Author Topic: Anchor Winch Wiring.  (Read 2954 times)

Trundletruc

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Anchor Winch Wiring.
« on: July 14 2020, 11:36 »
Bavaria 36 2002. I will need to replace our Anchor Winch but the yacht is in Greece so I can't start dismantling things to see exactly what I will have to do in order to connect the wiring. (The old winch suffered from corrosion due to being mounted directly to a stainless steel strengthening plate!!)
The new winch, which is the same model as the old one, has the 3 wires coming out of the casing and about a metre long. I have dismantled the rear case of the winch to see if these can be detached so that the present wires can be attached instead? Unfortunately, the wires appear to be soldered directly inside the electric motor so no chance.
My question is - did Bavaria put a connection box somewhere in the front of the boat, either behind the front panel of the forward cabin or behind the cupboards?
Certainly the wires on the my new winch are not long enough to reach the relay unit behind the instrument panel or did Lofrans make special winches with long wires for Bavaria?
If anybody has experience of this I would be delighted to know so that if I need to buy some sort of connector I can get a good one before I go to Greece again. (Whenever?!)
Serendipity

Salty

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Re: Anchor Winch Wiring.
« Reply #1 on: July 14 2020, 13:52 »
Those wires pass below the horizontal mounting plate inside the chain locker, then through a hole in the aft bulkhead of the chain locker and into a narrow space between the aft bulkhead of the chain locker and the two lightweight removable panels at the forward end of the Vee berth in the forward cabin. Your boat is the same size and age of my B36, so it’s unlikely that the setup will be any different from mine.
Within that narrow space, you will be able to join in to the original cables that run from the solenoid Located behind the switch panels at the chart desk.to that space, and most likely you can join the new windlass cables directly to the original supply cables.
The panels across the forward end of the Vee berth are held in place with cross head screws, each fitted with a creamy white coloured plastic cover over the tops of the screws. These covers sometimes tend to ping off and might be lost so take care not to lose them as there is a deep void space that is difficult to access, but which you can see into from the forward cabin. On my boat ithat space contained a quantity of water which I was able to extract using my engine oil vacuum pump to remove it.
Once the screws are out you will be able to remove those two lightweight panels, one at a time. They are a bit of a struggle, and even more so when putting them back after the job is done, but they will go back into place. Take care not to damage the soft plastic covered lining material on the face of those panels.
The hole through the aft bulkhead of the chain locker for routing the power cables is sealed using a good quality sealant (Sika) which in the first place you will have to cut it away to get the old cables out, and after putting your new cables through it you will then need to reseal the hole which tends to be out of sight when looking from the chain locker, but relatively easy to get at from the forward cabin. Some medical rubber gloves are handy here to massage the sealant into place.
Regarding connecting the wires together, if I remember correctly the wires are fitted with an eye or ring connected crimped on at the ends which are joined by using a bolt. There is no connector box as such, and in fact on my boat I found those wire connections were not  even insulated and were hanging loose where it might have been possible for the wires to touch and short circuit with consequent risk of fire. Having found that situation I covered the connections with self amalgamating rubber tape. This stuff is slightly sticky, but as the name suggests once it is bound tightly to the cables and to itself the rubber fuses together with each layer.
If you have to travel taking your new windlass with you, it could be worthwhile to have the fittings for the ends of the new cables crimped on in readiness for when you get there if they are not already fitted. Obviously the size of the crimped fittings are important, and I do not recall what size wires were used as I didn’t have to replace the main cables. I did have to replace the signal cables used for the up/down hand controller I had at the time. Those signal cables (two + and one -) only carry a very small current to enable the solenoid switch to operate and from that solenoid back to the windlass, the main cables for the current are sized like those used for an engine starting motor. The signal cables for the up/down directions do not actually connect to my Lofrans windlass Which I am assuming you have, though if you have a different windlass your situation may be different from mine.
I hope the job goes well for you.

Symphony

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Re: Anchor Winch Wiring.
« Reply #2 on: July 14 2020, 14:00 »
Salty just beat me to it. That is exactly the same arrangement as on my old 2001 37, so pretty certain yours will be the same. Assume it is a Lofrans windlass, in which case suggest you paint the base of the windlass, remove all the stainless fastenings one by one and put back in with Duralec on the threads. Discard the foam gasket and make a solid replacement out of HDPE (kitchen cutting board) to minimise any future corrosion. Lofrans suggest you remove the windlass from its base every year and clean it, but that is a bit OTT, but still worth keeping an eye on it.

Trundletruc

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Re: Anchor Winch Wiring.
« Reply #3 on: July 15 2020, 10:30 »
Thanks to both of you for your detailed descriptions. That is exactly what I needed. Now I can get myself prepared for when we go out to Greece - whenever that is?- probably next year.
The winch has obviously been off before as the hole in the aft bulkhead, under the winch, has not been properly sealed up, so i can now do the job properly! I think I might find a junction box big enough to take the load and connect the cables with that. If that doesn't work then its back to the bolts and tape.
Thanks both for your help, That part of the boat is the only bit I have never had to work on!
Serendipity

Symphony

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Re: Anchor Winch Wiring.
« Reply #4 on: July 15 2020, 10:54 »
I think if I were doing the job again I would replace the bolt arrangement with posts such as these bluesea.com/products/category/28/3/PowerPost_Connectors/PowerPost

Salty

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Re: Anchor Winch Wiring.
« Reply #5 on: July 16 2020, 07:25 »
Going back to my earlier reply, regarding the signal wires, i think I was wrong in suggesting one of the wires was negative. With hindsight I think that they are all positive wires, one to take the positive current forward to the controller(s), and one each returning the positive up/down signal back to the solenoid. Sorry for the confusion.

Trundletruc

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Re: Anchor Winch Wiring.
« Reply #6 on: July 16 2020, 09:50 »
Thanks Salty. The previous owner did away with the usual plug in remote system. It now lives in one of the cupboards in the front cabin with a coiled extension cable. When we need it we past it out of the front hatch. Works fine like this, have to be careful if it's raining when we open the front hatch!
I will have to sort out where the wires go when I get in there.
Serendipity

Symphony

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Re: Anchor Winch Wiring.
« Reply #7 on: July 16 2020, 11:30 »
That is the arrangement we had on our 37, after finding out the hard way that the curly wire can get caught up in the chain if you are not careful (I would say stupid, but it was my daughter rather than me who was operating the windlass at the time!).

The real solution is a wireless control. on my new boat I have not even unpacked the plug in remote, but have a fancy Sidepower wireless control that does both the windlass and the bow thruster.

Salty

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Re: Anchor Winch Wiring.
« Reply #8 on: July 16 2020, 19:30 »
Thanks Salty. The previous owner did away with the usual plug in remote system. It now lives in one of the cupboards in the front cabin with a coiled extension cable. When we need it we past it out of the front hatch. Works fine like this, have to be careful if it's raining when we open the front hatch!
I will have to sort out where the wires go when I get in there.
Serendipity

Yes, I too have done away with the old handheld system. It wasn’t working properly when I bought the boat back in 2010. At the time I thought the problem was just with the hand controllers, (there were two of them onboard), but upon investigation I found that the original cable which consisted of plain copper wiring, had corroded under its plastic sheathing throughout the cable’s entire length from the chain locker all the way back to the solenoid. I pulled that cable out and replaced it with tinned copper wire, fitted a new three pin socket just inside the top of the chain locker and purchased a new (eBay) winch push button hand controller which like you is removed when not in use but which I always put out prior to anchoring. In addition I have a separate (eBay) radio control system which cost less to buy than the hand held winch controller, but which allows me to operate the windlass from anywhere onboard. I could perhaps have done away with the new plug in hand controller, but like a lot of ex seafarers aware of the doubtful reliability of electrical systems that may be exposed to the elements, I thought it better to retain the belt and braces, just in case !!