Windlass FAILURE by myself [Sailing Uma - Step 146] 

I keep wondering where all the videos of 'things taking a dive into the deep' are.

Very good suggestion... I have installed 14 of these for boiler pumps and they work great but they will come at a premium cost though. Good luck

A simple capacitor would absorb the initial voltage spike and make the contacter last longer

I agree... the area where the brushes contact was burned up in specific spots as if the motor was unable to turn and it just juiced the hell out of it with your new batteries.

Same thing i was thinking.

Yes. @0:58 he speaks about "being able to use really small wires to the bow". So this will probably happen again.

Haha. Yeah I didn’t have any of our normal graphics. They’re all on Kika’s laptop.

Ours does, and we do. We just loosen the clutch mechanically and the chain drops with gravity. Much faster than using the motor anyway.

The windlass has one built in to the base already.

The motor isn't on long enough to create any heat. It only take about 1 minute of run time to bring in our chain and that is split up over multiple short bursts.

Sage Durand n

Impressed how you make items work for your needs.

Dan's gonna be an old man someday dialing in his own pacemaker.

The solenoid is rarer for 12v and 250A. The motor only draws 23A at 48v. So it should be well under the rating of the contractor. Still, only using the windlass for hauling the anchor in, and dropping it with the clutch is even simpler.

@@SailingUma -- Ah, I think we had some miscommunication. It was never my intention for it to sound like I was suggesting you source a 12v part. What I was trying to convey is... (1) I didn't mean the solenoid that you ended up with was no good. You made an excellent choice. I meant you could add a second one if you want reverse. A pair of them would give you power-out and power-in. I agree that it is simpler to use the clutch, but you sounded like you were lamenting the loss of power-out in the video, hence my suggestion on how to add that function it back. (2) It is highly unlikely that the voltage is what burned you. I'm not posting this part to be pedantic (although I'm well aware I'm coming across like that "Well, technically..." guy, and that feels gross.) There just seemed to be some interest in doing some failure analysis and I think the voltage is a red herring. Here's why I think that... For such a simple device as a relay/solenoid/contactor, it is highly unlikely to be the problem. I mean, inside it is basically a conductor. As you know from wiring your boat and choosing wire sizes, for a given power level, a device designed for 12v necessarily must be able to handle 4x the current as a device designed for 48v. As you say, a 12v 250A solenoid is a rare beast for good reason. It is much simpler and cheaper to build a device that can transmit the same power at 62.5 amps and 48v (or 31.25 amps at 96v and so on.) The idea that a 48v = more power isn't in itself true. Voltage isn't power. True, we often choose a higher voltage so that we can transmit more power for less expense, less voltage drop, etc, but without looking at the amperage we can't know anything about the power level. For example, rub your feet on a carpet and touch a doorknob and you'll have 250,000 volts coursing through you. Voltage alone is only half the picture. (Yes, I'm one of those annoying nerds that see the battery powered tools in their marketing game of writing their voltage in bold letters all over their product and think "that doesn't tell me anything useful, is it higher wattage?" I mean, you could easily design a product that was 18v but less powerful than a 12v device, or had no difference in power for that matter.) The old motor was 48v and didn't burn out the solenoid. You said in the video that the new motor was more powerful. That just leaves amps. That isn't to say the suggestions to look at forklift/golf cart solenoids isn't a good suggestion, just that the voltage isn't likely the smoking gun you're after. My guess is that the new motor was pulling more current through the solenoid. (3) I was commending your MacGyver solution that you ended up with, not poo-pooing it. Servicing it and sourcing parts will be much simpler in the end. Like others have suggested, you'll be able to find simple single-throw solenoid/contactor of adequate power rating anywhere they have forklifts, golf carts, etc. I'm sure you'll be able to find a wireless switch that you can wire up to your solenoids' contacts too if you want the wireless feature back, but by keeping it modular, if it fails, your whole system won't fail. Anyway, good work Dan, both on the boat and with the video. You put out a good video this week. Didn't even notice or care that it was iPhone footage. Guess that's a tick in the column for "quality content trumps production values."