am new to winching and have a question

[lovebite]

I just hooked up my winch's electrical the other day and used it the first time. I couldn't find anything to pull that didn't weight to much for the first time using it other than your average maybe 5' x 5' dumpster(empty) like I have in my apt. complex. I had the ex running and started to pull and then thought... maybe I should feed some RPM's to the battery to help charge it. When I got in the ex and hit the in button on the winch the battery guage( I think might be meessed up) dropped almost ontop of the L while being reved to about 2300 RPM is this normal? it is a smittybilt xrc8 and I have a fairly new optima red top the 34/78 i think. Does this sort of thing happen normally? I just had the alt. checked and have gone over the lectrical system which I had another thread about and the system checks out fine. Any thoughts?

 

[IZwack]

I've never seen mine (TMax 9k) do that and I usually winch with the engine idling.

 

[lovebite]

I went to advanced auto and had them do the on car starting/charging system test and also took the alt. off and had them test it and it all passed. could it then be the little device on the back of the alt. no working properly ? the advance auto test only had a load of my blower, lights, and radio on, not a winch. Or could the prob be with my winch?
that is odd, our winches although different have some what similar amp draw.
mine is

line pull: no load, 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000
amp draw: 75, 195, 260, 335, 410

 

[lovebite]

could it be that the wire running from the alt. to the battery is a small enough guage that it limits the amount of power that can be sent to the battery?

 

[IZwack]

No wiring wont affect it that much. Or if the wire is insufficient, it should heat up and then eventually burn causing an open circuit.

Here's a test, do the same pull but at night and turn your headlights on -- see if they dim significantly while pulling.

 

[TarHeel085]

you could always hook the winch right into the back of the alternator, but may cause more stress on it.

 

[unclemeat]

Repeat your experiment with an external volt meter connected to the battery and then alternator. Then you can compare what actual voltage drop you have.