Anchor winch

claymore

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Have ordered a new electric winch with a 1000 watt motor. Manufacturer advises installing a 150a.h. battery. The one I will run it from was new last year and is 100 a.h.
I always have the engine on tick over when up anchoring (manually) just as a precaution in comparatively tight confines of anchorages.
What do you reckon?

regards
Claymore
 

chippie

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I reckon its worth trying with what you have. If it doesnt work out you can then replace the battery with the larger one as long as the cabling is up to it. Everybody I know does the same as you, ie has the motor running when using the winch.
 

jimi

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The way mine is wired means that it doe'snt work unless the engine is running anyway. Not being a techie I'm not sure of the ins and outs but that was the way the manufacturer installed it. Electric winches are the best bit of kit on board after the kettle IMHO!
 

tome

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You'll knacker your 100 Ah battery so bite the bullet! I'm installing a Lofrans Cayman winch and have had to change mine (was 105Ah). This meant building a bigger battery box and buying a 160Ah battery to handle the load. The cables that connect it are massive beasts. You should run your engine at fast tickover to put some charge back whilst using the windlass.

Have now discovered a problem - the gipsy and drum are the wrong way round for my boat so have paused installation to scratch my head on this. Meantime work on the galley continues. Good luck
 

kdf

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You'll be fine. I put in a Lofrans last year (1000w) and ran it off a 115. Just make sure you are always running the engine and you should have no problems.
 

gunnarsilins

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Do not run engine...

....on tick over. The alternator will only deliver a very low current and most of the load for the windlass will be put on the battery.
Run the engine on higher revs, so the alternator will be able to give its rated output and you will put much less strain on the battery. I´m quite sure you can stick to the battery you have. But be careful with the wiring, preferably little bit oversize - avoiding voltage drops
 

Paulka

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I'm doing it as well.
I choosed to install a dedicated battery in the chain locker.
The new battery will be a 60 or 65 Ah one on the ground of the following calculation:
1'000 w at 12 V = 85 A
The windlass will run ... say 3 minutes at a time thus 1/20 of an hour.
To get your anchor on board, you'll need 85 A X 1/20 = 4.3 Ah.
Thus, a windlass battery works like a starter battery, and a motorcycle battery, say 20 or 25 Ah. would do it.
If you do not consider a dedicated battery, I would suggest to connect the windlass to the starter battery. The important point is then to use as "big" as possible wires to minimise the voltage drop.
There is no reason for the time being to replace your existing battery.

Good luck.
 

claymore

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No - I'm going to run a cable from the domestic battery - I have a smart alternator so tickover or above should be fine. - The responses on voltage drop are no surprise - the cable spec from Lofrans is massive and I'll be running back around 15 - 18 feet from winch to cable.
Thanks for your replies

regards
Claymore
 

andyball

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Battery capacity(Amp-hours) can be reduced by up to maybe 1/5 or more of the normal when drawing high currents (depends on battery type/make/current).

A 1000W winch, may actually use 1500W at full load.

All battery capacities are spec'd at 20 degrees C'ish - and are reduced noticeably when it's cooler than that (ignore that if you live in the tropics).

Batteries don't always deliver their rated capacity,esp when getting on a bit.

Don't assume you'll always anchor right first time- you might need 2 or more goes at it.

You may use the winch to let the anchor out , as well as in.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/>http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/</A>

is a good source of battery information
 

claymore

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Thanks for that Andy
Claymore is a motorsailor so we normally have the engine on when anchoring and I won't be winching down - just up.

regards
Claymore
 

claymore

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My old boat was a hunter delta and she sailed like a dinghy - we had a manual anchor and rarely had the engine on when leaving an anchorage. Claymore doesn't always go the way I intend so I just feel happier if the engine is on - just in case - in addition, if we have been anchored we will have drained something from the batteries so it is normal practice to run for a while just to do some charging - we also run the fridge for a while each day and then we have instruments so I just think its a good idea to put something back in before switching off for a days sail.

regards
Claymore
 

andyball

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noticed today that west marine recommend running the winch from the main battery bank(not starter), via adequately sized cables- removing weight from bows & making much larger capacity available : cable for minimal volt drop passing say 125Amps is not that much larger/expensive than size required to charge/supplement bow-mounted battery.

Also keeps battery nice & warm with the others?
 

Chris_Robb

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My anchor winch is connected to the main starter battery, to which the main Positive lead from the alternator is connected. If the anchor winch was connected to the domestic bank, the current accross the solid state splitter would probably melt it. You probably have a splitting diode between the batteries - you should check it rating. I think it therefore depends how your alternator is wired in, as to which battery you connect.

My alternator delivers all of its 100 amps when the revs are around 1000rpm, so a fast idle is needed. Tick over only delivers about 40 amps.
 

Paulka

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You're right on all your points.

That's why my battery will be 60 Ah, that's 14 time the calculated capacity, and I will have the possibility to parallel the starter battery as well, if necessary, or even all 3 batteries, through the existing "1-2-both" switch.

Of course, I consider good practice to have the engine running when leaving a mooring, using the windlass, or not.

.... And Lofrans windlasses can be powered by porridge as well! ;-) ... at least after breakfast.
 

tome

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Claymore

Here's my two non-euros on this. Windlass will take huge current and so similiar to starter motor. Deep cycle domestic batteries are built with different plate techology from engine startrers. They can handle steady 30A but not the 100A plus peaks of windlass. You'll knacker them quicktime.

Power the windlass from the start battery - it's designed to handle this type of load. Always start the engine before recovering chain and make sure the current draw won't buckle the battery plates. Hence go for 150Ah start battery if, like me, you're looking for stress-free reliability.

Forget seperate battery up front for windlass- apart from the weight it's redundant most of the time, and the one thing batteries don't like is being redundant. Plus the complication of charge wires.

Sorry to sound opiniated but I'm a year older today and foolishly feel a year wiser!

Tom
 
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