Winch attached to R1T trailer hitch

[av8or]

I think this is as good a solution as any. It’s the least complicated and probably the least expensive, I don’t see much downside to it.

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[DrBad]

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

Sure thing! Here is the winch mounting plate I used. About 1/4” gap to the tonneau cover when standing up in the back of the bed as in the picture. I ordered that 100A charger, that’s a better idea than the trickle charger, will give it try this week.

Only caveat is the tailgate would hit the top of the winch if released, so could also use about a 4” hitch drop if that’s a concern, might dent the tailgate.

 

[ssincl3]

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.

Coming from little to no knowledge of how electricity works here… but is there a way to use a power station to run the winch or do they not produce enough amps for a winch? They are the same size and weight as a car battery, power dense, and could do double duty with their multi-use functionality. Can an inverter from the power bank increase the amps if needed? Overall it would be more convenient than a car battery. I’ve been stuck twice already so a hitch winch solution for the R1S is a high priority for me.

 

[SwampNut]

Coming from little to no knowledge of how electricity works here… but is there a way to use a power station to run the winch or do they not produce enough amps for a winch? They are the same size and weight as a car battery, power dense, and could do double duty with their multi-use functionality. Can an inverter from the power bank increase the amps if needed? Overall it would be more convenient than a car battery. I’ve been stuck twice already so a hitch winch solution for the R1S is a high priority for me.

Coming from a strong understanding of electricity and batteries...lol... The battery in those devices can definitely do this, in fact, they'd do it far better than a lead-acid car battery. I would definitely not use or recommend lead-acid or AGM for this (which is lead-acid but some think it's not). The problem with power stations is that you usually don't have access to the full current of the 12v battery in them. So you get whatever its inverter puts out, which is typically in the 600-1800 watt range (but some are more or less). This requires a 120v winch. Some power stations have a "jump start" output that's fairly high powered but has limitations and protections. I've bypassed those protections on one to do what you're suggesting, and do not recommend this without strong knowledge of the danger.

Inverters do not increase amps. They increase voltage (technically they just make AC from DC, and the voltage is changed by a transformer). You'd need a 120v winch to use it from the power box's inverter, and most auto winches are 12v of course.

If I were doing this I'd use one of these batteries:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09F2LLMY3

They are ultra light, ultra high current, and last forever. I have them in my RV, love them.

 

[DrBad]

Coming from little to no knowledge of how electricity works here… but is there a way to use a power station to run the winch or do they not produce enough amps for a winch? They are the same size and weight as a car battery, power dense, and could do double duty with their multi-use functionality. Can an inverter from the power bank increase the amps if needed? Overall it would be more convenient than a car battery. I’ve been stuck twice already so a hitch winch solution for the R1S is a high priority for me.

You'll get more bang for your buck with a dedicated battery but you could make do with a power station jump starter. This one is $200 with 525 cranking amps (you need 400+) and 22 Amp-hour capacity. A similar cost stand-along battery will get you about 80 amp-hours, so you could pull 4 times longer before running out of juice. Drawing 300 amps you'll be able to pull for about 4 minutes. Maybe a simpler option for real-world occasional use, I'm not sure. It should work for a quick job and maybe if it's plugged into the a/c could go longer? Some testing would be fun to do!

 

[DrBad]

If I were doing this I'd use one of these batteries:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09F2LLMY3

They are ultra light, ultra high current, and last forever. I have them in my RV, love them.

Not enough current output with those. 100 amps, 200 amp peak. You need 400+ amps, see the table earlier in the thread. Deep cycle AGM is the way to go even though they're heavy.

 

[ssincl3]

You'll get more bang for your buck with a dedicated battery but you could make do with a power station jump starter. This one is $200 with 525 cranking amps (you need 400+) and 22 Amp-hour capacity. A similar cost stand-along battery will get you about 80 amp-hours, so you could pull 4 times longer before running out of juice. Drawing 300 amps you'll be able to pull for about 4 minutes. Maybe a simpler option for real-world occasional use, I'm not sure. It should work for a quick job and maybe if it's plugged into the a/c could go longer? Some testing would be fun to do!

To clarify: I could use a jump starter directly to the winch wires and get sufficient juice but only a few minutes of pulling power, while a dedicated car battery would give longer pull times?

Coming from a strong understanding of electricity and batteries...lol... The battery in those devices can definitely do this, in fact, they'd do it far better than a lead-acid car battery. I would definitely not use or recommend lead-acid or AGM for this (which is lead-acid but some think it's not). The problem with power stations is that you usually don't have access to the full current of the 12v battery in them. So you get whatever its inverter puts out, which is typically in the 600-1800 watt range (but some are more or less). This requires a 120v winch. Some power stations have a "jump start" output that's fairly high powered but has limitations and protections. I've bypassed those protections on one to do what you're suggesting, and do not recommend this without strong knowledge of the danger.

Inverters do not increase amps. They increase voltage (technically they just make AC from DC, and the voltage is changed by a transformer). You'd need a 120v winch to use it from the power box's inverter, and most auto winches are 12v of course.

If I were doing this I'd use one of these batteries:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09F2LLMY3

They are ultra light, ultra high current, and last forever. I have them in my RV, love them.

 

[ssincl3]

Coming from a strong understanding of electricity and batteries...lol... The battery in those devices can definitely do this, in fact, they'd do it far better than a lead-acid car battery. I would definitely not use or recommend lead-acid or AGM for this (which is lead-acid but some think it's not). The problem with power stations is that you usually don't have access to the full current of the 12v battery in them. So you get whatever its inverter puts out, which is typically in the 600-1800 watt range (but some are more or less). This requires a 120v winch. Some power stations have a "jump start" output that's fairly high powered but has limitations and protections. I've bypassed those protections on one to do what you're suggesting, and do not recommend this without strong knowledge of the danger.

Inverters do not increase amps. They increase voltage (technically they just make AC from DC, and the voltage is changed by a transformer). You'd need a 120v winch to use it from the power box's inverter, and most auto winches are 12v of course.

If I were doing this I'd use one of these batteries:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09F2LLMY3

They are ultra light, ultra high current, and last forever. I have them in my RV, love them.

Thanks for the detailed response! My concern is the lead batteries inside the R1S too. Plus it’s tough to have an additional one purpose car battery and the winch and wiring, and constantly monitoring it’s health. The 120v winches I just looked up and all under 4000 lbs so that’s also a limitation. I now will have consider hard wiring. I’m guessing the power from the 7 pin is out of the question too…

 

[DrBad]

Thanks for the detailed response! My concern is the lead batteries inside the R1S too. Plus it’s tough to have an additional one purpose car battery and the winch and wiring, and constantly monitoring it’s health. The 120v winches I just looked up and all under 4000 lbs so that’s also a limitation. I now will have consider hard wiring. I’m guessing the power from the 7 pin is out of the question too…

If I owned not leased, I would probably put the money into hardwiring, assuming there is somewhere in the Rivian that can give 400+ amps for a decent amount of time. I'm very tempted to buy that power bank, find a hill, and do a comparison with the AGM pulling my truck. The power bank would be more convenient and would serve a dual purpose as power bank and jump starter for non-EVs.

 

[Magicbus]

I’m guessing the power from the 7 pin is out of the question too…

When you see the size of the cables for a hardwired 12V winch you will no longer be guessing!

 

[SwampNut]

Thanks for the detailed response! My concern is the lead batteries inside the R1S too. Plus it’s tough to have an additional one purpose car battery and the winch and wiring, and constantly monitoring it’s health. The 120v winches I just looked up and all under 4000 lbs so that’s also a limitation. I now will have consider hard wiring. I’m guessing the power from the 7 pin is out of the question too…

Yeah, a useful winch for the Rivian is a huge challenge. I've had winches on all my Jeeps, and used them a lot, because the Jeep could really get you into trouble. But the Rivian is far more limited so it's less likely to need a winch. At the same time, it's 50-70% heavier and therefore could need even more power. The 7-pin on every vehicle is limited to either 30a or 40a, not sure which on the Rivian.

The power bank would be more convenient and would serve a dual purpose as power bank and jump starter for non-EVs.

Try the LiFePO4 that I linked to. It can jump start better than the power station, can't spill, is light, and inexpensive. The station's only benefit is the 120v inverter which your Rivian already has. The Lithium battery will pull much harder than the AGM, and much longer, while keeping the winch cooler by not losing voltage.

 

[ssincl3]

Yeah, a useful winch for the Rivian is a huge challenge. I've had winches on all my Jeeps, and used them a lot, because the Jeep could really get you into trouble. But the Rivian is far more limited so it's less likely to need a winch. At the same time, it's 50-70% heavier and therefore could need even more power. The 7-pin on every vehicle is limited to either 30a or 40a, not sure which on the Rivian.



Try the LiFePO4 that I linked to. It can jump start better than the power station, can't spill, is light, and inexpensive. The station's only benefit is the 120v inverter which your Rivian already has. The Lithium battery will pull much harder than the AGM, and much longer, while keeping the winch cooler by not losing voltage.

What about these high performance jump staters or similar that can be used as a portable power bank? What would be the easiest way to keep the LiFePO4 topped up with power? Can it just be topped up for an off-road trip? and just left at home when not in use…

https://a.co/d/4fVd98q

 

[SwampNut]

LiFePO4 batteries don't need maintenance, or more precisely, only in the span of years, not weeks or even a few months. I just checked two of mine this morning and in three months they have lost.....1-2%. One is in the generator and the other is in the power station/compressor for my dirt/enduro motorcycle.

The pack you linked to is AGM, so it needs maintenance and doesn't have as much current capability as LiFePO4. It has a pretty small battery. The battery is good for a few years where the Lithiums are more like a decade. The small battery in it will only power something for a very short time; to crank an engine, then done. Not to run a winch for minutes. Also, most jump starters have protection that won't apply power unless it's FIRST connected to a battery. I have two that I have modified to provide unprotected power.

 

[DrBad]

Sorry, but the LFePO4 batteries recommended DO NOT have enough current output to drive these winches. Max 200 amps for 3 seconds isn't going to get the job done. These are "Suitable for Trolling Motors, RVs, Solar, Marine, Camping, and Off-Grid Applications". They're not for the instant power needed to start a car or in this case, drive a winch.

 

[SwampNut]

Maybe, maybe not. There are other options too. I've used it with a small winch, but not a huge one. I've measured power usage on a winch and it's never as high as they claim. Also, current rises quickly when voltage drops, and AGMs drop voltage HARD. The lithiums do not. You will use lower current with them than with AGM. Watts are what measures work. Amps are the way we get the watts needed at a certain voltage. An AGM often drops below 11 with real loads, and the Lithium would be much higher.

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