Combine truck to camper charge capability with winch feed?

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
Well, the first thing that strikes me is that it's a winch in a cradle. That means hitch receiver. That means, when the winch is in use in the rear, the trailer won't be hooked up, which means running the winch off the trailer batteries is probably a nogo.

Unless the winch is being used in a hitch receiver in the back of the trailer.


So I would probably...

Leave the factory alternator wiring alone, it's adequate for whatever the alternator can be expected to produce.

Run big wire from engine battery through 500a rated ACR, then Y to front/rear of truck Anderson connectors.

When engine is off, front/rear Andersons are dead unless the ACR is forced on. When engine is running, front/rear Andersons are hot unless the ACR is forced off.

Front can be used to power winch. Rear can be used to power winch or charge trailer batteries.

If winch is used in front and the trailer is connected - AND - the ACR is forced on, the power will flow from engine battery (cranking batteries are better for short duration high amp winch pulls), supplemented by whatever the alternator can produce, further supplemented by the trailer batteries.

Which shouldn't be necessary unless doing all day winching. But even then, electric winches have duty cycle ratings and mandatory cool down periods...the trailer batteries probably won't actually be needed.

Unless the engine is stalled. In that case, the trailer batteries might save the day. Maybe. Depends on how much winching is needed to save the day.



The trailer could also be wired with Y cable and front/rear Andersons. Probably easier to use a marine battery switch as a disconnect instead of bothering with an ACR.

And the trailer will need a front Anderson anyway to charge the trailer batteries off the truck.

If there is a hitch receiver on the rear of the trailer, then the winch could be powered by trailer batteries, engine battery and alternator, or if unhooked from the ruck, trailer batteries alone (for a while anyway).
 

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
An alternative would be go from engine battery and then Y - one to front (always hot) and then through ACR to rear (switched).

By feeding the winch through the ACR, the ACR has to be forced on, or it will disconnect when the winch pulls the voltage down.

Doing the Y before the ACR, forcing the ACR on wouldn't be needed when the winch was in front, but would be needed with winch in rear.

If the ACR was left in auto, then when front winching the trailer batteries wouldn't get involved unless you chose to force connect them.



I'd probably go with my first method - just let the ACR auto shutdown both front and rear, and then force it on when needed (winching, rarely needed) and use all the power I had available to feed the winch.
 

ripperj

Explorer
The camper and associated AGM bank (12 v 224 AH) is pretty much permanently in the truck bed

Thanks for the detailed reply, I'll read it again and see if it applies to my situation

I ran a #1 awg from the Alt to the starter battery, but removed it from the starter batty and currently have it on the ACR ( which is not connected to anything )



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ripperj

Explorer
Somehow it took me all weekend, but I got my rear wiring run. The wiring kit I got was a little misleading in that it only includes the positive and relies on the frame for the negative.
I wasn’t looking to throw any more money at it at this time so I went with it. I did take the time to make 3x4” copper plates screwed to the bare frame( bright and shiny with 60 grit on a grinder) installed with dielectric grease and SS hardware.

I need to make a couple short jumpers for the ACR and associated fuse block.
I did remove the wimpy negative to frame wire and replace with beefier.

All the wires are in loom and taped. The crimps are all done properly and covered with Ancor adhesive marine grade heat shrink. Sucks up lots of time
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