Wiring of Windlass

[matt_b]

Just finding out the little niggles on the Relcraft that I bought a few months a go:

It has a Lofrans Windlass with a separate battery and switch gear etc.. It is connected up to charge from the alternator, like the 2 main batteries, but it doesn't charge. On closer examination, late yesterday evening after a day out stuggling to pull the anchor up by hand!!!, I found that it doesn't have an earth back.

Q - can I just earth it back to the main batteries or is there anything special with a windlass that this can't, and hasn't been done?

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[mad_boater]

When I instaled my Lofrans winch I conected it up to my main battery bank instaling a circuit braker to the possitive side using very thick battery cable and an earth connected to the engine again with heavy duty cable. Winches use a lot of power so not to run the batteries down I only operate it when the engine is running .It is a little difficult to imagine what setup you have at the moment so I hope this will help.

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[Anchorite]

What doesn't have an earth back - the windlass to the bow battery or the battery
to the alternator? Presume it's the latter: if all your batteries are on same bank
you can bring a lead back to earth on the main bank. Check the voltage between
the two before you hook up (multimeter). It should read around 12.6Volts. Then
start the engine and check again: it should read about 14 . This indicates a
charge circuit: stop the motor and hook up...but the battery may well be dead
if the windlass has drained it dry 6 months ago...
And anyway it may not be as simple as that...

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[kazbaz2]

when you have done it check simple things lol, after attempting to stop mine from tripping out i checked all the wiring front to back then checked the motor and finally the selanoid , only to find that someone had forced the winch brake on full, still it saved getting a spark in

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