Nope, it's currently hooked up to my stock battery.

Even if you did, Optima deep cycle batt's are only $200.

But that wouldn't be a bad investment with any winch.

 

Thanks for the comments GarrettMoore... how are the external controls on that winch? Does it have the remote control where you can stand back ... would hate to have my head taken off if the cable snapped. What else do you like about it?

 

It's a good idea but not necessary. I replaced my battery with an Optima Yellow Top.

As far as the hidden winch mounts. I've been on trails with several people that have them and they've always performed fine. My personal preference is just that if I ever need to get to the winch, it's easily accessibleand I don't have to remove the bumper. Plus I have a much bigger variety of winches to choose from.

The pluses to the hidden winches is obviously that they are protected from damage and theft. Really it comes down to preference. But this is one area where I wouldn't try to go too cheap. When you really need the winch, you don't want to be stuck with a crappy product.

 

Most controls have a long enough lead that you can operate them from within the cab. Wireless controllers are also fairly cheap - I got the Warn for ~$125.

 

Please forgive my newbyness ignorance (my H3 is first off road veh I have ever owned). What do you mean by Are you saying the winches that are behind bumpers are completely unaccessable and if you get stuck you have to take the bumper off to use the winch? I thought the idea of the hidden one was that it worked but was tucked away for a better look.Maybe I am misunderstanding what you said, maybe you are saying is that if you need to get to the winch if it breaks or needs repair???

Thanks,

Rob

 

The controls are accessible, but that's it. If you need to get at the drum or the motor you have to take the whole bumper off. And on the Predator and DOI, you can't even see the drum too well to make sure you're spooling properly. At least on the Amstar there are holes so you can see the drum.

 

Winches are rather low maintenance items, I see no reason why it being hidden would be a problem. Probably the most realistic benefit is that of theft prevention, further more, it just keeps it tucked away nicely from any damage while off-roading, but that would seem like a rare instance with any winch setup.

And no, you do not have to take off the bumper to use the winch with the hidden systems, the only visible part is the roller fair-lead, you just keep the line ran through it, and attached to your recover shackles.

My Milemarker did come with a remote with quite a few feet of cord so that it could easily be controlled from within the cab.

It's really a no frills system, so there's nothing to be terribly excited about. It's a good system for the money, and it gets the job done.

 

You can run any winch on your stock battery. The question is, how good do you want it to run & for how long?
An electric winch can draw over 500 amps easily. On a 12 volt system this creates a big problem. For instance, even with an Optima yellow top that has 750 cca & a mean green alt thats putting out 200 amps, simple math tells us that it won't be long before the winch catchs up to the output (and passes it). This will even hapen with duel batteries (just takes a longer time. Now if your simply stuck in a snow back and need a slight tug, you have nothing to worry about. But if you have to pull the entire weight of your rig, stuck in two feet of muck, well, you get the point. All these winch manufactures tell you that their unit can pull max load up a 15% grade (or something like that), but what they don't tell you is if you have even the smallest rock or log in front of your tire everything changes. Remember, hen your stuck in mud, you not only have to be able to move your truck, but you must also overcome the huge wall of mud in front of your truck. This can easily surpass the winch rating. Also remember that the max rating is with an empty spool. Start winding and stacking cable and you loose more pulling power with each wrap. Hope this helps.

 

Are you talking about using the winch with the engine off or not? It sounds like your talking about a battery and alternator that is putting out a lot of amps and still it wont last long?

Some of the areas I have wanted to go I have been avoiding because the terrain may require a winch to get through a couple spots.

Rob

 

If you are wanting to go in areas where you think your are going to need a winch to get a HUMMER through its probubly best you do not go out without another vehicle. Lets face it. For the most part if you get a HUMMER stuck you probubly should not have been there to start with. I am also looking into the Smittybilt winch. As I am not a 4 wheeler who would need to use a winch very often. Trapper does make some good points but also keep in mind that you can usually run your vehicle when winching out and help then winch with your gas pedal depending on what your doing.

Eric