Hey All! Looking to install a 12 V DC winch in my garage for hanging my deer/moose.
I agree with the others here who have suggested you simply go with a 120VAC-powered winch. This would be MUCH simpler in the long run, and probably even cheaper. For example, this one:
http://www.warn.com/utility/acwinches/1000AC_utility.shtml
is rated for 1,000 lb. and can be had for around $300-350. Even if you already have the 12VDC winch you're contemplating, by the time you buy everything you'd need to make it work in that application, you'll have spent at least half that, and near-certainly more than that to do it really right.
If you are bound and determined to make your 12VDC winch work, you'll need a large-capacity deep-cycle 12V battery AND a good "smart" battery-charger of adequate capacity to keep that battery healthy and happy. To do it without the battery would require so much larger a charger/power-supply as to be prohibitively expensive. If you wimp out on the charger, you will shorten the long-term life-expectancy of the battery. Note that if you go with an AGM-type battery (which you probably should, given the indoor usage and the deep-cycle requirement), the charger should be capable of providing AT LEAST 20% of the battery's nominal Amp-Hour capacity during the Bulk Phase of the charging cycle; more would be better. Here's my suggestion for the battery:
http://www.sears.com/diehard-platinum-marine-battery-group-size-31m-price/p-02850131000P
Ideally, the charger should be a three-stage "smart" type, and (given the above battery) capable of putting at least 20A onto a single output. I'm most familiar with marine applications, so that's my frame of reference. In that context, this is what I'd choose:
http://www.hodgesmarine.com/Promariner-Pronautic-1220p-20-Amp-3-Bank-Battery-C-p/prm63120.htm
You might be able to find something cheaper in the non-marine market; but be VERY wary of off-brand el-cheapo chargers; they tend to not have the adjustability and controlability needed to keep a high-quality AGM battery healthy over the long haul
Are you talking for power? If you don't have it, I would buy a 120v, if you are using 12v you need an inverter that can handle the surge of that winch.
You've got the terminology backwards. He doesn't need an inverter; that would be used to make 120VAC out of 12VDC. He needs a robust source of 12VDC, hence the battery & charger setup mentioned above.
You could just use jumper cables or anderson connectors to a vehicle/batt.
This would be a rather horrid kludge, and I'd be a bit concerned about the safety aspect with all those "temporary" connections; but it might work. The battery would surely have to remain installed in the vehicle, with the engine running at at least a fast idle, or you'd kill it in no time. Besides, I got the impression that he wanted something a bit more along the lines of a "permanent" installation.
Buy a jump pack to power the winch
And now you also have a jump pack if you need one
The problem with a "jump pack" is, while they can provide very large bursts of current for brief periods (which is just what is needed for their intended application), they generally don't really have all that much battery capacity, and virtually no deep-cycle capability.
