Anchor Winch Trips out easily?

[Kai Rani]

Hi all
my anchor winch trips out quite easily which is frustrating and very inconvenient.
it self-corrected itself last time so i wasn't able to see where the problem was 

i checked to see if the curcuit breaker was open it was not  
did i read something about a relay near the alternator that has some issue that might be associated with this problem

thanks in advance Jeremy   

[Tafika II]

Do you have the engine running? It must be runnng and slightly raved up to operate.

[Kai Rani]

hi Brent yes im aware the engine must be running ive just had it idling while raising it previously 
should i have more revs say 1200 rpm 
it never seems very powerful before it trips out 
would that relay be suspect that controls the fan and anchor 

[MickeyB]

How much chain do you have out? I never have a problem in 10m or less, but it can be a lot of weight if deeper.  Also, when was the last time you serviced it/oil etc?

Does the chain wheel freewheel happily if you unlock it?

I think the revs etc is not the problem, as the MACHINE is pulling too many amps, tripping something.  The amount of amps put back into the batteries is not the problem IMHO.

Just my pennies worth.

Mike

[SaltyDog]

Can you measure the current with a DC clamping ampere meter (200A range)? It could be that the windings in the winch have shorted due to overheating (melts the insulation away). If that is the case it consumes a lot more (and continues to overheat) than normal.

An example would be the "UNI-T Digital UT210E Clamp Ammeters Temperature Voltage Tester LCD AC/DC NCV True Rms Multimeter", which can be used for many other electrical Sherlock Holmes work as well.

[MickeyB]

That's a very good point SaltyDog.  I was thinking of grime causing sticky operation, but shorted wires will do the same job!

[zaphod]

Sept 14, 2022 4:48:40 GMT Kai Rani said:

Hi all
my anchor winch trips out quite easily which is frustrating and very inconvenient.
it self-corrected itself last time so i wasn't able to see where the problem was 

i checked to see if the curcuit breaker was open it was not  
did i read something about a relay near the alternator that has some issue that might be associated with this problem

thanks in advance Jeremy   

By "self correcting" I assume you mean the windlass started to work again without having to reset anything.

A lot of motors have internal thermal protection that cuts out power to prevent burning out the windings in an overload situation. Those internal switches will close once the windings cool off.

How long have you had the boat? Is this something new, or has it always happened?

Aside from the possible maintenance issues already mentioned, how you use the windlass could be contributing to the problem. I have seen a lot of people use the windlass to pull the boat forward rather than putting it in gear and letting the engine move the boat forward so that the windlass just has to lift the chain.

[Kai Rani]

Sept 14, 2022 8:53:23 GMT SaltyDog said:

Can you measure the current with a DC clamping ampere meter (200A range)? It could be that the windings in the winch have shorted due to overheating (melts the insulation away). If that is the case it consumes a lot more (and continues to overheat) than normal.

An example would be the "UNI-T Digital UT210E Clamp Ammeters Temperature Voltage Tester LCD AC/DC NCV True Rms Multimeter", which can be used for many other electrical Sherlock Holmes work as well.

HI all thank you for the feedback and suggestions 
I'll see if i can borrow a DC clamping meter to check this out.  the winch is clean. i only had 10 metres out it sounds like its struggles with the load .
Kai Rani is 2006 model i have a 27 kg anchor with 35metres of 10mm chain  
the tripping out has happened twice now. 
will check that the free wheel is working correctly 
apart from that were loving the boat 

Jeremy

[Maravilla]

We found that there is an additional fuse forward next to the anchor locker.  They get corroded after a while.  We pulled it, sanded the contacts lightly and reinstalled.  Has worked great since then!

[Mistroma]

I had problems when the boat was only 14 months old. The windlass failed with a lot of chain out. I discovered that the voltage seemed fine at the windlass but collapsed to zero as soon as I tried to being in the chain. I made a shorting link from aluminium across the trip and the windlass worked perfectly. It could be swung into position to bypass the trip and got me home.

I found lots of signs of arcing when I chopped up the trip. It had ant-arcing features inside but they di not work well enough. I replaced the trip with a Carling unit after a lot of checking. I chose one with s similar max. current but much longer trip delay on overload. That's worked well and I haven't had problems since replacing it in 2010.

[Kai Rani]

HI Mistroma
i will check that out when im next on  Kai Rani 

i appreciate all the feedback you all have given me 
when it fixed and working correctly i will let you know of the Fix 
Jeremy

[Kai Rani]

Sept 14, 2022 4:48:40 GMT Kai Rani said:

Hi all
my anchor winch trips out quite easily which is frustrating and very inconvenient.
it self-corrected itself last time so i wasn't able to see where the problem was 

i checked to see if the curcuit breaker was open it was not  
did i read something about a relay near the alternator that has some issue that might be associated with this problem

thanks in advance Jeremy   

hi All just following up on the anchor winch problem , it tripped out beacuse i had too much tension on the anchor free fall brake and ive also changed my retrieval technic.  really braking anchor out the ultra 27kg really digs in thats for sure 
thankyou all for your advise and suggestions 
Jeremy