Paid top dollar for a used McLay. Hull is in good nick but Minn kota is dodgy, trim motor needs repair and now I find the Lone Star winch has shat itself which really hurts.
It drops the anchor no worries but won't go the other way, even with no load. Old mate from Lone Star says it's seven years old and is at the end of it's life span. What!
Anyway, he said try tapping it wiht something soft to get it going but that's not working and my head is sore.
Any ideas in the short term if anyone has seen something like this before? Why is it going one way and not the other?
Thanks.
its a long shot.. we had a client buy a second hand boat with a lonestar winch
(note ive been selling/installing/dealing with lonestart for 11 years)
and it was wired with undersized cabling . as such going down "not a big issue and didnt really show much symptons to his eye.. but obviously under load coming back up was just too much for the cables.. so.. id def check the cabling if it was DIY job by the previous owner
Thanks Moose, It isnt under load though, just won't respond to the up switch at all. I called a marine man and he said could be the solenoid?Originally Posted by chocolatemoose
maybe worn brushes,pretty simple to fix/check.
If the winch only has two wires going into the motor, the fault is most likely the solenoid, the wiring or the switch itself. Can you use a multimeter? The solenoid will have 3 or 4 big terminals and 3 small terminals. Small terminals first. Typically one negative, the other two being the positive trigger for up and down respectively. Should get 12 volts between the negative small terminal and either one of the up or down terminals when the switch is pushed in that direction. Take the anchor and chain off before you start playing with this stuff preferably so you don't break things.
I don't even know where to start. Where would the solenoid be20210508_144458.jpeg20210508_144450.jpeg20210508_144440.jpeg
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Somewhere between the switch and the winch. The winch motor only has two electrical connections. As a test, reverse them and try the down switch again - the winch should go in the up direction.
It should look something like this, just follow the wiring from your switch till you find it, with luck possibly a nut has come loose.
When you push the switch in the up direction, can you hear a clunk anywhere? Much like the clunk of a starter solenoid coming in when a battery is flat. If you can't, the switch is the first place I would be looking.
Shiek, is it just me or is there no wiring to the winch motor (middle photo) ?? if that's the way it was on the boat I'd assume the "drop anchor" is free fall and anchor up won't work cause the cables have been disconnected !!!
Regards
Frank
Frank, still needs power to disengage the gears for a freefall.
Sorry you're right, I've taken the power off to try to get inside it but I can't, I did reverse the wires and it pulled a bit of rope up bet then stopped and the switch was only clunking then, No reaction at the motor. I was hoping the reverse polarity might have just led to a shut down and that somehow it's still just the solenoid, and also maybe a shutdown with the switch that was a protective measure if that makes sense.
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No, there was nothing. It would run out but not pull up until I reversed the wires, then it pulled up about a metre until I let the switch go, then it wouldn't go again, but clunks at the switch, which it wasn't doing before a reversed the wires.
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The reverse polarity to the winch motor is how the direction of drive is determined. This is what is normally done by the solenoid. The only thing that should stop the winch is the circuit breaker. Sounds like you are going to need someone who is at least familiar with the use of a multimeter. Nothing thus far is a conclusive sign of what is wrong. About the only thing left you could try is to hook the winch directly to a battery.
It will draw a fair amount of current. Make sure the cables are firmly connected to the motor terminals so the threads don't get damaged by arcing then touch the other ends to the battery terminals. The motor should run one way. Reverse the polarity, it should run the other.
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