[subieguy]

So I'm going with my father and little sister on a moose hunt in October, and had a bare winch given to me today that I'd like to mount on my utility trailer. Mounting it is the easy part. The issue in dealing with is that it doesn't have any wiring, and I'm not real sure how to get power back there. So far I've got

A: buy a 30' length of heavy ish welding cable (cheaper than battery cable locally) run positive only to rear, ground somewhere on the rear of truck, or even just the trailer frame.

B: put a battery in my toolbox mounted on the tongue just for the winch, and find a way to charge the battery off the parking lights without frying my bcm. We have a hot patch trailer at work that charges off the truck to run the burners , so i know it's possible just not sure it's feasible.

Also, if anyone knows what's necessary to make an atv winch function so i know what to buy and how to install it all together (I've done plenty of wiring, just not confident with this one)
Almost thinking about buying a new one at tractor supply since the wiring kits on amazon ate half the cost of the winch itself and i still need cable

 

[illzoni]

A would put a lot of load across a long wire.

B is a much better idea. Charging a battery over time would involve much less load. It's not complicated.

 

[subieguy]

Would i just need a resistor? Let the juice charge the battery but not let the battery keep the lights on all all the time?

 

[Dark Night 18]

Does the truck your hauling the trailer with have a 7 pin trailer conector? You should be able to use that to power or charge your trailer mounted battery.
I would Google a wiring schematic for that purpose.
Good luck on the hunt, battery charging and moose.

 

[subieguy]

Yes my truck is 7 pin

 

[The other Sean]

Does the truck your hauling the trailer with have a 7 pin trailer conector? You should be able to use that to power or charge your trailer mounted battery.
I would Google a wiring schematic for that purpose.
Good luck on the hunt, battery charging and moose.

Just keep in mind that wire will charge slowly off the vehicle so you will probably end up needing to hook up to a battery charger before heading off each time. And yes, an isolator of some sort would be good. Or, just unplug the trailer from the truck when using the winch.

 

[subieguy]

Part of the reason i had been leaning toward powering it off the truck was so it would be part of the trucks electrical system, and didn't see a need to do anything special with the wiring besides run a 2ga to the rear bumper. Wouldn't be any different than having it installed on the truck. I know that would be a lot of draw, but the 4500lb winch on our grizzly doesn't have very big wiring. 8 or 6 ga max.

 

[subieguy]

Had been planning on rewiring the trailer today. No brakes bit is converted to 7 pin plug to use the backup lights I'd put on the trailer. Ran a 12ga wire from the battery pin on the plug to the inside of my toolbox just in case i go that route. Anyone have details on hardware/what solenoid I'd need to run the winch?