to be a IP68 depending where you put it.

I'm leaning towards a dedicated battery mounted close to the winch on the trailer, charged from the towing electrics. I'm toying with a waterproof box (Stainless naturally) sealed, with a vent pipe brought up to high level. Integral IP68 isolator.

Mmmm...

How easy is it to make a stainless box thats IP68. Will the box not flex when under water and so distort the seal?

How tall do you vent the pipe... If spray gets in the pipe will the water sit in the bottom as not drained?

[mick]

Originally Posted by shinyshoe

70amp - ouch..

That'll sting if you have a short!



At least it wouldn't need to be a ip68 depending where you put it.



Mmmm...



How easy is it to make a stainless box thats ip68. Will the box not flex when under water and so distort the seal?



How tall do you vent the pipe... If spray gets in the pipe will the water sit in the bottom as not drained?

eh !!!

[mick]

I've had a sealed Gel battery on the tintent with plenty of umph works the motor mover with ease 13 YO now

[Xk59D]

i was just going to put a battery in boot and charge it from a cig lighter charger in boot (under 5 amps) when underway and leave it on a trickle at home. doing this is the same as 14pin electrics in terms of charge current.

if you have the room then leaving it in the boot with a charge controller relay is also another option ofcourse.

granted it is another thing to forget though but i was worried about it looking very attractive to wanna be scum bags. winch can be off in seconds with couple of spanners and so could a battery box.

[Jeff]

Hi Dave ,,,, like your idea of a 'sealed' trailer mounted battery box assuming the nose weight change won't cause you too much work balancing that super smart trailer. It also solves the problem of recovery anywhere where you have to use a 3rd party tractor and your power is on your own vehicle in the car park! Probably not an issue with a disco though :-)
To be fair, mine is run front to back through he chassis on my XC70 and I have left trust in the fuseable links DL supply in case of shorting. No issues over 5 years with cable corrosion. I was mildly miffed when Volvo moved the battery from the boot to the engine compartment in 2008. My first one was ace to install with a 18" long run to the Anderson !
You could probably pay for the cost of your winch by selling your stainless trailer mounted battery boxes 😊

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by A1an

Don't forget to pop an electric fence energiser unit inside the battery box, a shocking surprise for any would be thief trying to steal that stainless work of art while you're at sea.

I'm liking that, a lot......Hmmm👍

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by HDAV

Vented battery? Suggest glass mat battery charging off trailer socket is good idea I happen to know where you can get IP rated while unmated connectors not cheap ( most are only ip rated when mated)

I'm probably going to fit one of these inside a custom built S/steel box. I was thinking about a Bulgin plug & bulkhead socket fitted to the box to allow on/off vehicle charging. I'd be interested in a link to the connectors you mentioned. 99% of the time, the winch end of the trailer never gets near the water. It's only if we have a tricky recovery or launch at Ty Calch with the tractor do we get up to the drawbar.

[hadd]

Dave we have these fitted to the rear of all the wagons at work for jump starting it would work with a winch I'd fit a plug on the winch post & one in the boot of car & just make a long lead with male connectors on 👍https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/f.../img/jsp_l.jpg

[Pikey Dave]

The winch comes with a set of the mini version of those Andy. I wanted to make the trailer independent of the vehicle if I could, I'm thinking about the future & the possibility of towing with a camper.

[mick]

I would do away with the ss box for your lights, fabricate a new box to take the battery and junction box for lights fix a 10 pole Bulgin socket on it, swap the Disco to a 13 pin set up , make a lead from 13 pin to 10 pin. Job done

[mick]

Can you fit a remote to it Dave that would be well handy

[Chris Caton]

done a similar job a few years back, had a trailer mounted crane for rally recovery fitted with a 12v Superwinch Huskey winch, battery was mounted on the trailer, but in a galvanised box (top quality from machine mart ) worked great, dragged many a rally car out of a ditch just one comment to make re the charging supply from the car, I used the standard 12N & 12S sockets as per a caravan etc, but I fitted a relay in the charging supply to disconnect the supply while winching, otherwise it just blows the fuse in the car

[Xk59D]

You can fit a remote on any winch if you don't mind a bit of basic wiring.

If/when I get the tw9000 it will defo be getting a remote.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by mick

I would do away with the ss box for your lights, fabricate a new box to take the battery and junction box for lights fix a 10 pole Bulgin socket on it, swap the Disco to a 13 pin set up , make a lead from 13 pin to 10 pin. Job done

No need to do away with the lighting J box. I already have the 13 core coming in to the box. All I need to do is put another gland in the j/box & bring out the charging circuit to a Bulgin 2 pin plug. Put a Bulgin bulkhead fitting on the battery box, job done. I can then plug an external battery charger into the same bulging socket at home.

Chris, good call on the relay. I'm thinking about putting a solenoid in the battery box to act as an isolator. I'd put an E/stop button on the outside of the battery box wired into the coil of the solenoid. Knock the E/stop in & the winch is isolated. It'd be easy enough to put some auxiliary contacts in, that isolated the charging circuit when the winch is powered up.

I still cant get Alan's idea re. the electric fence controller out o' ma heed

[mick]

Originally Posted by Chris Caton

done a similar job a few years back, had a trailer mounted crane for rally recovery fitted with a 12v Superwinch Huskey winch, battery was mounted on the trailer, but in a galvanised box (top quality from machine mart ) worked great, dragged many a rally car out of a ditch just one comment to make re the charging supply from the car, I used the standard 12N & 12S sockets as per a caravan etc, but I fitted a relay in the charging supply to disconnect the supply while winching, otherwise it just blows the fuse in the car

Now them Huskys are a proper winch 😁

[mick]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

No need to do away with the lighting J box. I already have the 13 core coming in to the box. All I need to do is put another gland in the j/box & bring out the charging circuit to a Bulgin 2 pin plug. Put a Bulgin bulkhead fitting on the battery box, job done. I can then plug an external battery charger into the same bulging socket at home.

Chris, good call on the relay. I'm thinking about putting a solenoid in the battery box to act as an isolator. I'd put an E/stop button on the outside of the battery box wired into the coil of the solenoid. Knock the E/stop in & the winch is isolated. It'd be easy enough to put some auxiliary contacts in, that isolated the charging circuit when the winch is powered up.

I still cant get Alan's idea re. the electric fence controller out o' ma heed

Was just thinking of neat & tidy

[Chris Caton]

Originally Posted by mick

Now them Huskys are a proper winch 😁

them Huskys are great winches Mick, mine have done excellent work for donkeys years, but I've recently turned to the dark side, got a warn zeon on the 90 now, did the business last weekend