I have a Featherlite car trailer that has a 2500LB winch mounted to it. Currently, the hitch is powered by a battery that is located in a toolbox mounted to the trailer tongue. The batter is kept charged by a solar panel mounted to the lid of the toolbox. Since the toolbox reduces the turning radius of the truck with the trailer attached, I am looking for a way to ditch the battery/solar panel setup so I can also downsize the toolbox. While I used to tow this trailer behind my Escalade, I now pull it behind my new 2014 F-250 with the upfitter switches. Does anyone have any ideas/pointers for wiring the winch into the truck (using some kind of disconnect) so that I can just power the winch off of the truck battery?

 

HARD decision to get rid of storage,
but can you mount the solar panel elsewhere and mount a much smaller box on the front for the battery, etc.. ?

 

I would prefer to get rid of the battery/solar panel because I would not be operating the winch without the trailer connected to my truck...so would like to just leverage the truck...if possible. I do plan to go to a smaller storage box but if I get rid of the battery, I won't really be losing much storage and right now...storage really is not an issue.

 

See what the the max amp draw is of the winch, run appropriately sized cable from your truck battery to the back and use anderson connectors to connect to the winch.
For instance, the Warn 2.5ci draws 205A at full load, so if it's 15' from the truck battery to the winch you'd want a min of #2 cable, assuming you rarely if ever operate at full load.
If you rarely exceed 1500lb, then you could get away with #4.

 

Holy smokes...that is a lot of current. #2 cable all the way from the battery...may have to rethink what I want to do.

 

My winch is a Chicago brand model 91781. I know I said 2500LB. winch but it is actually rated for 3000LB. The manual says that at a line pull of 3000LB...the current draw is 160 AMPs.

 

That pushes you into 1 ga. wire.

Any room under the nose of the trailer for a battery box, or maybe forward of the axle?

 

Yeah, think I am going to rethink my plan and keep the battery on the trailer.

 

If it is a deck-over, there should be room underneath. If it is a lowboy, consider mounting a battery box forward of the driver side fender.

 

Electric winches require power from a battery to be operational. With proper wiring, power can be provided to the winch through a vehicle battery or through a separate, auxiliary battery that powers the winch only. We can try in this solar power because Solar Battery Storage Output is 4 to 8 kWh usually sufficient for an average four-person home consuming around 4,500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually.

 

Keep the battery on the trailer. But wire it to the charge wire on the 7 way plug. Then the truck will charge it, and can help supply extra power

 

why can’t you make mounting bracket (think of the bracket that some winches have that hold the control box to the top of the winch) to mount to the winch using the bolts that hold the top cross bars to hold the ears down and then weld a over the winch and bolt the box on top of the plate. If you get a box that’s the same dimensions as the winch you can sneak a battery in there and you’ll gain the lost space lost. Plus the mount should be sturdy enough to hold a battery. You can probably easily make that out of some angle iron.

 

I know someone brought up an old post but if he was to ditch the on board winch battery what is he using for the break away brake switch?
I know some use a small battery mounted to the inside of the A frame cant see why he could not make a mount for the large battery to mount inside the A frame, charge it from the truck as pointed out and also use it for the break away brake switch.

I use a 2 speed hand winch on my open deck car trailer for when cars or trucks cant drive on and has worked great whenever I needed it.
I also have a large electrical box on it back I use as a storage box for the tie downs, jack & stands, etc. but it sits on the vary front of the deck where the ramps don't go.
I also have a tire rack that sits above the box. Both the box & rack can be removed if I need to.


Dave ----

 

2500 is a pretty light winch for pulling up cars. just pointing that out. i had one on mine it wouldnt keep up. im going up to a 12k.