DC motor/battery/solenoid info needed

[ronsonn]

I know very little about electric motors (my expertise is landslides!) and need some basic information please bear with me.

I am trying to power a winch with a dc motor and need to figure out what I will need before I make a purchase. The type of winch I am looking at is fairly expensive so I'd like to know as much about it as I can before spending the money.

The application will require a winch with a DC motor and the model I am looking at draws a load ranging from 35 to 100 amps. I am not putting a full capacity load on the winch so I prob won't be drawing anything close to 100 amps and if I do it prob won't last even a minute I will probably be drawing 50-60amps for most of the time it is operating. I need to operate the motor for about 5 minutes at a time for a minumum of 4 times and preferably 6-8+ times before recharging the battery

I currently own a deep cycle battery has an amp hour rating of 99 and the manufacturer's rep says it will run a 107 amp load for 30 minutes.

The motor comes with a 100 amp solenoid to control power to the unit.

my questions are:
1)what is the role of the solenoid in operating the motor and interfacing between the battery and the motor?
2)what gauge of cable or wire should I use for connecting everything (distance between the battery and motor will be about 10 feet) and how does the length of the wire affect it?
3)how do I estimate out how long my battery will last before I will need to recharge it?

 

[OperaHouse]

There is something called the Peukert Effect that you may have noticed in your statement "deep cycle battery has an amp hour rating of 99 and the manufacturer's rep says it will run a 107 amp load for 30 minute." As you can see, the 100AH battery turns into about 50AH at higher currents. To have long battery life, you don't want to drop below 50%. Car batteries should stay above 80%. I would use a target figure of about 35AH for that battery.

 

[aolalde]

1- The solenoid operates the interrupter or contactor capable of handling the current (inrush and operation).
2- Best option is to select the cable to handle the full load ( 100 amperes) copper #2 AWG 75 °C cover.
3- You should recharge your battery as OperaHouse recommended. For 60 amperes load, t = 35(AH)*60(min)/60(amp) = 35 minutes, that means recharge the battery after 35 minutes operating with 60 amperes.