Rivian Mom
Active Wheeler
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2024
- Messages
- 192
- Reaction score
- 25
- Rivian
- R1S
A friend of mine recently leased the R1T, and he decided to show me what he had done to the R1T that he leased. He owns 2 Jeeps and has always had a winch on his Jeeps, which has come in handy many times. He kept his Warn 10S from his Gladiator, attached it to a trailer hitch winch mounting plate, and got things set up on Sunday. Works great.
He looked into tapping into the truck's 12V and running to a plug in the back, but a quote by 4WP put it between $600-$700, so instead, he 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 driving. I believe he's certainly aware of the irony of basically being in a giant driving battery but needing a 12V car battery to run his winch, but oh well. This is a lease, so he's trying not to do too many add-ons that he can't take off when he turns the car in.
The $600+ he spent was to connect directly into the truck's 12V battery and run heavy-duty wiring through the vehicle to a plug in the back by the trailer hitch. A winch can draw a lot of current, up to 400 peak amps, so he knew it needed 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 he's using has 530 amps of 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 he 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 he were putting in a frunk plug, or probably if he were purchasing the car vs. leasing, this would probably have been a way to go as well without breaking the bank for an occasional-use item.
He looked into tapping into the truck's 12V and running to a plug in the back, but a quote by 4WP put it between $600-$700, so instead, he 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 driving. I believe he's certainly aware of the irony of basically being in a giant driving battery but needing a 12V car battery to run his winch, but oh well. This is a lease, so he's trying not to do too many add-ons that he can't take off when he turns the car in.
The $600+ he spent was to connect directly into the truck's 12V battery and run heavy-duty wiring through the vehicle to a plug in the back by the trailer hitch. A winch can draw a lot of current, up to 400 peak amps, so he knew it needed 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 he's using has 530 amps of 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 he 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 he were putting in a frunk plug, or probably if he were purchasing the car vs. leasing, this would probably have been a way to go as well without breaking the bank for an occasional-use item.
