with the winds and storms that we had a week ago my quad and 3500 pound winch have been getting a workout. when I am using the winch I put it in park put the parking break on and have the tach on display when "reeling in" with a load I raise the RPMs to ~2000. if used (typically when done and have someone hold the cable with a small amount of tension on it but continuous input power) the lights on speedo flash and battery light come on) with little to no tension on it should it put this much drain on it? is there anything I can do to help this?

 

Using your winch alot with heavy loads can really put a drain on the battery. It shouldn't cause what your describing after just one or two uses but repeatedly working the winch, It's possible that after a couple uses the winch could be pulling more juice from the battery than the charging system is putting back at an idle. If you work the winch hard on a regular basis I'd consider going to a duel battery set-up. Also a good battery tender will help maintain your battery to it's full potential and extend it's life.

 

I do have and use a battery tender. how would I go about a duel battery system? where would I put a 2nd battery?

 

Warn Industries - Electrical Accessories for ATV & Side X Side Winches: Dual Battery Control Kit

 

thanks for the information I will be looking into this trying to figure out though where would I put the 2nd battery any suggestions?

 

You could mount it in your rear box I'm sure that box is always on there .

 

There are a couple guys out there that make kits for duel battery set-up. http://www.t-m-2.com/

 

It does not take much to make this light come on. Just accessory lights will do it at idle sometimes. Don't worry about it unless it is killing your battery to the point that it will not restart.

 

no the box is not always on there depends on what I am doing if I am riding 2 up for any reason like back to the pond fishing with the wife or checking the food plots with my hunting buddy I take it off if I need the extra hauling space and know I am only riding by myself I leave it on so its on there about 50/50

 

so here is a question if I get a battery box (one of the plastic ones with a cover) and put a deep cycle battery in it strap it down when I know I will be using my winch can I wire it to plug into my battery tender cable? so instead of plugging my battery tender in I would plug in the spare battery (I know that they would need to be wired the same pos to pos neg to neg) will this give any adverse effect on the quad?