Hi.
So… the windlass was serviced and worked fine (all within 24 hours). Boat is on the hard with chain and anchor dropped. The windlass brought the chain and anchor up without issue. As workmen are leaving, behold … windlass not operating … probably 60mins in between. They are finding a draw of only 9v in to the windlass. All this time shore power is connected. The batteries were checked and the digital feedback was they were below a threshold and should be replaced (thinking 580 clicks out of 1,000 … I cannot remember what the numbers were). When I said I wanted to replace with lithium soon, main man said that they should be ok for the 6 more weeks in the water. During the period that the windlass was operating, the battery voltage did not drop below13.2v and I have now turned shore power off and voltage is 12.69v (runnig from solar)
The question - is this a battery issue even when connected to shore power ? Or what ?
Thanks for any and all help.
The windlass pulls a lot of current. The charger may keep up with the current draw when on shore power. My victron 3000 can supply 100 amps when charging. It could possibly supply that to the windlass, but in reality the bulk of the power comes from the batteries and is the topped up from the charger.
If there is a huge voltage drop it must be investigated. That kind of voltage drop will cause a huge hotspot in the system. A thermal camera will instantly show where the voltage drop is, as it will be hot. The traditional way to find it is with a multimeter.
If the battery voltage did not drop while you were using the windlass, but the windlass was only indicating 9 volts there is obviously a voltage drop somewhere. Check in turn, the voltage on the windlass circuit breaker with the windlass running and not running. voltage on the supply cable to the windlass with the windlass stopped and running. Then the voltage on the out terminal of the relay with the windlass running and not running, the voltage on the supply lug on the windlass motor. One of these should show a voltage drop. Determine if it’s just loose or corroded.
If there’s corrosion, cut the connecting lug off the cable then strip some cable back. The cable wires should be bright. If they are black, keep cutting until you have bright clean wire. If it’s too short, replace the cable.
Hopefully it’s just a loose cable.
Also check the earth cable, but if it’s indicating a voltage drop. It’s probably on the supply side.
If the windlass is trying to operate on 9 volts, it will overheat, as the amps required will increase.
In my experience if something goes wrong straight after ‘maintenance’ there is a huge chance that the two are related… I call it ‘maintenance initiated failure’.
I don’t buy the weak battery line - it might be weak but I doubt it’s the cause.
You say the workmen were leaving after an hour - do you know what they were doing in that hour? I would try to work out if that could be a clue as to what changed.
Also what “servicing” was done? Was the windlass removed/electric motor opened/brushes replaced?
Weak batteries won’t cause a voltage drop at the windlass but not the battery - as Mike says I suspect wiring connections. I would initially suspect any connection that was part of the servicing work.
If you have a non-contact thermometer gun and you can get the windlass to run for a while then you can check the temperature of each connection to see if any get hot - or even do that by hand.
What did the workers work on?
To wind back… the windlass leaked oil and this initiated the service. We assume a seal had given up the ghost… nevermind that last year a service had been done .. but of course whether they changed seals or only the carbon brushes, who is to know.
All great.comments..and maintenance initiated failure … it is such a real thing unfortunately
Sadly… they were also working in the bilges and left saying they were working. Best way to check they are working … chuck some water in… not working … and lights for bilges and grey water now both go on with the flick of one switch. Now my eye is twitching … agh !!
They are in my boat tomorrow, remedying… delaying my launch. I get to enjoy the Ionian beaches a bit longer
