Electric Winch - Current Draw & how long can u winch for?

Hi Rob,

A few variables to consider. What sort of doo doo are you stuck in? Bogged in mud so bad that your vehicle is sitting on it's chassis will test most winches.
What capacity is your winch?
How heavy is your vehicle?
Can you use a snatch block to lessen the load?
What capacity do you have in batteries?
The other factor to keep in mind is how hot your winch motor is getting. Really heavy winching may need you to let your winch cool off a bit before proceeding.
Some winches have a maximum current draw around 400 amps plus if under heavy load.
Although you don't see them much these days, this was a great advantage of the PTO style of winch. As long as your engine was running you could keep winching all day. No overheating or solinoids to burn out. One downside was that it was a fair bit harder to assist the winch by driving the vehicle while winching. Difficult but not impossible.

Cheers
Pop

Rob it's impossible to say with any accuracy as an electric winch can consume any where between 50 amps free winding up to 450 amps at maximum load. Don't be too concerned by the volt reading while winching as it's not a true indication of the state of charge of the battery & will often read well below 12volts.
As a broad guide if winching a severely stuck car you may expect as little as 5 minutes run time up to 30 minutes with light intermittent use. Even when the battery is flat the reality is while the engine is still charging the winch will continue to work but at a reduced pulling capacity.
Cheers Craig....

As previously stated the greater the load the more amp draw,,,look up the winch specs online and it will give you an idea.
I have never tripped my circuit breaker which is 250amp so I reckon the average pull on my brand would be around the 200 or so amps
even on a heavy pull I doubt you would ever exceed 8000lb or 3600kg
just remember the more the load the slower the line speed and the more the amp draw
I've winched off my deep cycle without the engine with no drama for one pull.

You have some good answers there Rob, I'd add that next time get a 10,000lb not a 13000 for your particular car.

Mostly the 13000 just means higher and more lossey gear ratios and less effective winching overall.

I suspect though that your winching limit will be max 5 minutes in 15 min under load and you will be limited by melting of plasma rope. You may have a protective cover on the end of your plasma rope , but you really need one on the end tied to the drum.

You can winch longer but less safely with steel rope as it does not insulate the winch drum.

Watch for cable layer pull through , and wind up rope only under load and prefferably with a bit of a criss cross.

On my winches I reduce the winch cable length to 20m max and use shorter extension straps which causes stronger pull and less heat buildup.

The cut off rope end makes a good 2nd extension strap.