Stinker, that's all fine and dandy, but there's one little thing, the incline onto the trailer, yes you need to factor that in. Also, is there more rolling resistance at one point in this trailers life (what good is it if you can't winch a broken rig up right?)
And the relay? It's made for that application. It won't "give" because when it's not charging it's isolated.

 

, do you know what a treshold is? it's only a 40 A relay. Because it is isolated it will be fried.
it will be ok if disconnected.when winching.


didn't I factor in that incline in the second line?
as above mentioned...
you also can calulate the inclination of the ramp with:
towed vehicle weight divided by 60 and multiplied by the inclination in degrees.

I guess having a winch on a trailer is very dandy and I'm super jealous because I sweated my butt several times off with those lousy hand winches...

 

OK, I give, you are absolutly right and I haven't seen it done.

I think you're missing the point of that link. He would want to look into something like that to keep from overcharging his batteries when hooked to the plug on the truck. Kind of like charging my camp trailer batteries when I'm driving on a trip.

 

I understand- he won't "overcharge" his battery since the battery itself regulates the current. the so called "battery regulator" only adjust voltage. if he has a powerful battery installed and the battery is discharged the max capacity of the insulator can be reached pretty quick since it has only 40 A.

I do have a secondary battery which is also seperated via an insulator. Max current is 160A according to the generator.
Now think of the following situation:

Secondary battery drained. Starter primary battery full. Where does the current go? Right- into the rear secondary battery. if it is a good battery, the battery will take all current it can get. Now- about a ittybitty above 100A are floating over a 40 A relay. Can you imagine what happens to a relay when 3 times the nominal current rating flows across that relay?

Burn baby, burn...

 

Wow guys... All I wanted was to know if there was a wiring kit to run a seperate battery that can be charged from the 7-pin plug that will power a winch for short pulls and a breakaway set-up. That's it.

I appreciate the rolling resistance figures. It was very interesting. I'm not worried about the winch. I'm worried about the wiring. I get the mechanics of winching as I have been wheeling hard core for the last 10 years or so in the PNW. Every winch pull is multi angle and usually you are winching up a 6' rock face after some Jeep broke a knuckle off. I get rolling (or dragging) resistance.

From the sounds of it, I will just build quick disconnects to go from the winch to my aux batt on the Dodge and not worry about a breakaway. Like I said before, not too worried about the pintle coming loose.

 

Just make sure your wires are thick enough to prevent unwanted voltage drop- that may be your only concern.

 

I had a little 3k utility winch mounted in my bed... saved my but quite a few times. used to to load heavy stuff into the bed, used it to winch dead cars and trucks onto dollies or trailers, full size trucks it struggled with, if you have smooth ramps you can probably get by but if they are construction types it won't do it.

personally I would look for a breakaway kit just for the charging setup and hook it to a bigger batt. or look for one of the dual battery controllers and just extend the wires back.

if you ONLY want to send charge power to the battery a high current diode in the + wire after the trailer plug will isolate it from sending power back, *but* there is no feedback on charge level so there is the possibility of over charging.


here ya go!
http://www.race-mart.com/items/produ...007-detail.htm

http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Brea...ins/20011.html

just jumper out a breakaway switch (or add one it's simple!) but for under 20 bux it will keep the battery charged when your hooked up.

 

Bud there's a spot on the 7 pin plug for a hot wire, just put your battery on your trailer and attach a good ground cable to the trailer frame. Hook your breakaway,and winch to the battery and run the hot wire from the 7 pin to your battery to charge it. I guess you could run a ground from the 7 pin to the battery too if you wanted but I don't think it's necessary. I ran mine like this with no problems, if I did a lot of winchin and not much driving I would throw a charger on the trailer battery for a couple hours, I guess one of those solar trickle chargers would be ideal also.

 

I ran a cable to the back of my truck and attached it to jumper posts like you see on race cars and put clamps on my winch. 20 bucks for posts and for that small of a winch, cable should put your total cost around the cost of a battery. Never needs recharged or replaced. Just get a amp draw chart and get big enough wire. I also have my winch on plate for a 2 inch reciever. Works on my truck or trailer.

 

Thats cool, still need a battery for the breakaway though