Using a battery jump pack to power an ATV Powersport winch

[jmarkwolf]

I'm retiring my old Warn 3700 12VDC winch, which I powered directly from those automotive jump packs for over 20 years, to winch small aircraft, lawn tractors, motorcycles, snow blowers, generators, etc., up ramps (max weight 1000lbs). The FWD/REV remote switch for the old winch always worked fine without an in-line solenoid.

This new winch will not be installed on an ATV, and will also be powered from a battery jump pack. The new Badlands 3400 12VDC winch includes a separate solenoid which I assume is to buffer the switches on an ATV, but there is only a pictorial hookup diagram without much explanation, nor any internal schematic.

Did I just get lucky that I never puffed the original FWD/REV switch from in-line current draw in 20 years of operation, and should I assume that I should power the new winch as indicated with the in-line solenoid as depicted?

 

[mikedodge]

I would. But it sounds like its worked out so far.

My ATV winch is hard wired in. Usually jump packs have small reserve compared to regular batteries and also aren't meant to be used regularely but hey whatever works!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I have a Superwinch T1500 that I bought 23 years ago and installed in a car trailer. It, also, has a heavy duty switch that works without a solenoid/relay. I powered it off 2 battery jumper cables spliced together that I ran up to the vehicle battery. I just finished installing this on my SXS. In my case, I abandoned the original switch and obtained a solenoid/relay and wireless remote switch because I wanted the freedom of movement to be able to be out in front of the winch when I activated it. I am not clear about where you plan to install this new winch, and I am not clear on what the current draw is compared to your original winch. If the new winch is rated a lot higher in pounds it will pull, I would expect it to draw a lot more current. On my DIY Shop (link below), I documented my install including a wiring diagram that might help.

 

[jmarkwolf]

OP here with clarification:

I use the battery jump packs only temporarily while winching. The jump pack and winch are always disconnected and removed after the winching. The duration of the winching was never more than 2-3 minutes max. The original Warn winch was temporarily chained to the tongue of the trailer.

I've since read that Warn winches are just as happy being powered directly from batteries or jump packs, but I have no idea about the new Badlands winch. I'll likely wire it up with the provided solenoid to be safe.

This new winch will be hitch receiver mounted, again, only while winching.

Trial fitting of the old Warn winch using a hitch mount vise plate below.

 

[jmarkwolf]

OP here with more clarification:

I wired up the Badlands ZXR 3500 on the bench to make sure I understood the hook-up instructions correctly, and tested the winch under no load condition with minimal wire length. My relatively new fully charged "1700 Peak Amp" jumper pack alarmed at me and dropped to 11.5VDC, both directions, with absolutely no load on it!

I've used similar setups with my Warn winch for 20 years to hoist 1000-pound aircraft up ramps to my trailer without a hick-up, and this winch makes my battery pack howl with no load? The winch manual says no load current draw is 20A. That's a lot of current for just operating the gear reduction machinery.

What am I missing here? Do I need to switch to a standard high CCA automotive type battery?