Wire Windlass (Solenoid) Directly to the House Battery or Switch ?

[Northeaster]

Hi Folks,

I have a house bank (2 batteries) and a start battery. Currently using a 1 ALL 2 off battery switch. Should I wire my windlass (no battery up front) directly to one of the house batteries, or to the battery selector switch (position 2 is house)?

[Sandyh]

No matter where you wire it, you MUST have an inline circuit breaker/fuse/breaker switch in the system.

Ours is wired to the dual house batteries, but raising the anchor the other day we got out of sequence and tripped the breaker. This beats a burnt-out motor hands down!

Good luck

[forsailbyowner]

I've opted for a pos bus bar. All the incoming power on one side (fused) and all outgoing out the other. (Also protected). I don't like to run anything directly to the battery excepting the one battery cable(also fused at both ends).

[Northeaster]

Yes, it will have an line-line breaker, close to the battery (or positive connection point).

I have a couple of concerns:

- If I run directly to the battery bank, then I would have to turn off the above mentioned windlass breaker, likely located in the stern settee, when leaving the boat. Otherwise, the circuit would remain energized, when I turn off the battery switch, for everything else, when leaving.

- I currently have the problem that my radar electonics (running on house bank) are restarted when I have to start the engine. Although I do have a start battery, if I move the battery switch to Battery 1 (start) then the electonics are now powered by that battery, and of course, still cut out when I start the engine. I had planned on installing an automatic charge relay which would "Allows two battery banks to run simultaneously with one simple ON/OFF switch while maintaining battery bank isolation, with an automatic charge relay that combines the batteries while charging".

The ACR would solve the problem of the radar cutting out when I start my engine. But, ......If I now add the windlass directly to the house battery bank, or to the house side of the new ACR, I would think that turning on the windlass would also cause the radar to cut out. Maybe the draw is not as great as an engine start (windlass is only 600watts / 50 amps) and the engine will normally be running.

I realize I can turn the radar off before using the windlass, but sometimes we will forget, and I do not want to risk damage to the electronics!

Thoughts? Best way?