New Windlass install problem

[Andrewc]

I'm replacing my old windlass with a Lofrans Tigres. My old windlass was a two wire Lewmar. The Tigres is a 3 wire install. I have the old positive and negative wires coming into a juction box. I have mounted the Lofrans control box next to it . I followed the wiring instructions as best I could. I've run the power wire from the juction box to the middle bolt on the new control box. I ran the negative cable from the middle bolt on the windlass to the negative side of the juction box. Lastly, I ran wires from the two outside bolts on the windlass to the two outside bolts on the control box. No joy. I wired the windlass directly to the juction box, but I can only get the windlass to work in one direction. What am I doing wrong?!?!

 

[Gdavid]

Do you have a picture of your wiring when you had it routed through the solenoid. It should work when you mirror what is in the paper diagram. You need to ensure the sender signal wire is run to ground. Once you have it set, I would add a fuse or breaker between your junction box and the solenoid.

 

[SteveK]

was your old Lewmar one direction only, power in, freefall out? The new one is both power out and in.

 

[Bmarler]

If the old one was Two wire you probably changed polarity to change directions. This on being three wire must be dual wound with windings for each direction.
The solenoid will energize one terminal or the other depending on command signal.
Doublecheck to see that the foot switches are providing good signal to the solenoid box.
It’s such a simple system, as long as you follow the diagram it’ll work. Unless there’s a defective part.

 

[Andrewc]

I've attached a drawing of how I wired up the new windlass. The original two wire windlass had the wires from the windlass going directly to the juction box.

 

[psneeld]

That sketch looks OK, are the foot pedals and or multiple controls wired OK?

 

[Andrewc]

The foot pedals are not hooked up to the new control box. Their wires go through a bulkhead and must terminate at another point. I rarely use the pedal and just use the switch at the upper helm. There is also a switch at the lower helm.

 

[Gdavid]

The foot pedals are not hooked up to the new control box. Their wires go through a bulkhead and must terminate at another point. I rarely use the pedal and just use the switch at the upper helm. There is also a switch at the lower helm.

We need to see how you connected these, to the 3 spade terminals of the solenoid.

 

[Circumnavigator]

I just went from 12V to 24V on a Tigres, so I replaced the motor and the control block.


First check would be to make sure the center control terminal on the control block is negative 12V (ie grounded). Then try a hot wire on the outer control terminals, one at a time. It should go up and down. If not, you have a problem in the heavy wiring -- either it doesn't match your drawing or one of the wires is open (unlikely in heavy wire).


If the windlass doesn't move or moves in only one direction, you have a problem in the control wiring which you'll need to test. The center control terminal on the control block should always to to ground. The control(s) should switch a positive lead to the up and down terminals. So, check each control to see that the center terminal is positive and that it switches on one or the other of the terminals as you push it. If that doesn't find a problem, you probably have a break in one of the control wires.


Jim

 

[bowball]

My solenoid got stuck once and the chain would only play out. A few minutes cleaning it got it to work again. If you reverse the wires does it work in the opposite direction only?