How do electrical winches work?

In essence, electrical winches are rope winches that are powered by an electric motor. This is also where the term motor winch comes from. The motor drives the winch drum via a gear. As the rope is wound onto the drum, the attached load is pulled towards the winch. When the winch stops pulling, a brake on the winch holds the load. Of course, in order to move loads, the electric rope winch must be securely mounted on a vehicle or trailer. The mounting for the electric winch must be able to withstand the maximum traction force of the winch.

Practical requirements for operating an electric winch

Electric rope winches naturally need power in order to work 230V winches can draw power from the mains because these electric winches are fixed in place, e.g. wall mounted. 12V winches and 24V winches are almost always mounted on vehicles. Here, the necessary power is usually supplied by the vehicle battery or a battery provided specifically for this purpose. Electric winches draw a lot of current under high load, so it is important to ensure that the correct battery size and cable diameter are used. We recommend copper cable with a cross-section of 35mm². As an example, our 12V Come Up Rhino 8 with a traction force of 3.5 tonnes draws 340A under full load. This means that the electric winch consumes approximately 35Ah within ten minutes of operation. If used several times a day, 100Ah is quickly consumed. This must be taken into account when selecting the battery size. All our electric winches have a manual or pneumatic free-spooling drum. This has the big advantage that the drum can move freely when the winch rope is pulled. This makes it much quicker than if you have to slowly unwind the rope from the winch drum using the electric winch motor.

Electric rope winches for a wide range of applications

ProLux offers a very wide range of electric winches with traction forces ranging from 800kg to 6800kg. This load range means that we can supply electric winches for almost all winch applications. It is important to check the winch’s maximum pulling capacity before purchasing your winch. You will also need to consider how often the winch will be used. The motor of the electrical winch gets very warm under high load. To avoid unnecessary motor damage, the winch motor must always be allowed to cool down between uses. This prevents the electric motor from becoming too hot due to repeated use. Choose an electric winch with a pulling capacity that is well above what you expect to use. Winch motors that are not used at the limit do not get as warm and therefore take less time to cool down. Multiple loads are then no problem.