Anyone Know a Good Cheap up/down Switch for Windlass?

[Shanaly]

hi i have a need for a foot or ANY waterproof switch including RC hand, for connection to my solenoid.

Any brands or sources?

thnx

[noelex 77]

There are a lot of cheap wireless remote control models like this on ebay.

I think I paid something like $15 for 2 hand units and the base station. Very easy to install as no wires to the hand unit. The base unit runs from 12v so you just tap into the solenoid wiring.
A couple of reservations:
1.They are cheap Chinese make so if this is your only means of operating the winch I would get a spare, including another base station.
2.The wireless pulse means that with only a brief press the minimum operation is a second which is a bit long to snug the anchor home in little steps.

[RabidRabbit]

Why do you want a cheap one? Lewmar and maxwell make nice foot switches, not sure of price though. Normaly cheap stuff in the marine enviorment is not very long lived. I allways look for the best/most exspensive item, and then buy something a notch down from that. Put too much cheap stuff on a boat and you end up with unreliable junk. Buy a really nice foot switch, without price as a concern, and know it will work for years.

[savoir]

My current boat has a Maxwell. My previous boat had a Lewmar.

Neither one ever failed me. Be sure to get the model with the UV cover. Some are just black rubber on top.

[svHyLyte]

I have never heard of a deck mounted foot switch that didn't fail and so won't have one. A foot switch mounted in a wedge shaped box that can be placed on deck and connected to the windlass controller via a water-proof plug when needed has something to recommend it, however. We have been managing our Maxwell VC1500 with Quick wired and wireless controllers since 2006 with no difficulty. While I primarily rely on the wireless controller, I always have the wired controller plugged in, just in case, but we've never needed it. The Quick units were quite inexpensive and have proven quite robust.

FWIW...

[gjordan]

I had a foot switch on my boat for 8 years with no trouble and I think it was original, so it would have been about 15 years old when I sold the boat. Its whole life was in the tropics. The bad part is that I dont remember the brand, but there are reliable ones out there._____Grant.

[Jim Cate]

On foot switches: ours are OEM Maxwell and were on teh boat when we bought her 10 years ago. Been in use ever since (and we live at anchor full time) without failure. They may well now be twenty-two years old if original.

But, we do carry a spare just in case!

Cheers,

Jim