powering a 12v 1HP winch

[Jim Elbrecht]

I picked up a winch that I'll be using to pull dirt out of my basement. So now I need to power it.

It is a one horse motor- 2000lb capacity.

I'll be using it to pull a [roughly] 300pound load up a wheeled incline for 20 feet--- then it will rest for 30 minutes or so-- then repeat. Probably not more than 3 times. . . then do it again tomorrow.

So I won't be working the thing real hard. What are some thoughts on how to power it.

I've thought of a marine battery- and trickle charge overnight. I have the charger. Would have to buy the battery.

I've thought of a transformer. Have no idea what size or what they cost.

I've got an old riding mower with a bad transmission. Seems like overkill, but it has a good 8hp motor on it, and charges the little battery - so I think I could just run it off that battery when the motor is running.

Or I could pull the Impala around to the side of the house and tap into that 12v system.

What sounds like a feasible plan?

Thanks, Jim

[AZ Nomad]

Expect to pay $70-$140 for a battery charger and another $30 for a battery unless you've already got them laying about. Plus ramp and bucket.

It would probably make more sense to get day labor instead of riging up the contraption.

[Eric in North TX]

I don't see why the lawnmower idea wouldn't work. It has the advantage of already being there & if an ATV is expected to support it, a riding lawnmower should. You should only need to run the engine while pulling and maybe a little before or after to have a bit of reserve. If I had to risk a charging system, a mower with a bad trans would be a better target than the Impala.

[tnom]

The battery is not cheap

Transformers are not 12vdc

Not powerful enough for a 1hp winch

The Impala sounds best. A 1hp winch motor is not 100% efficient. You may draw more than 100 amps.

[dpb]

Jim Elbrecht wrote: ...

...

1HP @ 12VDC --> 60+ A

Try the mower battery and see but you'll need a good set of cables. Don't recall what those little 1U batteries are typically rated for...

--

[JIMMIE]

An electic winch wouldnt have been my first choice. I am guessing

300lbs of dirt + 100 lbs for the container up a 45 degree slope would equal about 200 lbs load on the winch. A good block and tackle, chain hoist or come-along would let you do this by hand. Since you got the winch I dont think there is going to be much of a load on it.

Jimmie

[gfretwell]

I fried a regular car battery running a boat winch. I was pulling logs out of the woods with it and blew a cell open in the battery. Fortunately it was a Wal-Mart battery and they just swapped it out for me.

[mm]

I have a one amp charger (got it free from my cousin in 1965) and prefer to use it, better for the battery. I"m not sure that is the same as a trickle charger. I have a vague recollection that trickle chargers are said to be good for keeping something charged but take forever to charge something up.

But I'm lazier in my old age, and usually use my 10 amp charger to charge my battery enough for the car to start.**

In your situation, I might want or 3 to 4 amp charger instead.

In a cursory search, Amazon has a B&D 6/4/2 amp charger for 30 dollars shipping included that should be plenty good for this and almost any other need you'll have. I can't imagine spending 70 to 140.

I know you have the winch already, but any chance the lawnmower could pull the load up by itself? Wrapping a rope around a pully, or just driving away from the basement?

You could do that too.

** (I found the 10 amp charger on a sidewalk in Brooklyn. The selenium diodes were not working. I spend a lot of time looking for big seleneium diodes but couldn't find any, even in NYC and the 4 other boroughs. Put the thing aside, and five years later, it worked fine. Worked for 20 years, then the selenium diodes didn't work anymore. I used a bunch of 1 or 2 amp top hat diodes and it works fine again. It's got to be 40 years old at least.

Or you could tie the rope to the Impala and pull the dirt up with that?

[Stormin Mormon]

1 HP is 746 wattts. At 11 volts (under load) that's 68 amps. You could do that off a car battery for short periods, if you had a running car and jumper cables to bring the power back up. Use VERY short electrical connections between the winch and battery 2-0 wire or 4-0 is called for.

[Stormin Mormon]

You'd likely need very short, fat cables. From the winch to a car battery. Use jumper cables off the car or tractor to keep the car battery charged.

Plan B is to use a longer rope, and use the vehicle to pull the load up the ramp. Long, long rope. Might make more sense than winching up the ramp.

[mm]

BTW, not all battery cables are created equal. This has been a problem for the United States of Battery Cables, but fortunately that's just two guys and a warehouse.

I don't know what it takes to carry 60 amps, 8 gauge?

I hadn't considered how much current a 1HP winch needs, according to other posters. Do the guys with winches on their trucks leave their engine running when using the winch?

Anyhow, maybe I can make one of my suggestions better. If the Impala is your car then when you're doing this, you have no other use for the car. Meaasure the rope, the distance X from the loaded hopper to where you want the hopper to come to rest. Put a 6 foot stake in the ground where you have the car at the beginning and another stake X feet ahead of that, where you want to stop the car. Or use a helper for that part. :)

Make sure the rope or cable doesn't snap and hit the helper in the eyes, but then again, you would have had to do that with the winch too.

[JIMMIE]

The load he is actually going to put on it requires more like 1/10 of a hp. More in the neighborhood of 10 amps or less.

[salty]

For what you are going to do, a simple hand operated come-along would make a lot more sense.

Either that, or pull the load directly with the Impala.

[dpb]

[e-mail] wrote: ...

Yeah, or a block and tackle would be faster...but what's the fun in that???

:)

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

10 yrs ago I would have done the block and tackle thing. If I did that now I'd probably only be able to do one load a day. I think I should be able to do 3-4 if I can rest while the winch is working. Still a nice slow job-- but my heart appreciates frequent rests.

Also- for those who suggest using a vehicle to pull it up--- I work alone and prefer to watch the load as it is moving. The winch gives me full control while watching what is happening.

Jim

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

2 notes-- get a decent sized battery and buy it where I can return it easily.

Thanks- Jim

[mm]

The winch can exert a force of 2000 pounds and some thought the whole load would be 300 plus the 100 pound hopper. Much less than its total capacaty.

That raises a common question for me. Are winches smart enough to use less just because a smaller winch could do the job?

Are wallwarts, adapters, smart enough to use less even when the low-voltage appliance or electronic device they power are turned off. HOw much less? I know that if there is no current in the secondary, that someone provides more impedance to the primary, but I don't know how much or what the resulting current is in the primary, whose own internal resisstance and internal impedance hasn't changed.

The winch doen't have a secondary. Does it have a speed control? The url he gave mentions on/off toggle but no speed control. What happens when the load is much less than maximum? Does it turn faster or the same speed, but using less current? How much less?

[salty]

The load is not 300 pounds plus 100 pounds. The whole thing is being pulled up an inclined plane with wheels on it, not dead lifted.

[dpb]

mm wrote: ...

"Smart?", no--but nature takes care of it automagically...

...

Winches in general are single speed.

Same (essentially) speed, less current.

How much -- look at the table at the url; there was an expected current vs load chart there.

--

[Bob F]

It'd probably be faster and easier to just pull the bucket out yourself. How much load can a full bucket be?