[C320-list] DOWN: Windlass, ST 60s, ST4000+...UP:~12 V in rail...

[Pat Moriarty]

OK I have been quiet long enough.............have you disconnected 
the shore power and tested? An AC voltage leak is much more likely 
than a DC if you feel it.


Pat #130


At 07:24 PM 7/10/2008, you wrote:
>Thanks for the feeback, Scott.
>
>Um, ahem... yes, I was trying to get at the windlass
>through the upper panel, not the lower... Thankfully
>Chris Burti solved that problem for me by suggesting
>the obvious (futz with the circuit breaker).
>
>I appreciate your (again, obvious) suggestion to
>disconnect the lifelines and check to see if the
>source is in the bow or stern.  I am getting the
>voltage readings with battery 1, 2, both, and NONE!  I
>get current between the stern rail and the backstay,
>the stern rail and the wheel (NOT between the wheel
>and the backstay - so I don't think the leak is from
>the mast), between the bow pulpit and the forestay
>deck plate, and between the bow pulpit and the
>windlass.
>
>Your tale of navigation light and oil pressure lamp is
>instructive.  I will continue to work (and enjoy) this
>puzzle.  I will get behind the circuit breaker
>tomorrow and see if the speaker wires are hooked up.
>BTW, is this where they might have ended up?  Perhaps
>they got hooked into the VHF (which is mounted to
>starboard side of the circuit breakers, hmmmm, it is a
>lousy VHF... maybe that's the source - can't wait to
>hunt this down tomorrow!)
>
>The weather cleared out beautifully today here in
>Southern Connecticut, and we had a great sail!
>
>Thanks,
>
>Chris Willems, "Chrysalis" #828
>
>****
>
>I had to reinstall my windlass a few years ago (the
>factory or dealer or
>PO had installed it upside down!) and my recollection
>is that removing the
>wood panel was the hardest part.  You pull it back
>into the V-berth, and
>since it is a tight fit, getting one of the edges
>loose to do this was the
>hard part.  My recollection is that you had to pull
>one particular edge
>out first, but I don't remember which one.  After the
>panel was out, all I
>had to do was roll over on my back and stick my head
>in the exposed space
>below the fiberglass panel and I was then able to see
>and reach the
>Windlass.  This is not a pleasant place to be working
>on a hot day.
>
>By the way, you are removing the wood panel below the
>V-berth shelf, not
>the one above the shelf, right?  Access behind the
>upper panel is blocked
>by fiberglass but access behind the lower one is not.
>You have to go in
>from below unless you want to start cutting panels for
>better access.
>
>I would not do anything with tools on the Windlass
>unless you are certain
>that the breaker is off.  You don't want to create an
>accidental short on
>those large cables going back to the battery.  Turn
>off the main battery
>switch before putting a wrench up there near the
>terminals.
>
>To that end, I would think about some preliminary
>first steps to isolate
>your electrical leak:
>
>First, when you say that you are getting voltage on
>the stern or bow
>rails, how exactly are you measuring?  Between each
>rail and what other
>location?  Are you running a lead all the way back to
>the batteries?  To
>the windlass?  The chainplates?  This could matter.
>
>Second, I would disconnect the lifelines from the bow
>and stern pulpits,
>remove anything else attached to the rails that might
>carry a small
>current, and then measure again in order to isolate
>the source, assuming
>that the source is a stray voltage to a single point
>on the rail /
>lifeline system.  (The lifelines could easily carry a
>voltage from the bow
>to stern or vice versa.)  This should help isolate the
>problem.
>
>Third, I think it far more likely that a voltage leak
>into the rail would
>be coming from something attached to the rail than
>from the Windlass.  I
>would be suspicious of the navigation light circuits.
>I'm not sure how
>current to the Windlass would energize the rail.
>Maybe through the anchor
>chain to the bow roller to ??? if you have chain on
>the windlass?  Another
>not so obvious path would be a connection through the
>mast to a halyard to
>the rail, or maybe some under the deck connection
>between the forestay and
>the bow rail.  These would seem to be longer shots.

Pat Moriarty
PSI Urethanes Inc
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