I just bought a 12 volt winch from Harbor Freight that came with 50" of
10 gauge wires: two that go to the winch and two that go to the
battery... all coming out of the hand control. I really need more like
16 feet of length to do what I want to do with it, which is to mount it
to my utility trailer and use it to pull my motorcycle up onto it.

As it is, it takes two of us to load it. I'd like to be able to do it
by myself, so I'll need to hang onto the bike at the same time as I work
the control. The utility trailer is 10' long with a loading ramp on the
back of it.

I was contemplating replacing the 10 gauge wire with 4 gauge wire. What
do you guys think?




Jay

Jay Hanig wrote:
I just bought a 12 volt winch from Harbor Freight that came with 50" of
10 gauge wires: two that go to the winch and two that go to the
battery... all coming out of the hand control. I really need more like
16 feet of length to do what I want to do with it, which is to mount it
to my utility trailer and use it to pull my motorcycle up onto it.

As it is, it takes two of us to load it. I'd like to be able to do it
by myself, so I'll need to hang onto the bike at the same time as I work
the control. The utility trailer is 10' long with a loading ramp on the
back of it.

I was contemplating replacing the 10 gauge wire with 4 gauge wire. What
do you guys think?

What's the current draw under load supposed to be?

--

On 6/20/2010 2:48 PM, dpb wrote:
Jay Hanig wrote:
I just bought a 12 volt winch from Harbor Freight that came with 50"
of 10 gauge wires: two that go to the winch and two that go to the
battery... all coming out of the hand control. I really need more like
16 feet of length to do what I want to do with it, which is to mount
it to my utility trailer and use it to pull my motorcycle up onto it.

As it is, it takes two of us to load it. I'd like to be able to do it
by myself, so I'll need to hang onto the bike at the same time as I
work the control. The utility trailer is 10' long with a loading ramp
on the back of it.

I was contemplating replacing the 10 gauge wire with 4 gauge wire.
What do you guys think?

What's the current draw under load supposed to be?


All the literature that came with it says is that it needs a 12 volt 18
amp-hour minimum power supply. Supposedly the motor is 1.5 HP.



Jay

On Jun 20, 2:43*pm, Jay Hanig wrote:
I just bought a 12 volt winch from Harbor Freight that came with 50" of
10 gauge wires: two that go to the winch and two that go to the
battery... all coming out of the hand control. *I really need more like
16 feet of length to do what I want to do with it, which is to mount it
to my utility trailer and use it to pull my motorcycle up onto it.

As it is, it takes two of us to load it. *I'd like to be able to do it
by myself, so I'll need to hang onto the bike at the same time as I work
the control. *The utility trailer is 10' long with a loading ramp on the
back of it.

I was contemplating replacing the 10 gauge wire with 4 gauge wire. *What
do you guys think?

Jay

Why don't you just ride it up the ramp?


Hank

On 6/20/2010 4:32 PM, Hustlin' Hank wrote:

Why don't you just ride it up the ramp?



My bike is top heavy. I'm not confident I can do that without dropping
it. If it starts to get away from me, I can't stop it. The solution
has been to always keep it under control.

Maybe that makes me wimpy but I'm older and have had a hip replacement.
I know my own limitations.



Jay

In article ,
Jay Hanig wrote:
On 6/20/2010 4:32 PM, Hustlin' Hank wrote:

Why don't you just ride it up the ramp?



My bike is top heavy. I'm not confident I can do that without dropping
it. If it starts to get away from me, I can't stop it. The solution
has been to always keep it under control.

Maybe that makes me wimpy but I'm older and have had a hip replacement.
I know my own limitations.



Jay

Perhaps you can exchange the winch for one of their models that has
wireless remote control.

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...ateg oryName=

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...ateg oryName=

and others.
--
Often wrong, never in doubt.

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

Jay Hanig wrote:
On 6/20/2010 2:48 PM, dpb wrote:
Jay Hanig wrote:
I just bought a 12 volt winch from Harbor Freight that came with 50"
of 10 gauge wires: ...

I was contemplating replacing the 10 gauge wire with 4 gauge wire.
What do you guys think?

What's the current draw under load supposed to be?


All the literature that came with it says is that it needs a 12 volt 18
amp-hour minimum power supply. Supposedly the motor is 1.5 HP.
....

I looked at one that had similar "specifications" -- at 746 W/hp, 100%
eff would be nearly 100A to get 1.5 hp. That seems a stretch for 10 ga
wire. No clue what it really might draw; is it fused (didn't see any
mention)? Might be a clue if is.

Bigger is better although one tends to presume that if supplied w/ 10 ga
it doesn't draw too terribly much over 40 A. Although NEC would limit
30 A, NEC doesn't apply so if used a high temp rate insulation, the wire
ampacity might even be as high as 50A in single conductor, air, before
it begins to seriously overheat. That's still far cry from 1.5 hp @
12VDC, though.

Can't hurt to go up in size; difficulties might be in fitting much
larger conductors to existing terminals.

--

Jay Hanig wrote:
I just bought a 12 volt winch from Harbor Freight that came with 50" of
10 gauge wires: two that go to the winch and two that go to the
battery... all coming out of the hand control. I really need more like
16 feet of length to do what I want to do with it, which is to mount it
to my utility trailer and use it to pull my motorcycle up onto it.

As it is, it takes two of us to load it. I'd like to be able to do it
by myself, so I'll need to hang onto the bike at the same time as I work
the control. The utility trailer is 10' long with a loading ramp on the
back of it.

I was contemplating replacing the 10 gauge wire with 4 gauge wire. What
do you guys think?




Jay

I might go with the existing wire and add a continuous rated
starter solenoid. Then use regular extension cord with a switch to run
the solenoid. You'd want cord that is flexible when you're loading the
bike. That heavier wire doesn't flex as well as the lighter stuff of
course.

On Jun 20, 2:43*pm, Jay Hanig wrote:
I was contemplating replacing the 10 gauge wire with 4 gauge wire. *What
do you guys think?

Jeezus, you won't be able to hold the control up with all that heavy
wire, plus it'll cost you more than you paid for the winch!

I MIGHT go 8 gauge, but I'm pretty sure that 10 gauge will be fine.
Just extend the damn wires and quit trying to overthink things.

On 6/20/2010 10:20 PM, wrote:
On Jun 20, 2:43 pm, Jay wrote:
I was contemplating replacing the 10 gauge wire with 4 gauge wire. What
do you guys think?

Jeezus, you won't be able to hold the control up with all that heavy
wire, plus it'll cost you more than you paid for the winch!

I MIGHT go 8 gauge, but I'm pretty sure that 10 gauge will be fine.
Just extend the damn wires and quit trying to overthink things.



I was in contact this evening with the guy who first gave me the idea.
He added 40 feet of 10 gauge wire to the same winch without any apparent
problems. As he pointed out, all I'm asking it to do is pull 500 lbs of
rolling stock up 4 feet of inclined ramp... something that the winch out
to be able to do without straining in the slightest. He said his cables
don't heat up.

So that's what I'm going to do, though I still plan on keeping the run
shorter.

Thanks to everybody who took the time to reply.



Jay

Will the bike bat. power the wench ?
Jerry


http://community.webtv.net/awoodbutc...oodWorkingPage

Jay Hanig wrote:
I just bought a 12 volt winch from Harbor Freight that came with 50" of
10 gauge wires: two that go to the winch and two that go to the
battery... all coming out of the hand control. I really need more like
16 feet of length to do what I want to do with it, which is to mount it
to my utility trailer and use it to pull my motorcycle up onto it.

As it is, it takes two of us to load it. I'd like to be able to do it by
myself, so I'll need to hang onto the bike at the same time as I work
the control. The utility trailer is 10' long with a loading ramp on the
back of it.

I was contemplating replacing the 10 gauge wire with 4 gauge wire. What
do you guys think?




Jay

I don't know why they have the battery wired going through the hand
control. Mine has a black and red motor going from the motor to the
battery and a small 3 wire cord going to the hand control.
My relays are in a box on the motor. It was a wireless controller that
burned out so I put a manual cord on it with a SPDP toggle switch in a
box. I made it 10 feet but could have been 20 for 50 feet.

--
LSMFT

I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months.
I don't like to interrupt her.

On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:56:58 -0400, LSMFT wrote:

Jay Hanig wrote:
I just bought a 12 volt winch from Harbor Freight that came with 50" of
10 gauge wires: two that go to the winch and two that go to the
battery... all coming out of the hand control. I really need more like
16 feet of length to do what I want to do with it, which is to mount it
to my utility trailer and use it to pull my motorcycle up onto it.

As it is, it takes two of us to load it. I'd like to be able to do it by
myself, so I'll need to hang onto the bike at the same time as I work
the control. The utility trailer is 10' long with a loading ramp on the
back of it.

I was contemplating replacing the 10 gauge wire with 4 gauge wire. What
do you guys think?




Jay

I don't know why they have the battery wired going through the hand
control. Mine has a black and red motor going from the motor to the
battery and a small 3 wire cord going to the hand control.
My relays are in a box on the motor. It was a wireless controller that
burned out so I put a manual cord on it with a SPDP toggle switch in a
box. I made it 10 feet but could have been 20 for 50 feet.

That sounds good. Short wires with the heavy load and wires to the
remote can be long with no loss.