[11acb]

hey there I have a standard vvt alternator running standard battery and have so much trouble running my winch (tjm 9000 pound) I know the minimum requirements to run the winch is 550 cca battery which the jimny don't have...
the winch will stall the car when running it with hardly even any weight on it have to hold revs up to prevent stalling...
my questions are how can I run this winch
1. upgrade battery?, but wont fit the size I need in the standard tray
2. upgrade alternator and to the biggest battery I can get in the standard tray?
3. run dual battery sytem and a much larger cca battery in the boot, and use it to solely run the winch?

any other ideas appreciated

[Gwagensteve]

Option 4- put a stick under the throttle stop to keep revs up to about 3K whilst winching and strictly observe a duty cycle. Winching at idle is never recommended- alternators do very little at idle.

An upgraded alternator will help heaps, but you will still need to keep the revs up whilst winching.

Steve.

[11acb]

Cheers for the reply

[Jezza86]

if you put a 2nd starting battery under the bonnet and connected it via a decent isolator switch with thick gauge wire for winching, and charged it like a normal duel battery it could catch more sag when the motor is under load.
typical duel battery setups don't have thick enough wireing to start the car/winch of the second battery, unless the kit specifically features it.

but like steve said, best way to keep volts up is to make them, which means revs. check this thread out
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=41088

[Reubs]

Is your wiring up to spec? Is your battery getting a little tired and due for replacing?

I know a few Sierra owners running 6 to 9k lb winches on 3 to 400CCA batteries and they winch fine with the engine off.

[11acb]

Battery is definately getting down. It's the one that came with the car two year ago 40000 klms ago. I can only leave my lights on for five to ten mins and I'll have to roll start the car. The wiring seems ok I used the cables that came with the winch. And the alternator is charging fine.

When winching I have to have the revs quite high or the battery light comes on than stalls.
I am thinking I need to do something to help it out was just wondering what the best option would be.
I might just start with replacing the battery with the biggest I can get in there and see how that goes.

Was just putting the question out there to see if there is something I could upgrade. As I like to upgrade parts that give me grief rather than just putting the same original parts back in

[Gwagensteve]

11acb wrote:

I can only leave my lights on for five to ten mins and I'll have to roll start the car.

There's your answer. Your battery is dead. Not dying, dead. Time for a d51 optima.

[11acb]

Yea righto will get onto that. Hopefully that will solve some problems

[Mike57]

Your alternator will deliver up to 75 amps with probably 3,000 RPM on the engine. Winch might consume 200 + amps when winching under load. An alternator upgrade if there was an easy one might take the alternator up to 100 amps or 120 amps. There is a shortfall of 125 + amps if you do not upgrade and 80 + amps if you do. Either way you still need a good battery. If I winch my optima voltage is dragged down to about 10.5 volts temporarily. A battery can only handle that for short periods. I have found no bad effects using the winch in short bursts. You want to avoid large current draw for a sustained period as it will overheat the battery and destroy it.

First step would be to upgrade your battery to the Optima D51. Next fit a voltmeter so you know what you are doing to the battery and keep an eye on it. Then if you want to do it properly fit a second battery in the back and connect via an isolator for charging but a bypass switch so you can connect both batteries in parallel for winching.

I would spend money on a new battery first before an alternator upgrade. The stock Jimny battery is tiny. The Optima D51 is the largest you will fit in its place.

[11acb]

Thanks mike. Seems to make sense I priced a d51 223 delivered so I'll give that a shot. Keen to sort the dual battery system too in parallel makes a lot of sense