I need to get a battery for my 18ft trailer with an older Warn winch on it. Some people have told me to get a deep cycle battery and others have said to get a regular heavy duty one. I will be loading a 39 Pontiac 4dr sedan on the trailer. What do you all recommend?
One time or dedicated to the trailer . I would get a deep cycle, and a battery tender if it was going to live there, just because of the drain cycle, but have used both. Now I use whatever has 12 volts . I have been using the Tiny battery out of my wife's 2003 Civic the last few times, and just put it back in the car when I get home and run the car to charge it
Deep cycle definitely better than a starting battery. They are designed to stand up to repeated deep discharge.
Most of the time my trailer sits un used and the batery needs to be remover and put on a trickle charge, Ive been thinking that a good jump box would be just fine to operate the winch on the occasions that I need to use it and be handy for other things when I don't need the trailer.
I have a deep cycle battery in my enclosed car trailer. I also have a battery isolater that is hooked to the charge wire going thru the trailer plug to the tow rig. When it is setting at home I keep a battery maintainer on it. Works great. Dave
I used a dedicated single wire from my truck battery. I have a large single post connector at the rear of the truck that just plugs into to trailer winch. I usually let the truck running while I am using the winch. I use this on several trailers, so it saves on battery expense.
If you have a 7 pin trailer hook up, there will be a wire for charging while the tow vehicle is running. Our work trailer also has a stand alone plug in trickle charger as well as a solar powered charger, the battery is always ready to go. A deep cycle battery will stand up to the abuse better than a standard heavy duty labeled one.
I use deep cycle batteries for my winch. The idea behind them is extended use, like all the time needed to winch a car on and off. I've never used a tender, I charge it overnight now and then, and always a long low amp soak, nothing over about 12. The current one (no pun intended) is 7 or 8 yrs old, still strong. Pulled a Packard Sedan up in there in October. It doesn't charge off the truck. Michigan winters are tuff, but as long as a battery has a charge it won't freeze. Sometimes I "excite" the battery by turning on the inside lights for a minute or 2. Yes, I recommend a deep cycle too.
I also do NOT use batteries on either trailer. Since both my transporting trucks are diesels with dual batteries I just ran a number 2 cable from the batteries back to the rear bumper of each truck with a 175 amp marine/NASCAR plug under the bumper (as shown below) the plugs are the same on both trucks & both trailers, so it does not matter which combination I am using. Doing it this way once is so much easier than messing with a battery in or on the trailers, removing, charging, etc,etc. God Bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
I use a deep cycle battery on my hydraulic tilt trailer and a battery tender. The winch is in a cross bed tool box and I used the NASCAR plugs like Bill showed to attach the winch to the battery. I also made an extra long set of jumper cables that can also be plugged into the battery instead of the winch.
I have an old Sears mechanical winch on my car trailer. Never needs a battery. And I only lost the crank once, I learned that lesson pretty quickly. Big bonus is that it takes work to load a car that can't drive up on the trailer itself, reducing my desire to haul even more useless crap home.
15 year old normal car battery that I thought was duff but wasn’t and an Anderson plug. I charge it after a few race meets and it’s still ok. I swapped from a manual winch after breaking both hands and shattering my arm in the winch. Wish I’d got an electric one sooner.
I extended the leads that came with my little $89 portable winch so I can just pop the pickup hood and attach them while staying hooked to the trailer. When finished, everything unhooks and goes into the storage box on the toung until I need it again.
When I had my 40 ft enclosed trailer and I had a winch to help load my display chassis on the second level and I just had a red top Optima and I charged it in the spring and by he time I got to my 8th show it was slowing down. I just put a Dutton winch in my 20ft trailer and this time I used a yellow top. I will rarely use it in this trailer so it'll probably need a boost occasionally? I tried hard wiring them in to the pickup a couple times but when you trade every 2 years that was not in my mind a economical idea.
I don’t use my trailer/winch often so I just use a small garden tractor battery. I have a battery box mounted on the trailer and the battery is connected to the threaded studs with wing nuts. The light battery when not in use is stored in the shop and hooked up to a Battery Tender when I know I’m going to use it or I think about it.
The problem with a common "wet cell" battery is that when it becomes deeply discharged they seem to never recover their full capacity no matter how much you charge them or leave them on a trickle charger. An AGM battery can be completely discharged and brought back to capacity hundreds of times......and you can also use them in your car/truck. You should purchase a "smart charger" (bout $70+ off Amazon) instead of a trickle charger. They recondition batterys and repair cycle them while charging. Be sure you get one that does AGM batteries. They also work well on wet cell batterys if they are not too far gone. You sometimes have to use a regular old style charger to bring a wet cell up to the point that the smart charger can be employed.....then the smart charger will make them better...but they will never be as good as new. Get the AGM style and it will last and be a multible use battery. I even bought one and put it in my mower so i didn't have to keep replacing mower batteries and constantly charging them. Put a bigger AGM car battery in it and all is good..........plus I got a warranty thats longer than the drive home. Think Costco..... Edit: One other point.......remember that a battery being used to power a winch can become completely discharged while using it, not just while sitting on your garage shelf. Once completely discharged a wet cell will lose power and longivity no matter how much you charge it.
ouch! Somehow I've never done that in the 25+ years I've been using mine. I did add a brake to it, which helps...the band brake that fits around a mini bike clutch, I fit it around the ring gear. Helps slow it down when letting a car down the ramps.
Winch motors are essentially the same as starter motors. High current draw. Deep cycle batteries are designed for applications like trolling motors or RV use. Low draw, but for extended run times. My battery of choice for the trailer winch is a regular car cranking battery, preferably an agm if buying new. Mostly I just grab a freshly charged used battery from the stash. I don’t winch enough anymore to store a battery on the trailer.
28 years using manual winches for me. It was the brake I was going for when I put my arms in the spinning bits!!
My enclosed 24' has a deep cycle battery and solar charger with a maintainer/controller, never been flat in 3 years now. Powers an array of LED lights, tongue jack and Warn winch.
Thanks for the warning. I have a wingnut on the brake to adjust the tension, so it's "on" all the time, just not very much drag on it. I'm really careful to set up the trailer so as not let a car roll very far.
I'm also a solar panel, charge controller and AGM battery user. None of that is traditional, but it works a treat.
Just a low cost NAPA battery, and one of those battery extenders. It's 8 or 10 years old, sort of lost track of when I bought it. It's still working, and that's all that matters to me.
End of Sept I had to come along a Packard Sedan into a trailer with no winch. Slow go, but couldn't push it. Asked one of the pals to take over, "Here, your turn, it's like jackin off a spider..."
Best thing I did for my car trailer was putting an electric winch on it. Mine slips into a 2 inch receiver mounted on trailer. Winch is an old one a 4x4 friend gave me that needed an easy cleanup and new switch. I power it with a spare used car battery. Either one temporarily borrowed out of a car, or a used one that's available. Once done loading I put the battery and winch into the truck.
get a solar battery tender and mount it you will allways have a hot battery fabricator john miss you dad ps if its an enclosed trailer get the harbor freight solar security light , mount it inside , solar panel on outside as soon as ya open the door ,,lights
I use group 31 truck batteries for my winches. 1000 cca. Harbor fright 20 dollar solar charger.. Alway charged... Ready for work... Dave
I'd say the answer you want is right there although there were a lot of good answers. Right now I don't use the winch on my trailer enough times a year to justify buying and keeping a dedicated battery up. I just pull a good battery out of another rig on the place and stick it on the trailer and then put it back in the rig when done. Troublesome yes but I have used that winch twice in the five years I have had it on the trailer. If I was using it more often it would have a deep cycle battery. Which reminds me It is time to do the round of charging batteries in rigs that don't get used much again.
Thanks for all the replies. I have an 18ft open trailer with a tongue mounted tool box that house the winch. I bought the trailer from my best friends wife after he passed about 3 years ago and have only used it two or three times since I got it. I only have one spare 12 volt battery and it is about 5 years old. But, I only have to load the 39 Pontiac to deliver it to the new owners shop. Maybe the old 12 volt will hold up long enough to do the job.
Read what the winch manufacturer recommends - which is to place the battery as close as possible to the winch: I have been transporting vehicles year round since 2006 and no one I know runs cable from their truck battery(s} to their trailer winch. They buy a deep cycle or marine battery and put it in or on the trailer in a battery box and it charges from the 12VDC power supply run thru the 7 way towing cord from the dedicated lead on the tow vehicle. If you do not use your 12VDC winch daily - you can remove the battery for storage and theft prevention. Look at any 12VDC Charger … The AC inverter has a short cord. The 12VDC leads are not 20 feet long. Look under the hood of your tow vehicle. The alternator/generator is not 20 feet from the battery. Your tow vehicle has a 12VDC charging system engineered and designed to keep the battery charged during normal operation. A properly equipped tow vehicle has a dedicated 12VDC charge line as part of the OEM wiring harness ran to the rear of the vehicle to a 7 way male outlet. This dedicated 12VDC circuit is intended to charge a separate 12VDC battery that feeds required loads like an electric trailer jack or trailer interior lighting or an electric winch. Jim
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