Passage 42, 1997: windlass not working

[Ron20324]

... the two (2) red wires, no black wire or terminal that I can identify???

The ground and hot will reverse-change depending on which direction the windlass goes. That's why no black wire.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

@Ron20324 beat me to it for the explanation. Just a different way of doing the same thing.

In order to test the electrical to the motor, ensure the two (2) lugs (shown below) are tight. Ensure the windlass control power and motor power are both on. Proceed with this test:

1. Press either the UP or DOWN button of the windlass and hold.
2. Dial your multi meter to DC voltage. AC will not work.
3. Run the leads of your multi meter from one red wire lug to the other red wire lug.
4. Report the voltage.

Once we have the voltage, we will have a better idea of what's going on.

 

[Ron20324]

Just for grins, operate the button in the opposite mode, also.

 

[fero]

Did you open the motor? I had the Leroy Somer motor on S-L Anchorman stop working twice. The problem was that the brushes loose contact with the commutator after they get worn. It is not a simple setup, I ended buying good dimension brushes with tails and soldering them into the existing arrangement. See enclosed.

 

[Irish NC]

View attachment 184132

Hello all. I discovered this thread and its quite relevant for my windlass issues. I believe I have the same wiring setup above. I've narrowed it down to a lack of power going to the rocker switch for some reason. Based on this, there might be a motor thermal cut out somewhere that has killed this part of the ciruit. I have not been able to locate it and partly because I do not know what such a thing would look like.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

Hi @Irish NC and welcome to the site.

May I suggest you start a new posting with this item to ensure you have 100% coverage of this site. Everyone will walk you right through your problem.

For now, look back at post #13 :

.................... and you'll see that the motor thermal cut out is located inside the motor. What better place to put the switch than in the overheating motor. Look for two #16 wires coming out of the motor and check them for continuity. 0 ohms and there's where you start.

 

[Irish NC]

Thanks for the welcome and quick response.

I ran 12v directly to the solenoid and it ran the motor. That part of the diagram confused me. The thermal motor cut out that is displayed twice is the same cut out that resides within the motor?

I'm currently not getting any response from the rocker button so I'm trying to back trace the power issue. I assumed the 12v power would come from my boats domestic board and not from the windlass battery.


EDIT- ahh now I see. Found this after a bit of googling. I didn't understand how the rocker button was linked to the motor itself.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

Or you can look at it like this :

As long as your #16 control wire (coming from your DC circuit breaker) goes through the motor thermal switch at some point, you're protecting the motor from overheating.