Lofrans Tigres Winlass

[rogerthebodger]

A couple of weeks ago there was a posting about a Lofranse windlass being reversed while still running and stoped working in one direction.

This week end that also happened to my windlass and I would like to contact the previous poster.

In my case I have disconnected the motor from the Lofrans relay and the relay is OK but the one connection seems to be open circuit so I think the motor is blown.

Has any one has a Lofrans motor rewound or is it a replacement job.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I tried in vain to get a Lofrans motor rewound about 5 years ago in the end I got a new one (ouch) to ages to arrive from Italy via the importer EMS I think.

 

[Billjratt]

Interesting, I missed the previous thread but I have a Lofrans and fitted a centre-off two-way toggle switch in the wheelhouse. If I go through the 'off' position by mistake, it trips the 80amp breaker. I assumed it was adding a generated back-emf to the 'new' reversing voltage, thus increasing the current flow. Didn't think it would damage anything though. I was annoyed by having to reset the trip, now I'll be happy to....
Have you actually opened the motor and had a look. If it's just a joint that's blown, you may be able to repair it.
a 'quick flash' type of damage is often out in the open, as the wire heats up quickly - unlike the winding which has a greater heat-sink capacity and takes longer to cook to destruction.
An added thought : I took the base plate off mine before installing, to drill a drain hole in it. I seem to recall it had three brushes, so if it's OK in one direction, it could possibly be simple.(brush or field rather than the armature winding)

 

[Mudisox]

Mine went like that and needed a new relay switch, although when I took th eold one off and the dog had picked it up to chew I shouted at him and he dropped it. The relay then seemed to work ok so presume it had part welded itself to the contact. Original damage caused by fool standing on both up and down switches simultaneously. Try this first before re- winding route.

 

[ytd]

When ours stopped working in one direction it turned out to be a corroded socket for the plug in controller. New plug and socket fixed it.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Took the motor off yesterday and checked it on the bench directly across a battery.

In one direction it runs OK but does not run in the other.

Checked continuity with a multimeter and both direction show continuity.

Will take it to a friend who does motor rewinding and will report back.

 

[danielefua]

I had that problem once and found that the culprit was a loose fixed-field (stator) coil. There are four, if I recall well, each fixed by a large Phillips screw that can be seen on the outer lateral surface of the cylindrical motor body. With time, if not well tightened, they may get loose and let the coil touch the rotor. For some reason I did not study further, it affected strongly only one direction of rotation. The condition was easily fixed using an impact bit driver to tighten the loose screw.
If you continue having the problem I have a Lofrans Tigres 1kW spare motor.
Daniel