I guess I have a winch in the mail.

[K85 Octane]

Nah Dremu, my second battery only feeds my winch and future stuff I don't care about (rock lights, aux lighting) I just rather have a factory alternator, easily replaceable, feed a couple batteries, than a rebuilt alternator feeding one battery doing all the work. If it's a loooooong winch pull, I might get into trouble, though both batteries are connected while running could hurt me. Dunno, I don't have enough time dealing with this stuff.

Though, I do need a higher amp alternator for the kinda light output I want, like what you got goin on.

 

[blazinzuk]

snatch block isn't just for double lining its for changing direction.

I run a stock alternator, like 80 amps probably, whats a stock TBI alternator?

One optima and as long as I am revved up a touch ( around 2300 rpm) I have no problem what so ever.

Usually I am not the one stuck though so a running motor is not really an issue. I have winched quite a ways on my single optima but didn't really want too.

 

[Blue85]

I bet it draws a lot less amps with a snatch, at a lower pull weight.

It probably draws half as much for twice as long. Total energy from the alternator probably doesn't change much. Probably less wear on the winch motor, though.

 

[80' 427]

Well I am going to add a second battery in diesel style meaning it will be connected all the time. I don't have much problems with draws and I plan on leaving the engine running. We are putting on a new cab and clip which is an 80s version so I am glad I saved my new driverside battery mount I bought for the K10 years ago. I may hit up marty about the accessory mounts but I figured he wanted to swap in 2 454s at some point.

 

[Fordum]

As some folks here know, I used to help build winches and have installed quite a few. All my offroad vehicles have winches, and its one of the first mods I do.

Things have changed a lot since I was doing most of the work. 60 amp alts were the norm, and I never even considered the output of an alternator when figuring length of time a winch would work.
It was not relevant.

Go to any of the winch maker's sites, and they will give you the amp draw of their winch at different loads.
I would add at least 10% or more to those numbers for real world use.

You will find that for medium loads you are looking at around 300 amps. As the voltage goes down, that number goes up.

You can buy an alternator these days that is rated to 300 amps or more. BUT, if you ask, most of them will tell you that is not continuous duty rated.

Best bet, is to never expect an alternator to keep up with a winch. The bigger alternator will recharge your battery faster if you have to make multiple pulls to get out.

But, unless you drive the kind of swampy places I do, most of the time a winch will get you out of trouble in a fairly short time.

If you are the winch man for an off road event, then you may run into capacity problems making multiple pulls.
I have told the story here before about getting a frantic call in the middle of the night. One of my friends with a winch I sold him was stuck and the winch had quit.

I drove out, discovered several trucks stuck in a row. He had pulled out about 3 and was hooked to the 4th when the winch quit pulling.
He switched off his truck and got out to see what was wrong and then his truck would not crank!

Of course, the winch was fine, he had just run the battery down.

I hooked to him, pulled out both trucks and then pulled out the rest. After he got a jump, we wound up his cable and we all went home.

Your best bet for general use, is a good large high capacity battery and a heavy duty alternator.
That will get you out of most anything you are likely to get in. If you want to add a second battery in any one of several configurations, that is fine.

Trying to rig up infinite pulling ability, or even more than about 10 minutes or so, is a waste of time and money.

If you think you need that, its a lot cheaper and easier to go PTO. I once had to winch continuously for over 2 hours to get out of a problem.
Literally winched for over a mile with no help from the drivetrain.

My PTO winch did not even notice.

BTW, your MPG SUCKS when the winch is doing the driving........

Also, when it comes to pulling time, using a snatch block doubles the time, but cuts the amp draw almost in half, which might make it possible for the alternator to keep up.
If it does not overheat from being asked to produce max output for that long.

 

[dremu]

Nah Dremu, my second battery only feeds my winch and future stuff I don't care about (rock lights, aux lighting) I just rather have a factory alternator, easily replaceable, feed a couple batteries, than a rebuilt alternator feeding one battery doing all the work. If it's a loooooong winch pull, I might get into trouble, though both batteries are connected while running could hurt me. Dunno, I don't have enough time dealing with this stuff.

Though, I do need a higher amp alternator for the kinda light output I want, like what you got goin on.

Eh, you may have a point. I've only used the winch around my property, to pull fence posts and tree stumps, not trucks.

And I may have to change my tagline here to "blind as a mole" ...

-- A

 

[80' 427]

I was just going to scrape together winch accessories so that is the question. My brother inlaw runs a crane so I get slings and have a few shackles. Just saw a snatch block was expensivish.

 

[fishinnutt]

It probably draws half as much for twice as long. Total energy from the alternator probably doesn't change much. Probably less wear on the winch motor, though.

That sounds accurate as there are no free rides in physics/the universe/biology.