Author Topic: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working  (Read 13459 times)

Tethys

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Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« on: August 10 2012, 15:53 »
After being anchored for 2 days, on pressing the ?up? button nothing happened ? a waggle of the remote control wire temporarily produced some action.  However this turned out to be a red herring.  I?ve checked the remote control wiring with a meter (dismantled the handset to get at the other ends) and it is fine ? no amount of waggling breaks continuity!  Also there is continuity between the soldered joints on the back of the remote control socket in the anchor locker and the front of the socket.  Whilst testing all this there has been the occasional burst of action, and then nothing again.  Pressing the up & down buttons does not produce a click from the relay(s) in the Lofrans control box behind the chart table panel, so does that indicate a control box failure?  Or could it be the windlass itself?

Any ideas would be very welcome!

Regards,

Andy

KAOS

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Re: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« Reply #1 on: August 10 2012, 19:54 »
Try tapping the windlass with a rubber hammer while pressing up or down. 99.9 your brushes need changing which means dismantling the motor and the Fuse behind the stbrd salon back cushion. Check Control box sliders for corrosion and continuity between remote plug wires and the ctrl box relay. Also check the opeation of the Anchor switch and breaker on panel.
 and windlass +ve and -ve connection for corrosion.
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259021&page=2#post2779812


Reply 5: Lofrans Cayman 88 1000W 12v windlass
jpthegp replied 1 year, 7 months ago
I have the very similar Tigres - very happy - but had a similar problem. Simply took the motor case off, pulled out the bushes and emery paper on the sides of the bushes. this stopped them sticking and hasn't missed a beat since...
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Reply 6: Lofrans Cayman 88 1000W 12v windlass
ffiill replied 1 year, 7 months ago
Yes this is usual problem with any electric motor that does this-recently overauled my starter motor this way.Also had the same problem last spring with my domestic water pressure pump. Usually has a habit of happening on motor that is rarely used as in this case. As well as carefully polishing up commutator segments grooves between need carefully raking out of any debis and also worthwhile ...
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Reply 7: Lofrans Cayman 88 1000W 12v windlass
philip_stevens replied 1 year, 7 months ago
Quote: Originally Posted by ffiill As well as carefully polishing up commutator segments grooves between need carefully raking out of any debis and also worthwhile flattening down and squaring up carbon brushes. Do not rake out the grooves between segments, as this is insulator material that wears down. If you rake it out, you could get carbon conducting dust in it which will cause shorting ...
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njsail

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Re: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« Reply #2 on: August 11 2012, 01:37 »
This might be a dumb question...but did you check the windlass breaker?  I have a separate heavy duty breaker behind the starboard salon seat back.  Mine isn't on the main electrical panel.  It's a direct connection to the battery with a breaker.  I also have a Lofrans Cayman windlass.

Tethys

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Re: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« Reply #3 on: August 11 2012, 07:33 »
Thanks all, but I don't think it's the brushes, or the circuit breaker.  There is +12v on the input to the Lofrans control box (so circuit breaker ok), and when the remote control buttons are pressed there is +12v on each of the two control wires on the box, but the relays don't click.  So a control box problem?


KAOS

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Re: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« Reply #4 on: August 11 2012, 10:35 »
oK the control box should have 3 thin wireswith sliders crimped. The common and the other 2 for up and down. The common would usually be in the middle. Get a piece of wire maybe five inches long and try to short the common to either side. This way you would be acting as the switch. I find it very hard to believe the relay is gone, they are usually very hard waring. I hope you come back and tell us it worked which would mean some wiring problem between your remote and the relay.

Nigel

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Re: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« Reply #5 on: August 15 2012, 12:17 »
I find it very hard to believe the relay is gone...
I've had one die, but it was the contacts not the coil.

If there is 12V between the common (C) and the B2/B3 terminals (measured on the terminals), and the relay does not operate, then there is a fault in the unit.
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Tethys

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Re: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« Reply #6 on: August 19 2012, 09:56 »
Shorting the common (i.e. ground, middle terminal) to either of the other two would blow the low current fuse - shorting +12v to ground!

Anyway, yes there is 12v between the common & other two when either button is pressed on the remote control, so a unit fault I think.  So I've ordered a new one from Jimmy Green, who were very helpful (even emailed me a diagram of the control box) and was the only company to confirm that the box dimensions are now quite different, with a different high current terminal layout, and the control spade terminals are now on the front, not the top - see here: http://shop.adriaship.it/it/products/control-box-12v-per-salpaancore-lofrans

So here's the thing - has anyone actually fitted one of these?  There is so little slack in the high current cables that I think it may be impossible without either extending at least one of them (how) or even replacing a whole cable from the windlass?  Also not sure if the mounting hole centres are the same, so may need to drill two new holes in the side of the boat, assuming there is even room to get a drill in behind the switch panel.

Also, I have found two circuit breakers - one very near the batteries, before the isolator switch, and another behind the switch panel, I'm assuming on the other side of the isolator switch.  I don't think there is a separate breaker for the windlass - when I turn the isolator off, the main 12v busbar and the high current supply to the Lofrans control box both have 0v, indicating that the windlass supply comes via the isolator.  Any confirmation or clarification of this would be helpful.

Thanks,

Andy


Nigel

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Re: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« Reply #7 on: August 19 2012, 10:36 »
I think you will find that the high current cables will reach, so just extend the smaller cables if necessary.
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Tethys

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Re: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« Reply #8 on: August 19 2012, 11:42 »
Thanks Nigel, I hope you're right!  I will report back in due course.

Andy

Tethys

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Re: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« Reply #9 on: September 11 2012, 11:19 »
Lifted from our website:

If you think getting the anchor up manually is hard work, then try fitting a new control box! Access is severely limited even when contorted at un-natural angles, with no room to get tools in.

The new control box is not only physically larger, but the three high current terminals as well as the low current ones are in different positions than on the old model.  Andy thought that this would be a major stumbling block as there was virtually no slack in the existing wiring.  As the power drill would not reach in, he also thought that it would be impossible to drill new mounting holes.  Both these obstacles were overcome more easily than he expected.  However, once fitted, the windlass still did not work!  He had already tested both the old and the new control boxes by powering them off a separate 12v supply - the solenoids on the new one clicked away happily and the old ones did not, so although he had opened the old one and had seen no obvious wear or corrosion, it seemed that, as previous investigations suggested, this had been the culprit.  So the next day (last Sunday), it was part-way back to the drawing board.  Discovering there was +12v going out from the control box to the remote control but only +10v coming back when the up & down buttons were pressed, he realised that there must be a bad or broken cable/joint.  The most likely place was near the windlass itself, so Andy struggled to remove the panel in the forecabin.  This did indeed reveal a joint in the cable - a horrible mess mummified in insulation tape.  Unwinding this exposed 'car part' butt connectors and it was clear that the +12v wire had a break in it where it had been bent sharply.  We can only surmise that although the windlass was specified from new, it was wired not at the factory, but by the commissioning agent as it was an awful botch and not like any of the other wiring we know to have been done by Bavaria.


Nigel

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Re: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« Reply #10 on: September 11 2012, 11:50 »
The new control box is not only physically larger...

That's good, you probably have the higher current model. I assume it all works now?
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Tethys

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Re: Lofrans Cayman anchor windlass stopped working
« Reply #11 on: September 11 2012, 16:50 »
Yes, up to 1700 Watts.  It was this morning!