Battery Location for Windlass

[Red Horse]

Hello folks
I an installing a Muir electric windlass on my tri. The previous owner ran cables to the fore peak to facilitate installation.The battery is about 15 feet from the windlass. Some folks mount the battery close to the windlass others farther away. What are the pros and cons?
thanks,
Rich

[stevensuf]

a battery close saves an expensive long cable run as you can use thinner cable for just charging and not huge thick cable for powering the windlass

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Red Horse

Hello folks
I an installing a Muir electric windlass on my tri. The previous owner ran cables to the fore peak to facilitate installation.The battery is about 15 feet from the windlass. Some folks mount the battery close to the windlass others farther away. What are the pros and cons?
thanks,
Rich

I just ran in some fat cables. Even with the battery up front the cables will need to be pretty hefty anyway to cope with the full output from the alternator so I just made them a little bit bigger and didn't have the hassle and weight of another battery up front.

[undercutter]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

a battery close saves an expensive long cable run as you can use thinner cable for just charging and not huge thick cable for powering the windlass

Also long runs can result in huge voltage drops which can affect other appliances on the system. As we run all of our electronics off the house batteries as well as the bow thruster, I have experienced sytem loss on the chartplotters when heavy use is required of the bowthruster even though we have an engine driven 200 amp generator which is always running at the same time. I imagine the same could happen with a larger windlass as well.

Next haulout we will add a separate battery for bow thruster and also have an independent battery for electronics installed. Not that you need a charplotter to lift the anchor just worry about potential damage to the electronics. By the way, I would also run those heavy cables from the house bank as well just in case you need the extra amperage and have to paralell them in as well. Can't imagine wanting to run out of power with the anchor half hauled.