Winch attached to R1T trailer hitch

[DrBad]

I've always had a winch on my Jeeps, has come in handy many times. I kept my Warn 10S from my Gladiator, attached it to a trailer hitch winch mounting plate and got things setup today. Works great. I looked into tapping into the truck 12V and running to a plug in the back but a quote by 4WP put it between $600-$700 so I went with a 12V Deep Cycle AGM battery, quick release clamps for the winch power, and a trickle charger plugged into the a/c outlet so the battery will stay topped off while I'm driving. I am aware of the irony of basically being in a giant driving battery but needing a 12V car battery to run my winch but oh well. This is a lease so I'm trying not to do too many add-ons that I can't take off when I turn the car in.

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[Thedude]

Nice.

Some things to keep in mind based on the table below. You’ll need to run about 70’ of line out to pull the truck on level ground and about 90’ to pull it if stuck. That battery will last for about six minutes or 30’ pulled at full load, which is what you’ll need to pull a stuck R1T.

 

[DrBad]

Nice.

Some things to keep in mind based on the table below. You’ll need to run about 70’ of line out to pull the truck on level ground and about 90’ to pull it if stuck. That battery will last for about six minutes or 30’ pulled at full load, which is what you’ll need to pull a stuck R1T.

A little simplistic on the math but yes, a stand-alone battery will have limited time driving the winch and winches draw a lot of power. Most winch pulls are not pulling the full dead weight of a truck but assisting in pulling out of or over a tough spot. And a good chunk of my winch use is for non-vehicle activities like fallen trees or lowering a friend into a mine shaft. Yes, that happened ?

 

[elatrickWheels]

This is probably a very ignorant question, but I’m intrigued. Are you saying that you were quoted ~$600 to build an adapter from the two leads you show clamped to your external 12V battery to a plug that fits in the 12V socket next to the two hitch? Or is it a matter of power limitation from that outlet?

 

[DrBad]

This is probably a very ignorant question, but I’m intrigued. Are you saying that you were quoted ~$600 to build an adapter from the two leads you show clamped to your external 12V battery to a plug that fits in the 12V socket next to the two hitch? Or is it a matter of power limitation from that outlet?

The $600+ was to connect directly into the trucks 12V battery and running heavy duty wiring through the vehicle to a plug in the back by the trailer hitch. As you can see from the table above, a winch can draw a lot of current, up to 400 peak amps, so it needs to be connected directly to a 12V battery with heavy gauge wire. All the built-in outlets, including the trailer hitch plug, have current fuses much less than 400 amps. The battery I’m using has 530 amps cold cranking capability and the 80 amp-hours means it should be able to power the winch for a decent amount of time.

Another option I considered was hooking into the truck’s 12V in the frunk with some kind of battery terminal access, then using a temporary heavy gauge extension to get to the winch at the back of the truck when needed. If I were putting in a frunk plug, or probably if I were purchasing the car vs leasing, this would be a way to go as well without breaking the bank for an occasional use item.

 

[Mathme]

I'd say your setup is likely better because the 12v batteries in these truck are TINY and wouldn't be able to handle that kind of load. Rather than a trickle charger, why not go a stronger 120v charger for your winch battery and drive that charger off the inverter? The inverter in the truck will take up to 1500watts which should be plenty to run something more than a 12v trickle charger.

 

[DrBad]

I'd say your setup is likely better because the 12v batteries in these truck are TINY and wouldn't be able to handle that kind of load. Rather than a trickle charger, why not go a stronger 120v charger for your winch battery and drive that charger off the inverter? The inverter in the truck will take up to 1500watts which should be plenty to run something more than a 12v trickle charger.

You mean to supplement the battery while winching? That's a pretty good idea, 1500W at 12V is 125 amps which could extend the winching time. Something this could work and could potentially give 100 amps and would be useful to have to jump start ICEs off the Rivian.

And yeah, I wasn't sure what kind of 12V juice we can get out of the truck battery, another good point.

 

[elatrickWheels]

DrBad, good answer re the 12V circuit. My next question was similar to Mathme’s. Get a 120V AC one (designed for a garage) and plug that into the 120V outlet in the Rivian. But can a winch designed for a garage fit on to a trailer hitch adapter and is it suitable for off-road winching applications? (I’m going to start googling now!)

 

[SwampNut]

There are two terminals in the wiring boxes over the batteries that are labeled 300a. So I think this means Rivian would have engineered for that? I wonder if it would be possible to get them to answer this.

 

[DrBad]

DrBad, good answer re the 12V circuit. My next question was similar to Mathme’s. Get a 120V AC one (designed for a garage) and plug that into the 120V outlet in the Rivian. But can a winch designed for a garage fit on to a trailer hitch adapter and is it suitable for off-road winching applications? (I’m going to start googling now!)

Still not enough amps going through the 120V outlet to run the winch, 1500W at 12V equates to 125 amps, assuming no losses. But probably enough to keep the winch going indefinitely for normal type uses with a 50-100 amp a/c charger.

As far as connecting to 300amp terminals, assuming there's a 300 amp fuse in there, I'd be wary of blowing a fuse.

 

[Thedude]

A little simplistic on the math but yes, a stand-alone battery will have limited time driving the winch and winches draw a lot of power. Most winch pulls are not pulling the full dead weight of a truck but assisting in pulling out of or over a tough spot. And a good chunk of my winch use is for non-vehicle activities like fallen trees or lowering a friend into a mine shaft. Yes, that happened ?

Tell us more about lower into a mineshaft, that sounds interesting.

 

[DrBad]

Tell us more about lower into a mineshaft, that sounds interesting.

We have some property in South Park, Colorado, which has a few abandoned mine shafts. We've sent some cameras down to take a look, it's pretty solid rock, and my friend wanted to go down into it. So we lowered him down with his climbing gear using my Jeep winch. It's about 50' striaght down. There wasn't much to see, we think it's a mostly natural vertical cave that they opened up into at the top. My neighbor has a similar one that he put an outhouse on top of, ha. The hill we're on is like leftover debris from glacial retreat. And yes, I know, this is not the smartest thing to do, I declined.

 

[SwampNut]

I noticed you said "lowering" but not "raising."

 

[SSteveEV]

...my winch use is for non-vehicle activities like fallen trees or lowering a friend into a mine shaft. Yes, that happened ?

And back up again?

 

[Jerk]

I’ve been trying to find a winch solution for my R1T, thanks for the post!

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