Battery/Winch Questions

ponykilr

ponykilr

Old Crow
Joined
Apr 26, 2021
Location
Lowgap
Had to winch out an S10 blazer from a ditch today. It was a pretty hard, long pull. My battery was struggling, but it’s pretty old. I cycled about 20-30 seconds of pulling to a minute of cool down.

In a TJ, is a bigger alternator a good idea? Use larger charge wire too?

What you reckon is the biggest battery with most capacity that will go in stockish location? Dual batteries?

What is the best cycle for pulling vs. letting things cool off?
 
The Durango alternator is a small upgrade, probably unnecessary unless you're buying one anyway. The charge wire is fine. The winch can pull 4-500a, so alt is really just a stopgap. If you pull too much, the ECM will think there's a fault and stop charging, too. I'm with RQ - what winch and what battery do you have now and how old is the battery?
 
ponykilr said:
Had to winch out an S10 blazer from a ditch today. It was a pretty hard, long pull. My battery was struggling, but it’s pretty old. I cycled about 20-30 seconds of pulling to a minute of cool down.

In a TJ, is a bigger alternator a good idea? Use larger charge wire too?

What you reckon is the biggest battery with most capacity that will go in stockish location? Dual batteries?

What is the best cycle for pulling vs. letting things cool off?
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My wife had to winch my Super Duty uphill with her ZJ. We were down to the last wind on the drum, 15 degree slope, her ZJ chained to a tree behind it. We had to do the same thing as you did. It's to be expected.
She asked the same question afterwards and aside from a slightly higher output alt and fresh battery, there isn't a ton needed.
 
I agree with what @shawn said. The Durango is good when it’s time to replace it, I wouldn’t swap a perfectly good one.
Make sure you have a good battery and clean connections. What you describe is normal for a heavy pull.
 
R Q said:
What winch and what battery you got now?
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Smittybuilt H2O 10k with rope.

Battery is stock size and on the end of its life. I want to get a monster to replace it.
 
Jody Treadway said:
My wife had to winch my Super Duty uphill with her ZJ. We were down to the last wind on the drum, 15 degree slope, her ZJ chained to a tree behind it. We had to do the same thing as you did. It's to be expected.
She asked the same question afterwards and aside from a slightly higher output alt and fresh battery, there isn't a ton needed.
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I had to strap my rear bumper to a tree. I pulled at a slight angle til his front began to point in the right direction.
 
77GreenMachine said:
As for Battery, any good AGM style battery, when I can no longer warranty my Optima I will buy a Duracell Platinum

www.samsclub.com

Duracell AGM Deep Cycle Marine and RV Battery, Group Size 34M - Sam's Club

Buy Duracell AGM Deep Cycle Marine and RV Battery, Group Size 34M : Marine Batteries at SamsClub.com
www.samsclub.com www.samsclub.com
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So the AGM have more capacity? I haven’t investigated them at all. I did see a picture of a kit that allows 2 Optimas side by side.

I even thought about a rear battery in a box connected with cables to the one under the hood but no more than this comes up a good main battery will probably work.
 
We’re you pulling at idle? I always am off of idle if winching and watch the voltmeter on the cluster. I have a hand throttle that I use and bump it up and keep it consistent
 
GMAC said:
We’re you pulling at idle? I always am off of idle if winching and watch the voltmeter on the cluster. I have a hand throttle that I use and bump it up and keep it consistent
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I was sitting in the seat and was keeping RPMs above 2500

A way to throttle up hands free is something I will investigate.
 
There is also this which looks identical to the Duracell and has identical specs. It is probably rebranded.



814747.jpg

E0302955-FEBF-4A46-AC66-D5991E069537.jpeg
 
I may have posted this before... can't take credit for assembling all the data. I found it somewhere. Note that the Diehard Platinum is no longer an Odyssey battery, but the Batteries Plus/Northstar batteries are (same parent company)

1642862363480.png


1642862385238.png
 
@ponykilr do NOT buy an Optima. Just don’t waste your money.

As for your question, AGM isn’t exactly a bigger/deeper cycle battery. It’s Absorbed Glass Material inside therefore no battery acid and water type deal. The Super Start you posted would be good. Any good deep cycle marine battery would be good. I’ve had countless Red Optimas die on me, and was about to switch till I realized it was still under warranty and they let me pay the difference ($60) to move to a yellow top. If it weren’t for that I’d have switched. Optima used to be good but something changed 5-7 years ago and they’re garbage now.

Honestly, if your current battery is quite old and on the weak side, you’ll see a huge improvement with just about anything new. Shawn shared some great info for you to do some research.
 
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The big deal with an AGM is that it's not a wet cell, so the plates don't shed (and the battery doesn't degrade) due to vibration. It also generally means they can be mounted in any position (manufacturer recommendations as the limiting factor). Other than that, a battery is a big plastic box full of acid, lead, and a bit of copper and other metals. The weight of the battery is a pretty fair analog to how much battery you're buying (keeping in mind things like intended use / deep cycle batteries for your off-grid house or trolling motor have thick plates and are designed to supply small loads over long periods of time).
 
shawn said:
The big deal with an AGM is that it's not a wet cell, so the plates don't shed (and the battery doesn't degrade) due to vibration. It also generally means they can be mounted in any position (manufacturer recommendations as the limiting factor). Other than that, a battery is a big plastic box full of acid, lead, and a bit of copper and other metals. The weight of the battery is a pretty fair analog to how much battery you're buying (keeping in mind things like intended use / deep cycle batteries for your off-grid house or trolling motor have thick plates and are designed to supply small loads over long periods of time).
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Ok, thanks everyone. The best deal locally (without going to Winston, becomes a wash) is the O’Reilly AGM marine which is I suspect made alongside the Duracell.

I have a commercial account so maybe it’ll drop a few bucks.

I called my O’Reilly guy and he ordered it for me, said it’ll be in tomorrow. I have an absolutely dead battery in my wood splitter so I’m turning it in and moving the Jeep battery to there.
 
I just got home from a snow ride with a good friend of mine. We went across Old HWY 105. We came across a group of several wheelers most all were stuck on a very slick section of very packed snow. A few of them made it up, but 4 did not. I winched (I was driving my friends 95 YJ) I winched three alone, then we connected winch to winch on the last one so we could get him up faster. I was pleasantly pleased with how well Jerry's set up worked. It's an older HF 9K winch, stock Alternator, No idea what battery, but, I am sure it's not a AGM type. When pulling, volt meter dropped to ~10V, Continuous pulling, Volt meter showed 14V before we got the next rid hooked up. When pulling I kept the RPM's up to around 1500 or so.
You've pretty much solved your issue by getting another battery. I have ever owned a TJ, but IIRC the battery placement set up is different that a CJ or YJ. On the CJ/YJ set up, you do have some options as far as running two batteries, with a little it of modifications. I always keep in mind something a very smart man told me many years ago. When it comes to an electric motor, the worst thing you can do to it is starve it for power. So, IMO, two batteries is not a bad idea at all. I run two batteries in my Jeep, for two reasons. 1. Winching my heavy Heep is always a task for my winch due to weight, and, when I have to winch, it is never an easy pull, and 2. I carry my Ready Welder and I need two batteries to use it.
 
upnover said:
I just got home from a snow ride with a good friend of mine. We went across Old HWY 105. We came across a group of several wheelers most all were stuck on a very slick section of very packed snow. A few of them made it up, but 4 did not. I winched (I was driving my friends 95 YJ) I winched three alone, then we connected winch to winch on the last one so we could get him up faster. I was pleasantly pleased with how well Jerry's set up worked. It's an older HF 9K winch, stock Alternator, No idea what battery, but, I am sure it's not a AGM type. When pulling, volt meter dropped to ~10V, Continuous pulling, Volt meter showed 14V before we got the next rid hooked up. When pulling I kept the RPM's up to around 1500 or so.
You've pretty much solved your issue by getting another battery. I have ever owned a TJ, but IIRC the battery placement set up is different that a CJ or YJ. On the CJ/YJ set up, you do have some options as far as running two batteries, with a little it of modifications. I always keep in mind something a very smart man told me many years ago. When it comes to an electric motor, the worst thing you can do to it is starve it for power. So, IMO, two batteries is not a bad idea at all. I run two batteries in my Jeep, for two reasons. 1. Winching my heavy Heep is always a task for my winch due to weight, and, when I have to winch, it is never an easy pull, and 2. I carry my Ready Welder and I need two batteries to use it.
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Yeah as I’ve thought more about it and remembered what was going on, the voltage was dropping very low. The “check gauges“ lamp came on 2 times that I noticed. I will get this installed and then test it to see how it does.

Another thing that came to light for me was to carry my 30’ snatch strap with me. I had to strap from back bumper to a tree, if I had not been close to home it could have been a PITA.

One more thing is I think I’ll get a few of the soft shackles.

———

I noticed that since I was pulling a little off to the right of the fairlead, the steel end of the rope seems to be something that could damage the rope over time. I’ll snap a pic tomorrow but I might need to wrap it in something to prevent that.
 
Soft shackles are worth twice their weight in gold. Idk how I ever made it without then. I now have several, they’re use is nearly infinite.
 
Yeah, when I was winching yesterday, I was tied off to a tree, otherwise, I would have just slid down the hill. Soft shackles, I have looked at them many times. As a matter of fact, I did a search on EBAY just the other day just to see if the price had come down, or, gone up. From what I remember, I think they have come down. I don't remember it from last time I looked, there is now a snatch block, just for the soft shackle. Looks pretty kewl, and would cut way down on the weight of a normal snatch block.
Forgot to mention something else that I had to do during all of this. When we approached the first group of stuck vehicles, A Jeep Liberty was going down the hill, to where the one group was having so many issues trying to climb the hill. It had slid into a range Rover, hitting only his slider and his front drivers tire. No damage cosmetically, but once at the top of the hill he had noticed a noise coming out of the steering. He steered it right, then all the way back to lock to the drivers side. It stuck. Would not steer back to the right at all. I climbed up under it, nothing visible wrong. I had him get in, crank it, and try to steer it. The noise was defiantly coming out of his steering box. So I turned around, drove up to his tire and kept bumping it with my right tire, and got it to move, I hope he was able to get it home. I think he would be OK as long as he didn't turn it to full lock to the left. BTW, as usual, this group of wheelers were awesome people! Kinda funny, one of them came up to us as we were about to leave and give me a bunch of Biden stickers that have him pointing up saying " I did this" Hmmm Wonder what I can do with them???
 
upnover said:
Soft shackles, I have looked at them many times. As a matter of fact, I did a search on EBAY just the other day just to see if the price had come
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I paid less than $20 for most of my soft shackles, and I have the pulley block thing as well which came with a bag and soft shackle for like $35-$40. Used one last weekend at Ivy Branch when the trailer slid off the road to the cabin.


upnover said:
one of them came up to us as we were about to leave and give me a bunch of Biden stickers that have him pointing up saying " I did this" Hmmm Wonder what I can do with them???
Click to expand...

Stick them beside the price screen at the gas pump.
 
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77GreenMachine said:
@ponykilr do NOT buy an Optima. Optima used to be good but something changed 5-7 years ago and they’re garbage now.
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They sold out. They were great when they first came out and were made in Colorado, but when they sold out and got moved to Mexico, they went downhill.

First two I had were 12 years old before they died.
 
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