where is your windlass battery?

[nautitrix]

Hello All
I am into a windlass project but stumped by wether to put a battery under the bow and charge it with an echo charger or run #2 wire through the boat to the windlass. Assuming that all is safely wired I am considering putting a 125 ah deep-cycle starting battery under the focs'le. The only disadvantage I see is that
I won't get much boost from the charging system while running the windlass, but I am thinking that the 125 ah battery should be sufficient for several minutes run time on the 65 amp windlass.
Thank You in advance for your sharing your experience.
BobV

[TheOffice]

Mine is under the vee berth. If it is not close to the windlass you will lose too much voltage. You can recharge at lower amps.

[MartinR]

Under a settee aft of the v-berth. AGM batteries are good in this application.

[sailorboy1]

Mine is the start battery and is next to the nav desk. But my house also feeds the start/windlass circuit

[a64pilot]

I have two banks of course, but ganged together with the 1,2,all switch.
I ran the wire, I didn’t want the hassle of another remote battery

[Peregrine1983]

Mine sits under the v-berth. Just reminded me that I need to replace it this year...

[Wallaby]

I have two Group 31 AGMs in the bow for both the windlass and bow thruster. They connect with 2/0 cable (via switch and fuses) to the house batteries (2x4D). Given the distance involved, the 2/0 wire was not enough to supply the bow thruster--so I came up with supplementary power and added the two Group 31s. Under prolonged use, you need that kind of power for the windlass, too. They can be separately monitored, disconnected when needed, charged by a 160-amp alternator, 110v charger, or trickle charged.

[skipmac]

All my batteries are aft near the engine and charging sources. Keeps the wiring simpler, keeps weight out of the bow (I already have enough weight forward with chain and anchors) and it isn't that expensive to run large cable forward to the windlass.

With a much longer boat it makes more sense to put a battery forward but in a smaller boat the cable run is shorter and the boat is more sensitive to the weight distribution.

By the way, on your boat with #2 cables you're only dropping about 0.5V to the windlass. Swith to 1/0 and the drop is less than 0.4V

[fatherchronica]

I have a similar set up to sailor-boy. My batteries are all in my engine compartment.

[stormalong]

Mine is the house bank. Aft. 660 amp hours. The windlass is supplied by 2/0 wire. Rather than buying marine cable I bought wire from an electrical supply company. At the time, 27 years ago the wire was one fifth the the cost of Anchor brand.

The wire is made up of 12 gauge strands and is difficult to bend. The terminals are crimped, soldered and covered in heat shrink. The circuit breaker is close to the battery bank.

I therefore do not have a separate, heavy battery located where most of the motion is in the boat. I do not have to worry about it breaking free in rough weather and since the engine is always running when I am raising anchor most of the power is coming from the alternator. The cable is still perfectly good after all these years and hundreds of anchor drops/retrievals.

The instant you energize a forward battery there is a significant voltage drop. Light wire cannot supply the difference. This is not like an engine start situation where you are engaging the load for a second or two. You are typically running the windlass for at least a minute and the voltage sag will both reduce the torque and increase motor heating.

[rhubstuff]

I would NOT connect a windlass to a house battery bank. Windlass loads are heavy and short, ideal for a high-aH starter-type battery, not a deep cycle house battery. Heavy, short-term loads on your house batteries will shorten their life.

[rbrentp]

Just went through this. Distance from my dual battery bank to windlass is 60ft round trip. I called three windlass makers, several installers and even West Marine. Possibly for the first time ever, everyone agreed run the wire.

Reasons: Don't put weight in the bow. Battery in bow area bounces a lot. Dual charging is nothing but trouble. With the right size wire the voltage drop is so small the larger amp bank is a big advantage because sometimes a simply anchor raise just doesn't happen.

I could not find anyone who recommended the bow mount. While it seemed logical to me in the beginning I yielded to the experts.

[robert sailor]

Mine is as far away from the windless as possible, lol. Heavy cable to it from the starting battery, always run the alternator when in use. Works fine.

[ullar]

Originally Posted by rbrentp

Just went through this. Distance from my dual battery bank to windlass is 60ft round trip. I called three windlass makers, several installers and even West Marine. Possibly for the first time ever, everyone agreed run the wire.

Reasons: Don't put weight in the bow. Battery in bow area bounces a lot. Dual charging is nothing but trouble. With the right size wire the voltage drop is so small the larger amp bank is a big advantage because sometimes a simply anchor raise just doesn't happen.

I could not find anyone who recommended the bow mount. While it seemed logical to me in the beginning I yielded to the experts.

And like rhubstuf mentioned, connect it to engine start battery, engine is usually running when you use windlass anyways.

[Cheechako]

While I dont have a problem with windlass batteries in the bow too much. I'm not sure there is a ton of savings over just running big cable from the rear.
-Battery,
- some kind of battery compartment and platform build
- access.
-echo charger,
- running small wire
-etc ....all adds up too and is more to go wrong.

I have had some times when I had to anchor and re anchor 3-4 times in problem anchorages before getting a good set. Not common , but it does occur. That may use up the a charge in a single battery in the process as a potential issue. If $ are a real problem, find some welding cable to use. I ran 00 large cable in a couple of boats.