Power for trailer winch

I'm looking to power the winch for loading vehicles on the car hauler, using either the trailer connector or the rear AC. In the past I ran a separate power line from the battery to the rear-mounted connector. I'm hoping to use one of the existing power sources on this new ('22) tundra.

So, anyone know of a connector or converter I can use to power from the DC trailer receptacle or the bed-mounted AC?

Thanks

 

How many amps will the winch draw? Watts of the accessory (winch) divided by 12 (volts) = amps. You will want to be sure you do not connect the winch to any undersized wiring.

 

Best bet is a smaller deep cycle battery mounted on the trailer that gets topped off by the truck when driving. I don't think the trailer hitch wiring will support the draw of a winch.

 

Do you know any sources for an auxiliary battery "kit"?

 

I'm sure the math would show it exceeds the trailer light/brake wiring, but any idea if someone makes an AC converter I could plug in the the bed outlet?

 

You're going to be pulling too much juice to tap that wiring. To pull 6k pounds up a ramp you're looking at ~250 amp draws

 

I think you'll have to run that battery wire. At least a 1 or 2 gauge I would think.

I have a hitch winch and run it off 30ft 1 gauge jumper cables. I do this because I use it for off roading. On multiple cars.

 

This is the way. Don’t draw directly from the truck battery to power a winch on a trailer.

 

Why not directly draw from the cars batter again?

 

1. Winches can draw huge amps - often over 500. To safely extend +20 feet you may need 0 ga (depending on the winch). That’s is big, heavy and Tundra payload is weak. Plus, if the gauge is too light, fire can happen. I’ve seen it.
2. Always protect a starter battery. Winching can drain a battery faster than an alternator can recover. Would really stink if your truck can’t start while winching on the trailer.
   
3. Your 7 pin wiring is already designed to low amp charge a trailer battery while driving. It’s how every travel trailer works.
   
4. Adding a battery to a trailer is super easy and cheap. You can even use Jumper cables to the winch. It’s a different use case than a rear truck winch.

 

And to add to what @mountainpete said, that is also the way electric over hydraulic dump trailers work. The deep cycle or dual purpose battery supplies the high current needed for the pump, and is recharged though the charge wire on the 7 pin connector while driving.

Because of the high draw in use, the truck should be shut off or the trailer cord should be disconnected from the truck when winching or operating a dump trailer to prevent blowing the charge fuse.

That, OR install a self-resetting circuit breaker on the charge wire in the trailer with a lower amperage rating than the truck’s fuse. Like a 20 amp.

 

Yes Agreed on the winches drawing lots of amps.. so I do have a 30ft 1 gauge cable its big and heavy Copper wires... but I use the winch for off road recovery.. I wonder if I should put in an inline fuse kit with this setup or as @landphil said a self resetting circuit breaker.

 

Are you running a rear winch or on a trailer?

If it’s a rear winch, it safest to connect in a high amp interrupter so the cable is dead unless you turn it on.

There are less pricy and more manual ways of doing it, but this is an example of one: https://www.warn.com/power-interrupt-kit-62132

 

So the setup I am going for is hitch mount winch for off roading which is removable and transferable from car to car. I have 2 the Tundra (not as serious) and the Land cruiser I go off roading with and dont want to mount hitches on both of them. So an easy way to have a hitch with it is using a Hitch mounted winch. As mentioned I am use the long 30ft jumper cables 1 gauge to get the power back to the winch.

Is there any other NOT $129 way to have a fuse box on this setup? I am thinking a simple in line ANL fuse should do the job.. or if not get a 500 amp in line switch...

Additionally I think the fuse has to closer to the battery or does it matter when in the link its hooked?

 

Ah, makes sense... thanks.

Just a personal opinion, but I would spend based on how much I use it and where. If I was running the winch once a year and primarily pulling other people out or in fairly predictable situations (like not soaked in mud), I would just use jumper cables like you plan. The alligator clamps won't be loving max pulls/loads but it's probably good enough for the occasional winching.

If you want something more permanent and you decide to mount the wire (if it's good quality, you can even just mount the jumper cable), I wouldn't fuse it. I would just put in a cut off switch close to the battery and keep it off unless you are using it.