Re:Winch

Ponamore wrote:

Like I mentioned you've never been stuck in a peat bog in wales for hours on end when a 1.5t vehicle becomes at least 3t.
Everyone is different but I have been in the lifting game all my life and no one ever buys something on the limit for safety reasons.

I would rather have the winch stall than it being so powerful that something else in the system breaks. If the winch stalls, I also use a 4500lb, I know that the vehicle is too stuck, and I'm going to start breaking things. Time to reevaluate the situation and start doing some jacking and packing. The only time I have used my snatch block was to change the angle of pull when a vehicle was off the side of the road.

I think the OP didn't like the general opinion of the board on his winch installation, and has gone away.

This is too bad, as I am still very curious whether a winch drawing 300+ amps at rated load works on a car with an 80-amp alternator and small battery.  Or rather, I am curious about the electrical modifications to allow the Jimny to run such a large winch. 

Even with a second battery (in the boot?  with big, welding-type wiring?) I'm not quite sure how it would work, at least for more than a few seconds.  One can upgrade the alternator, but the cost is circa 600GBP, and I haven't heard of anyone outside of some Japanese Jimnymen who have done that.  And it only gets you a 120A alternator, not the really big ones you would find on a full-size offroader.

Winches can be a very practical tool, but myself I am not sure that one of such size is feasible with the Jimny's electrics.  I would be pleased to learn, though, if anyone sees something I'm missing.
 

I stand to be corrected but even the largest 4wd vehicles would generally top out at a 150A stock alternator.
The alternator isn't powering the winch per se, the winch will draw the big amps from the battery which the alternator has to then charge up. It's when the winch drains battery voltage faster than the alternator can keep it charged (over time) that you run into problems. Think of your battery as a hydro dam and the alternator as the stream/rainfall that fills it.
Essentially, you could put a 300amp draw winch on your stock jimny, but don't expect to get any useful duty cycle out of it without cooking something. Having a second (larger capacity) battery and hefty gauge cables to your winch goes a long way to preserving your alternator.

Also, the 300 amps is generally only for a short period of time. No 12v winch drawing that power is going to have 100% duty cycle. The manufacturer will specify "run for X time and cool for X time". Will vary between manufacturers but continuous run time at full load is generally specified in seconds rather than minutes.
Thats my experience anyway.

At the moment I have yet to complete the wiring up but will be looking to fit a nice battery to run the winch.
The vehicle winch is installed for my own satisfaction and I have no intention of heavy off roading. I'm a great believer in taking and listening to advice.

Nice fitment Ponamore - looks very tidy. Personally I wouldn't worry about the winch being "too big" - having a good safety margin is always useful and the overall weight isn't excessive, especially if you are running plasma rope to reduce weight. Fit a decent deep cycle battery and intelligent split charge system and you're good to go.

Rather then carry a winch around full time, I carry a Tirfor hand winch when I'm going somewhere that I think I will need one.
It's not as convenient as having one on full time, but it's got its own advantages, your not carrying extra weight all the time, mostly as down here they are always on a bullbar, and more importantly you can't always pull yourself out forwards, actual in most situations your better off getting pulled out backwards.
It really depends on if you have to go forwards, or if you just picked the wrong line or track to use.