cis911

Let's just say you doing a heavy winch and don't have the best battery, now with that said would your alternator make some sort of weird noise since it's over working?

JK-Ford

As the load increases on the alternator, it increases it's load on the engine. So you will hear the engine and the alternator working harder.

jk.bushwacker

^^ exactly

SIDsjeep

ok thank you for all the input form everybody. well following a few days later after the recovery my battery was so dead with CCA it could not start my jeep but was hold a good 13.5/ 14.2 volts so i definitely needed a new battery. it was close to its 4 year mark i knew it needed to be replaced but i was waiting on my next oil change, jeep thought otherwise. unfortunately i should have used my snatch block but i sadly did not have enough line to do so after all my straps were on the jeep and to other anchor point to prevent me from pulling myself onto the truck. so i think the lesson learned was make sure i have a strong enough battery to do the job and also "feather" the winching which is something i was not doing which it does make plenty of sense. and i should probably get some sort of fuse for my winch because the last thing i want is a fire and i was extremely lucky by the sounds of it. can anyone recommend a good fuse commonly used with winches? thanks in advance also it did seem to be in a "safe mode" after the recovery, it would not let me go over 30mph fan was running on high for about 10 mins. i the pulled over shut the jeep off and then started back up and everything was normal as far as sounds,running, looks

JK-Ford

Considering the amount of winching you do, I would suggest some type of "resetable" fuse or a circuit braker . You going to find out though that this will add limitations to your winching efforts. Yes it will protect you and your Jeep. But you may have to deal with resetting the fuse. And allowing a resetable fuse to cool down before resetting. The "Type" of fuse that you should be looking for should have some type of time delay / overcurrent delay. This allows for sudden spikes that may be generated by the motor. And would allow for heavy pulls for short durations. The "Size" of the fuse is a heavily debated matter. The fuse should be rated to protect the wireing to the motor. But the motor is usually capable of pulling more amps during heavy pulls, making it difficult to justify the purchaseing and installing proper wire size for the "Full Load Current". These are the gidelines. Now here is the reccomendation.

Research and find out what wire size you are presently using and its Full Load capabilities.
Research and find the Full Load capabilities of your winch.
Pick a "resettable, time delay" fuse somewhere between those two numbers. Remember: Choose a fuse rateing closer to the wire - pulls may be a little more frustrating. Pick a number closer to the motor load - more risk involved.

The perfect solution would be wire and fuse rated to the full load of the motor. Good luck with your decision.