Hi guys, I did a search and found comments on both sides of the fence and I'm not sure what I should do. How many of you run a winch and still use the stock 80A alternator? If so, have you had any issues with bottoming out your crank battery and/or shortening its life? Slow running winch?
The Runva winch I have has a peak draw of 400A, but that would be at full load, no snatch block, etc. Worst case scenario. But even in a normal situation, the 80A alternator won't be pushing many amps on idle, so the battery must be carrying the load. I do have a hand-throttle; should I be using this when I winch? What kind of engine RPM is recommended?
By rights the winch shouldn't affect anything else in the vehicle (directly connected to + and - terminals, with switch) but I'm also getting some feedback in the rest of the system as some lights have blown and who knows what else has been affected. A bigger alternator won't help me here, but if I'm stressing the battery then the voltage to the rest of the car will fluctuate... Just a theory.
Just chasing your experience
Cheers,
Chang
The Runva winch I have has a peak draw of 400A, but that would be at full load, no snatch block, etc. Worst case scenario. But even in a normal situation, the 80A alternator won't be pushing many amps on idle, so the battery must be carrying the load. I do have a hand-throttle; should I be using this when I winch? What kind of engine RPM is recommended?
By rights the winch shouldn't affect anything else in the vehicle (directly connected to + and - terminals, with switch) but I'm also getting some feedback in the rest of the system as some lights have blown and who knows what else has been affected. A bigger alternator won't help me here, but if I'm stressing the battery then the voltage to the rest of the car will fluctuate... Just a theory.
Just chasing your experience
Cheers,
Chang