Solar panel for winch battery?

Jeffncs

Jeffncs

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2017
Location
Wake Forest
I’m thinking about leaving my battery in my trailer box with a solar panel hooked up to maintain its charge. The winch is on the smaller side at 5000# and only gets used occasionally.

Can I get away with something in the 10W range?

I usually hook it to a trickle charger in the garage but tired of moving it back-forth or, worse, forgetting it at home!
 
Adding - I’d mount the solar panel to the trailer box lid and store the battery in a battery box with a high amperage shutoff switch to the winch.
 
A 10 watt would maintain it fine, but probably wouldn't be able to charge it after you use it, I'd figure on using a regular charger on it to bring it back to full after any time you actually used it.
 
zuke said:
A 10 watt would maintain it fine, but probably wouldn't be able to charge it after you use it, I'd figure on using a regular charger on it to bring it back to full after any time you actually used it.
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Thanks. What wattage solar panel would help me be lazy and just recharge it for me? 😎
 
zuke said:
A 10 watt would maintain it fine, but probably wouldn't be able to charge it after you use it, I'd figure on using a regular charger on it to bring it back to full after any time you actually used it.
Click to expand...

Charging is a whole different Ball game from Maintaining, Technically, you would need a Charge Controller and at least a 100 watt in panels if you wanted it to be a fully functional setup.

But it also comes down to how often you actually use it... How many pulls do you do when you use it? Do you drain the battery? Do you need it to be ready to go 2 days in a row? If you get it home at 5PM with a depleted battery, no solar solution in the world is gonna have it ready to use the next day...

If you do 2 pulls with it on a Saturday afternoon, and don't use it again for two weeks, an off the shelf 25 watt panel designed for charging batteries is probably fine.

skyhighZJ said:
Just have it hooked to some Anderson style connectors while on the truck/utilizing the winch. Solar panel for when it’s idle/parked. Has worked for me so far.
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What size panel are you using? That's probably just the ticket for @Jeffncs as well.
 
zuke said:
Charging is a whole different Ball game from Maintaining, Technically, you would need a Charge Controller and at least a 100 watt in panels if you wanted it to be a fully functional setup.

But it also comes down to how often you actually use it... How many pulls do you do when you use it? Do you drain the battery? Do you need it to be ready to go 2 days in a row? If you get it home at 5PM with a depleted battery, no solar solution in the world is gonna have it ready to use the next day...

If you do 2 pulls with it on a Saturday afternoon, and don't use it again for two weeks, an off the shelf 25 watt panel designed for charging batteries is probably fine.



What size panel are you using? That's probably just the ticket for @Jeffncs as well.
Click to expand...

I have welding lead cable ran from my truck battery to the rear bumper terminated w/ an Anderson connector. The winch power on the trailer is terminated. I also have a set of 12’ jumper cables with an Anderson connector so I can jump stuff from the rear of the truck.
 
skyhighZJ said:

I have welding lead cable ran from my truck battery to the rear bumper terminated w/ an Anderson connector. The winch power on the trailer is terminated. I also have a set of 12’ jumper cables with an Anderson connector so I can jump stuff from the rear of the truck.
Click to expand...

Now that's a complete solution with good added functionality!
 
I love the idea of having an Anderson at the rear bumper but not sure I can justify the cost of the materials.

Realistically, my trailer sits in full sun while in storage. I’ll make 2 easy pulls when I’m using the trailer but it sits for weeks on end without use.

I’m thinking that 12W solar setup linked above is the right solution for my needs.

Thanks to all for the suggestions!
 
I have 2- 20 amp amazon solar charger/maintainer on two different pieces. One's mounted permanent the other is on a trailer and the panel just lays there when we're not using it
 
If you’re rarely using the winch like I’d imagine. 10 amp will maintain and recharge after any use. If your a car scrapper then nope lol. A good battery will dang near recharge its self. Most maintainers are 2 amps or less. So if you winch your rig on it a good battery should do that a few times without recharging.
 
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