Replace Lorfrans windlass motor?

[Shuggy]

My 1000w Lofrans Kobra windlass has started to work only when the case of the motor is encouraged with a hammer. The motor casing's a bit rusty now, so is it feasible to replace the motor or have it repaired? Has anyone done this? It seems to me that the motor is probably a relatively small component part of the overall price of these things (about £850 at the mo).

Thanks.

 

[pvb]

Get the motor overhauled by an auto-electrician. Chances are it might just need new brushes and a clean.

 

[TQA]

Get the motor overhauled by an auto-electrician. Chances are it might just need new brushes and a clean.

Likely to be a sticky brush. Easy fix either DIY or the auto electrician, if you can find one. I can recommend a cracker if you are in Grenada.

 

[ffiill]

Take end off motor removing brushes first if removable.
Carefully clean commutator end where brushes contact with very fine wet and dry.
Clean out grooves with something like a wood toothpick/sausage stick.
Place wet and dry on perfectly flat surface and gently square up ends of brushes or replace if worn out.
Worth knowing that brushes can be bought by size as well as by product-length,breadth and height.Similarly there tend to be standard motors sizes and dimensions which will fit a variety of products.
There is also usually one motor repair/rewind specialist in any UK town.
Reassemble
Surflow pressure Pump;Starter Motor;angle grinders ;electric drills-all these have gone again in similar circumstances once cleaned up.
I have never ever had damaged wiring in comutator
Jobs a good un!

 

[eagleswing]

more things to try to fix the windlass..

imtra corporation now carries the lofrans US phone 508 995 7000 -ask for the service advisor. have your wiring diagram handy, it is available for your windlass on the imtra website.

windlass things to check before pulling the motor for rebuild:
--i assume you checked 5 amp fuse and circuitbreaker and they are both good. (these are on the red positive power supply wire common to both foot switches up and down.
--on some motorboats there is an additional circutibreaker for the windlass, often located very near the engine compartment or battery supplying the windlass. energize the windlass switch and try tracing the voltage from battery into windlass switch and into windlass control box. if you are getting zero volts look for a second circuitbreaker which may have popped out (looks like a small black box with a little side arm that comes out when breaker pops. push the arm back in to reset.) (this hidden 2nd breaker is a common install in the usa when lofrans windlasses are installed on big motor vessels and may not be shown on the wiring diagram from lofrans.).
---on my lofrans tigres model (on a sailboat) there are 3 wires going into the control box, one from a down footbutton switch (blue) and one from an up footbutton switch, (brown) and one for + voltage. (red) there is also a large ground. i don't know how your up and down controls are wired on your model. on mine there is a common red feed supplying power to 2 footbutton switches , 1 for up and 1 for down. up motion of the motor is controlled by a brown wire out of the up button into the control box for the motor , and the down by a blue wire from down button into the control box. the common power supply wire to both buttons is red, and has a 5 amp fuse and also a circuit breaker.
--you can disassemble the foot buttons and clean the contact plates to make sure the circuit is being completed properly from the footbutton into the control box. on my tigres model, the windlass quit working. i found salt corrosion on the plates of the footbuttons. since neither up nor down footbutton was working, i erroneously assumed it was the motor when in fact it was 2 bad switches. after cleaning both of the switches at the pressure plates, the motor worked fine.
-- note also that the windlass wont work if the battery supplying it can't put out enough volts and you may assume it's the windlass's fault.. there is a cutoff voltage for these windlassses , below the cutoff, the windlass will not work. if the battery voltage is too low, even if the up button switch is good, the motor wont work. did you try running the engine while powering the windlass?

--these lofrans are very heavy units and i'd be surprised if yours has a motor problem this early. if you have sufficient power into the motor (USA 12.8 volts+) and it has a good ground and good + circuit from the up switch it should work.
look at the circuit diagram from lofrans and let us know how yours compares.

if you decide to take apart the foot buttons to clean the contacts, tape a cloth under the anchor well area of the buttons to catch any loose parts falling off the foot switches.

let's say only one button is not working, usually the up. to see if the whole control box is bad, or only one switch, you can swap the electrical leads . ie disconnect hot into the up button, use the down button's hot wire to connnect into the upbutton. if the up now works, it's a bad switch on the up button. if neither button works, check out the control box.


if the circuit checks out and the switches are working, see if you can feel a circuit breaker getting really hot. if so it suggests the motor may be hanging up and the thermal overload of the c / breaker will be a symptom. at that point, think of pulling the motor , cleaning and and redoing the brushes as suggested in a previous post.

and let us know what you find out....

 

[Shuggy]

Thanks for replies. I suspect the brushes could easily be the culprits as a quick tap had it going albeit not in top form. I'll investigate!