Windlass Doesn't Operate -Battery Arrangement

Final answer: corrosion positive bus bar (I hope I have the terminology right) adjacent to the house battery. This took a while to figure out, during which process a preliminary conclusion was that the windlass motor was bad. Manually, we could operate the windlass with a winch handle, but flicking the switch caused the house battery volt meter to go all the way down and all of the cabin electronics to shut off (motors were not running during any of this investigation, nor was the shore power activated). The only problem was that the volt (amp) meter was showing the proper amount of resistance for a good motor. To my mechanic friend -- indispensable to have if you know as little as I do and own a boat -- tried various things and found out that turning on the cabin lights would also cause the house battery voltage meter to go as far down as would register and knock out everything for awhile. So he went back to the batteries and was dismayed at the condition of the positive bus bar, and, after removing the battery and cleaning all the corrosion, we flicked the windlass switch and it worked like a charm. Lots of loose connections were found in the process, so there is more work to do, but the mystery is solved. Thanks for all of your help and encouragement.
 
just throwing this out

.... if you have wing nuts on your batteries' terminals, I recommend replacing with hex nuts, flat and lock washers per terminal and lube with dielectric grease.
 
I see a possibility of two problems. First, the electronics issue. I had this happen to me intermittently, until I replaced my main breaker. (On my boat, it was located in the Starboard rear compartment.) I think it's both a thermal and manual style breaker.
The other problem I'm guessing is either in your windless switch or the windless itself. If it's shorted, then the windless breaker should pop. (If not, you should replace that breaker!) My windless stopped working, froze up hard. Tore it apart to find out that 1 of the case magnets inside it had broken lose and jammed in the motor. I cleaned it all out and epoxied the magnet back to it's place. All good! :-) (If you have a wrench to turn your windless, you could start with that. If it's jammed, you won't be able to turn it!)
Colby
 
dread":24d9f9q9 said:
Final answer: corrosion positive bus bar (I hope I have the terminology right) adjacent to the house battery. This took a while to figure out, during which process a preliminary conclusion was that the windlass motor was bad. Manually, we could operate the windlass with a winch handle, but flicking the switch caused the house battery volt meter to go all the way down and all of the cabin electronics to shut off (motors were not running during any of this investigation, nor was the shore power activated). The only problem was that the volt (amp) meter was showing the proper amount of resistance for a good motor. To my mechanic friend -- indispensable to have if you know as little as I do and own a boat -- tried various things and found out that turning on the cabin lights would also cause the house battery voltage meter to go as far down as would register and knock out everything for awhile. So he went back to the batteries and was dismayed at the condition of the positive bus bar, and, after removing the battery and cleaning all the corrosion, we flicked the windlass switch and it worked like a charm. Lots of loose connections were found in the process, so there is more work to do, but the mystery is solved. Thanks for all of your help and encouragement.
Click to expand...

Colby, he fixed it already! I think we can quit helping! :mrgreen: :roll: I definitely agree with Brent though, we should all get rid of our wing nuts. I think I'll keep Sally though!

Charlie :roll: :mrgreen:
 
Not sure why I didn't see his "fixed" msg before writing my help msg. But I suspect it had something to do with my slow style of writing. (You know, when you open a window, then go do something else, then come back to finish a while later... plus I have to be one of the slowest writers around... :-)
 
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