what batery 2 use

I have said this before and I will say it again. Even though others will disagree with me.

I would leave the main battery to do what the vehicle manufacturer intended it to do. That is supply power to the vehicle in it's original state.

The first thing I fit to a new car is a dual battery. I do this so it can power all the other accessories, including the winch, compressor, fridge, shower, extra lighting etc. etc. etc.

The only accessory I have that is powered by the main vehicle battery is the phone.

Duncs

If you are going to run a winch off your battery make sure that it is a starting type battery that will give you plenty of amp draw to run the winch. As most deep cycle batts are for low but continous draw they do not suit elec winches. Oh and also always make sure that your engine is idling fast to help with the amp draw when running a winch.
Maybe this will help you decide.

As others have said.....don't even think about using a deep cycle battery for winching. If you DO have a deep cycle battery as your aux battery, then I would seriously suggest connecting the winch to the starting battery AND being able to isolate the deep cycle from the circuit whilst you use the winch.

If you have a starter type battery as your aux, then I would still suggest wiring the winch to the main battery. This assumes that you have the 2nd battery wired-up through some sort of solenoid. A solenoid such as this was never designed to cope with the huge amperage loads that the winch will demand.

In my case, I have 2 starter batteries joined permanently with no isolator at all. These 2 are JUST used for starting and the other uses normally called upon by the original battery. I have a 3rd battery (Fullriver AGM) for running fridge, compressor, HF etc etc. It is wired through an Arrid Twin Charger, so is not able to be pulled into the winching process (thank goodness).

Several of our club members have long ago got totally p!ssed-off with the various solenoids, smart chagers etc etc that seem to have proliferated in recent years. They all seem to let you down eventually. Also, deep cycle batteries are not really designed for the types of uses most 4 wheel drivers put them to. They cannot be ideally charged by an alternator......but that's all another story and one which ends up creating a few hissy-fits among some of the contributors to this forum; so I'll say no more on that subject.

Those club members mentioned in the previous paragraph, have simply fitted 2 cranker batteries wired in parralllel (same as what I've done), but they don't have the "luxury" of the 3rd battery that I use. They have been finding that the 2 big cranker batteries can quite easily cope with the full load required of them for fridges etc. One of these blokes (Pesty), uses a 110 litre Waeco fridge and has not been having any dramas since....(except if he doesn't drive his rig very much).

So, to summarise......for winching I suggest you use the starter battery (as a minimum requirement). Ideally, have 2 cranking batteries connected in parrallel without any gizmos in between them.

Cheers

Roachie

thanks all sorted out a few things looks like the bleep is on me