Windlass Wiring

[Mark Sutherland]

My '86 has a Simpson Lawrence windlass(Probably 5 yrs old?).  It's not working properly, but I think it's because the P.O. put a small length of 12 guage wire where there should have been 2 guage.  I'm replacing that tomorrow.  However,  I notice the tech articles all show the use of a solenoid or a contactor between the breaker an the windlass motor.  My wiring goes from the battery, to a breaker, directly to the footswitch then to the windlass motor.  No solenoid or contactor.  The owner's manual shows this as the proper installation for this unit.  Should I be concerned that I don't have a solenoid/contactor configuration?  Thanks.

[Ted Pounds]

On mine the footswitch actuated a solenoid.  There was 12 gauge wire between the footswitch and solenoid.  I don't think those footswitches are meant to handle the current draw.  I'm surprised your manual shows that your set-up is proper; unless there's a solenoid built into the footswitch....

[Mark Sutherland]

I was thinking the same thing about the load on the switch.  I did some research on foot switches and the ones I saw all said they handled 12-24V and 150+ amps. 

[2ndwish]

Ours uses a solenoid. When we were shopping for the windlass, we found that many of the manufacturers were including the solenoid switch with the windlass, a change from a few years ago. We looked at older units to save some money, but found that the high current foot switches were quite a bit more expensive than the low current versions, so it was overall cheaper to use the solenoid. The wiring is a little simpler with the solenoid since you do not need heavy gauge wires to the foot switches, which might be space challenged, depending upon where you put them. Don't know if that answers your question, but it might explain why yours is wired without one. BTW a short run of lighter gauge wire is not necessarily a problem. Our unit comes prewired with a few feet of either 8-10 gauge (I can't remember) from the motor to the solenoid.

I would start by checking all of the connections and then verifying that the switches still function. If you can, try to look at the voltage drop across the different joints and switches. A big voltage drop indicates a bad connection. You can sometimes feel them getting warm.

[Ron Hill]

Mark : I don't believe that there is a footswitch that can handle the amperage of a windlass motor.
 
Somewhere there is a solenoid in between, that opens and closes the current to the windlass motor.  The foot switch controls the solenoid.   a thought

[2ndwish]

The Maxwell P1900X series switches are rated to 150 amps.

[Ron Hill]

2nd : It makes no sense to run all of that hi amperage thru a foot switch and then back to a windlass motor. 

That's why they have solenoids!

[scotty]

One thing that Ilike about the solonoid is that I cane have switches at the bow, and at the helm.

[Fuzzy]

Mark:  Check your wiring carefully.  Maybe the 12ga. wire from the PO is correct and that wire is only the control wire for
a solenoid.  The solenoid would then handle the heavier load and would require heavier wiring to the windlass.
Just a thought, Larry