# Battery/Winch question.............



## Flingit1200s (Jan 24, 2010)

I got the 54" Provantage mounted to my AC 400 4x4 and knew that a storm was coming and had no time to order a winch. I found one locally at the farm store the brand is Grip 3000lb. I'm sure its a cheap Chinese job (paid $115). Plowed for about 4 hours yesterday and all of a sudden the winch wouldn't raise the plow. I parked the machine and let it idle after a few minutes the winch worked again. My quad is a 2008 Arctic Cat 400 that was new in the box. The battery had never had acid in it until I picked it up but it is an OEM battery. Did I run out of battery? Overwork the cheap winch? Do I need a second battery when plowing? What are your thoughts?

Thanks
John


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## matstang (Dec 17, 2009)

First thing I'd do is check voltage at the winch when it fails again. If you've got voltage there, then that eliminates your battery, winch switch and contactor assembly. (Tells you the winch motor is bad.) If you've got no voltage at the winch, check voltage at the battery. From the sounds of it, I'm betting on a battery problem! Let us know what you find!


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## MRadke (Sep 25, 2009)

Flingit1200s;980438 said:


> I got the 54" Provantage mounted to my AC 400 4x4 and knew that a storm was coming and had no time to order a winch. I found one locally at the farm store the brand is Grip 3000lb. I'm sure its a cheap Chinese job (paid $115). Plowed for about 4 hours yesterday and all of a sudden the winch wouldn't raise the plow. I parked the machine and let it idle after a few minutes the winch worked again. My quad is a 2008 Arctic Cat 400 that was new in the box. The battery had never had acid in it until I picked it up but it is an OEM battery. Did I run out of battery? Overwork the cheap winch? Do I need a second battery when plowing? What are your thoughts?
> 
> Thanks
> John


If the winch has a high no-load amp draw, you will quickly deplete the battery to the point where if the winch operates at all, it does so slowly. Running too many lights while plowing makes the situation worse. I finally got fed up with my old Superwinch, which had high amp draw, and installed a Warn 2500. The winch speed and battery life are night and day different. You really need to watch the amps for extended use, bigger isn't always better.

Also, I ony use a single 55 watt headlight and a single 55 watt reverse light for plowing. Keeping a good battery tender on it when you are not using it will also help. Here also, you need to watch the amperage. I had a Shumacher automatic 2 amp that would consistantly boil out my battery over the course of a winter. I switched to a battery tender junior, which charges at .75 amp, and have had much better results.

Hope this helps.


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## Flingit1200s (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks for the replys. They all help but the problem was something totally different. I hooked the plow back on and lifted it and there was a bang. The motor tore itself off of the winch and was hanging by the cables and the planetary gears were on the gorund! I needed to finish plowing so I returned the winch to the farm store and they gladly gave me a new one. I guess I got what I paid for.............hopefully this one will help me finish the carwash lot tomorrow. Thanks again for the help guys!

John


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## JN16184 (Dec 30, 2006)

I just put a winch on my Rincon 3 weeks ago. Gander Mountain has super web specials on Warn winches. Plus, enter "gander15" in the promo code box and get another 15% off the sale price. I got the Warn XT 30 for about $340. It comes with synthetic rope and a wireless remote. 

Cheap winches are, well, cheap...


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## 06Sierra (Nov 30, 2008)

Good price on the Warn. Gander mountain always has some good deals!


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## JN16184 (Dec 30, 2006)

JN16184;981063 said:


> I just put a winch on my Rincon 3 weeks ago. Gander Mountain has super web specials on Warn winches. Plus, enter "gander15" in the promo code box and get another 15% off the sale price. I got the Warn XT 30 for about $340. It comes with synthetic rope and a wireless remote.
> 
> Cheap winches are, well, cheap...


Wanted to add....Free Shipping too.


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## Flingit1200s (Jan 24, 2010)

I definately understand that you get what you pay for. My budget is just really tight these days and I am going to have to recover a bit before I can spend $300+ for a winch. Thanks for the suggestions though.


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## the_experience (Feb 28, 2007)

If you find yourself needing a cheap winch in the future I'd look at Harbor Freight. They are junk winches, but I paid $60 for mine with the 2 year extended warranty (it was $75 without it, go figure). It's slower than my old man's $400 Warn and just plain doesn't work as well, but at $60 you can't beat it. The wireless remote is actually really nice when you're winching yourself out of somewhere, but is kind of a pain with a gloved hand.


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## Flingit1200s (Jan 24, 2010)

I'll keep that in mind. Originally when I ordered the plow I ordered a 3000lb $99 smittybuilt from JC Whitney but it is backordered until Feb 13 or so. The smitty seems to be one of the better low cost winches in the jeep forum community. With the snow this last week, I needed to plow. The second Grips winch finished the job yesterday with no problems. Now I need to decide wheather to cancel the smitty. Try and return the grips and keep the smitty or ditch both and get one online....gorilla, venom, viper etc. Any thoughts?


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