Anchor winch remote

whiteoaks7

whiteoaks7

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 Nov 2002
Messages
570
Location
South Wales, UK
www.seasolutions.co.uk
Like many people I bought one of these things for my windlass. It worked for a while then decided to latch up on either recovery or deployment (ie when I took my finger off the button the winch kept running). Before I throw good money after bad I thought I'd ask for your experiences of this kit.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Wi...9FQ0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1343734758&sr=8-5

The only alternative I've found (apart from the maker's silly priced stuff) is one from Maplin which is significantly more expensive than this offering from Amazon.

So - all anecdotes are welcome...

David Berry
 
theoldsalt said:
I bought one off ebay recently. I haven't fitted it yet but I haven't heard of any bad feedback online.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_t...3&_nkw=winch+wireless+remote+control&_sacat=0
Click to expand...

Yes, I did the same, fitted it in March and so far (touch wood) it works fine. A couple of points though:

1. I had to uprate the inline fuse, as the very small one for the 'plug in' control was prone to blowing after prolonged use, and

2. There is a slight delay between button push/release, so be careful when anchor is about to self-stow.
 
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I have used one all this season: work very well and are simple to fit, 2 remotes included:
I guess they wont last too long in a marine environment, but if they both pack up, they are so cheap I will order another set
 
Not being much impressed by the commercial options available I bought a change-over switch, a matching windlass switch (centre biased 1 - 0 - 1), severalmetres of shipwiring cable, the necesary conectors and a waterproof box and made my own. Apart from replacing a faulty up/down switch this year it has functioned perfectly for eight years now.
 
I've had the maplin one for a few years now, still not much money and was easier at the time just to pop in and get one. Worked fine so far, though the receiver is in a nice dry place.

latching sounds scary :eek: Never heard of a latching mode, sounds like a nasty fault.
 
I hev just sorted out a Simpson Lawrence winch which had been badly wired reulting in approximately 60 amps going through a microswitch rated at 5 amps.

Having taken the "Up" footswitch to pieces and filed it in the marina skip, I bought a new one, and looked at the wiring diagram for the SL winch.

Their diagrams includes footswitches, joysticks and remotes, of the wired kind, and the wired remote uses exactly the same microswitch as the footswitch, but on a long piece of string.

Firstly you would need to have the unit to pieces, and identify the microswitch in question, getting a replacement from RS or Maplin. You will need to solder it in.

If on the other hand the remote is wireless, then you are dealing with a much more expensive ball game
 
Bought the identical unit off eBay, I too have had two seasons of quite heavy use, never a problem. As a single-hander who usually always anchors while cruising, an essential piece of kit for me, especially recovering the anchor in strong winds and using the engine to take the weight off the chain. I now never use the original plug-in switch.

Unlike a friend's boat that I once delivered that had an expensive version with the battery only activated when the IN/OUT buttons used, this one needs remembering to physically switch on and off. But for this price, I can live with that.
 
I've also got the one shown, left on the fore deck overnight in the rain earlier this year. Dried out and still works perfectly. Great bit of kit and much easier to use than foot switches.
 
eBay remote here. Works great, cheap construction, but well.....it's cheap so I guess that make sense.

The only slight problem is the minimium operation time. A short stab of the button on the remote leaves the windlass working for much longer. This means the minimum amount of chain you can pull up is about 1m which is too much when trying to "park" the anchor.
 
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