dual battery wont run winch

[stickygq]

ive hooked my winch up to my auxillary battery and when i wind the winch in, the winch dies in the arse. the battery isolater is clicking in and out each time i press the wind switch aswell. I tested it on my starting battery and it works fine, is it my 2nd battery thats rooted or is it in my dual battery set up????

[PBBIZ2]

Sounds like the battery to me. The dual battery system only handles the isolation of the battery. It could only be a part of the problem if it isn't allowing the battery to charge. Sounds like the switching is happening, just not enough juice in the battery. Is the second battery charged fully? Is there a dirty earth connection when you connect to the second battery but a different earth when you connect to the crank battery? Start with the simple stuff.
Hope this helps.

[T_Diesel]

It's because you should be winching off your cranking battery and not your Aux battery. Aux batteries are generally deep cycle which are designed to handle a low current drain over a long period of time (ie for fridges and 12 volt lights which draw around 5 amps).

A winch draws a massive current (ie 200 amps) over a short period of time, hence why you should be connecting your winch up to a battery that has a 700 - 800 cold cranking amps as a minimum.

There is probably nothing wrong with your aux battery other than that it is probably a deep cycle, and not designed to be put under a huge current draw such as a winch.

[PBBIZ2]

If the aux is a deep cycle, which makes sense I agree 100% with T diesel, didn't pick that up.

[Thylacine]

All depends upon the set-up.
Many vehicles run dual-batteries solely to winch, others solely for power, and some (like me) who do both.
Your auxilliary battery needs to fit the purpose (as does your dual-battery system) it's used for: basically cranking, deep-cycle, or hybrid (respectively) for the uses above.
Your problem would appear (initially) to be your dual-battery system.
Winches can pull well in excess of 400ADC, half of which your auxilliary battery is trying to supply via your dual-battery connector (which I'd guess is rated around the 100ADC mark).
So you really need do decide exactly what you want from your dual-battery syatem.
I'd recommend either running the winch from your main battery only (with an interlock to isolate your dual-battery system once operated), or preferably, re-thinking the whole set-up.



ed

[79DieselLandcruiser]

I had the same problem. My set up was one of the smart solenoids. It cuts in at 13.4 volts to charge the second battery. When i hit the winch the primary battery went to about 11vdc drawing 270 amps on a single line pull. As i had the arb smart solenoid it had a terminal which you can wire in an override switch to join the two batteries. problem solved.

You do need to make sure that both batteries are of the same capacity as you might get a circulating current between both batteries which would take available power away from the winch

[Thylacine]

You do need to make sure that both batteries are of the same capacity as you might get a circulating current between both batteries which would take available power away from the winch

Care to explain what you mean by this?
Sounds suspiciously like another myth.



ed

[-Scott-]

You do need to make sure that both batteries are of the same capacity as you might get a circulating current between both batteries which would take available power away from the winch

Care to explain what you mean by this?
Sounds suspiciously like another myth.



ed

I agree.

[melcor]

we've had this problem at work with the pre wired ergon vehicles..with the winch pulling from the aux battery the vsr cuts the link between the batteries which also isolates the aux system from the altenator.. aux battery depleats very quickly..also we've found we have to run the earth directly back to the battery as the chassis earth doesnt seem to be up to sratch with the newer vehicles..