Vetus Alexander Windlass

[Silar]

Dear all.

Our Dutch Gruno 1050 from 1986 has a Vetus Alexander installed. I haven´t used it very often but now it will not free fall when I release the brake. It rotates slowly a couple of inches and then just stops. I am beginning to suspect a lot of old grease might keep it from free falling. Pulling in is no problem.

Would love to hear from any of you with experience of this windlass.

Greetings from west coast of Sweden.

Thanks, Björn

 

[Simi 60]

Hi,
pull the cones, clean and regrease.
10 minutes.
Then you'll know.

 

[psneeld]

have had mine apart numerous times.

just back the brake wheel till it comes off, pull the outer cone, wildcat and inner cone off, clean and lube lightly if you want,

I havent lubed, but may try it next time I have it apart.

 

[Silar]

Hi psneeld.

I unscrewed the bolt holding B and managed to remove B, H and D. Lots of old sticky grease in there. But how do I remove C and G, no bolt on that side. Obviously G is the one I really want to get to.

//BjAa

 

[psneeld]

To remove C an G, lock the pawl and just unscrew C by turning counterclockwise.

 

[Silar]

Unscrewing was really tough but now everything is greased up and running really well. Thanks!

 

[Rebel112r]

There is a spring loaded dog on the inside, accessible from other side that should be checked also. It is a little more work. The shaft on mine needed cleaning up for the dog gear to work as designed

 

[Silar]

Yes as this pic shows I needed to take the other side appart to be able to lock the rotating chaft. What is the purpose of this dog wheel?

 

[Rebel112r]

Safety feature to prevent tearing up windlass under extreme loads. Probably time to wipe out old grease and put in new.

 

[Silar]

My Vetus Alexander was wired for hauling in only by use of a simple solenoid. I found info in the user manual that a polarity shifting solenoid could be used to get both hauling in / letting go functionality. So I bought a Lewmar Solenoid that has this feature and connected it according to the schematics.

My problem is that the DC motor does not move when the polarity is reversed. I have measured voltage on the terminals on the motor and it is shifted when I flip my switch to UP or DOWN but motor only rotated in UP mode, in DOWN nothing...! As if there was a big fat diode inside the motor.

Anyone who has successfully wired their Vetus Alexander for UP/DOWN ?

 

[psneeld]

I did, picking the correct solenoid for a 2 wire motor was important.

Yours doesn't look like mine.

I will look later for the model number.

 

[Silar]

Yes I know the solenoid is very important and I know that I have the right model. It is called Lewmar P/N 68000939 and it can handle any 2 wire motor. And it works fine shifting polarity on the 2 output terminal studs.

But my motor is only rotating in one direction and not the other.

 

[psneeld]

Sorry can't help as I have the Imtra control box.

Could your windlass motor have been rebuilt at some point?

Try switching the red and black from the windlass directly to positive/negative heavy leads and see if it reverses.

 

[Silar]

Just a quick video to show how the dc motors runs fine in one direction but when the solenoid reverses the polarity, there is just the sound of silence! First DC motor I have come across in my +50 years that can´t be reversed.

 

[psneeld]

What is the black sheathed wire that almost looks like it connects both red and black posts?