windlass problems

[steve 1001]

my windlass has stopped working, I can hear the relay closing at helm and foot controls on bow.
this happened once before and I tapped the motor with a wrench and it started working . Does anyone know if its the motor or relay. Its a marlin windlass, but lafrans 500w 12v motor

 

[Todd320]

My relay has 3 small posts on the bottom, and 3 larger posts on the top. I hooked up 12v to the left and center small connectors, then measured resistance between the two larger posts above (should be no resistance, or very little). Repeated for the right. Once I cleaned the relay and fixed one of the posts, I was getting little to no resistance between the posts when powered, and the circuit was open when not powered. Once I did this, my windlass started working again.

 

[steve 1001]

Thank you ,
I will give that a try .

 

[Zeusmt]

My relay has 3 small posts on the bottom, and 3 larger posts on the top. I hooked up 12v to the left and center small connectors, then measured resistance between the two larger posts above (should be no resistance, or very little). Repeated for the right. Once I cleaned the relay and fixed one of the posts, I was getting little to no resistance between the posts when powered, and the circuit was open when not powered. Once I did this, my windlass started working again.

What do you mean you cleaned the posts?

 

[Todd320]

I’m sure you are aware, but in case others are curious, when Activated, a metal plate is driven upwards and connects two of the metal posts, that’s the loud click you hear when trying to engage your windlass. Because current flows from one post, through the metal plate, and out the other post, carbon will build up on the plate and the bottom of the posts, also, the metal posts and plates will get corroded a bit. I took apart the relay, cleaned off the corrosion and carbon with a small wire brush or sand paper. In my case, one of the posts had moved due to melting of the plastic housing from extreme heat, so I had to fix that to get the plate to make contact with the posts.
Below is a “before” photo, you can see the right post has some corrosion, and you can even see how the post on the right is tilted, this was causing it to not make contact.