Expert: Everett Peacock - 1/4/2012

Question
A long-time friend and fishing partner was planning to surprise me with an electric winch for Christmas.  He changed his mind because he was not sure what capacity was needed.  As it turns out, I'm glad he didn't go ahead with the surprise.  
My first thought was, "Where is the power going to come from?"

The particular winch he had in mind came with a power cable outfitted with alligator clips for a battery connection.  The supplied cable is a little under 10 feet long.  My boat is a bass boat, nearly 18 feet long.  I tow it with an SUV, which is also more than 10-foot bumper-to-bumper.  Therefore, the power cable won't reach any existing power supply.  

My next thought was to ask "Can the alligator clips be removed and replaced with the standard 4-pin plug typical of a trailer wiring harness?"  It's already there to run the trailer lights.  It would be a simple process to unplug the lights, plug in the winch, then reverse that process once the boat was properly loaded.  Granted, only two wires would be used, but if wired properly, those two would supply power to the winch.

My concern is the power output of the wiring harness, whether or not it carries the full 12-volt power supply AND whether or not the entire 12-volts is needed to run the winch.

So, will it work?

Thanks for your time.

Fred

Answer
Do not use the wiring from the car,  you would either have to install a battery on the trailer or hard wire from the battery to the rear of the vehicle..
There may be 12 volts from the trailer wireing ...it would not Handel the amps needed to run the winch and would more than lilely burn the wiring harness of the vechicle...good call....

Boatman
Docksidemarine12@aol.com