Awhike back I commented on the poor quality and failure rate of deck
switches supplied with Lewmar windlasses. The wire potted into the
switches is small guage and non-tinned. It rapidly corrodes and in no
time all you have is red powder and a windlass that won't work. You can
replace some of the wire with good stuff but since it's potted into the
switch itself you eventually run out of wire to replace and have no way
to connect the switch.

On deck, the switch looks really big, about two inches in diamter with
a hard cover and wires coming out the bottom. But if you take it apart,
you find the switch itself is a tiny microswitch actuated by a plastic
disk that sits on top of it and is in turn covered by a flexible
plastic diaphragm. Lewmar charges sixty dollars or so for the complete
assembly.

Radio Shack sells an almost identical microswitch for about $2. It fits
exactly even to the retainer pins. Wiring is not potted. The switch has
solder lugs sticking out of the bottom to which you may solder top
quality wire. Were I to do this again, I would open up the switches
that came with the windlass and replace the microswitches and wiring on
the original installtion.

On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 08:19:26 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:

The wire potted into the
switches is small guage and non-tinned. It rapidly corrodes and in no
time all you have is red powder and a windlass that won't work. You can
replace some of the wire with good stuff but since it's potted into the
switch itself you eventually run out of wire to replace and have no way
to connect the switch.

You need to do a better job of sealing your connections so that
moisture does not migrate back under the insulation. I'd recommend
using the Ancor heat shrink tubing the West Marine sells. It is
filled with glue and makes a very tight seal.

Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 08:19:26 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:

The wire potted into the
switches is small guage and non-tinned. It rapidly corrodes and in no
time all you have is red powder and a windlass that won't work. You can
replace some of the wire with good stuff but since it's potted into the
switch itself you eventually run out of wire to replace and have no way
to connect the switch.

You need to do a better job of sealing your connections so that
moisture does not migrate back under the insulation. I'd recommend
using the Ancor heat shrink tubing the West Marine sells. It is
filled with glue and makes a very tight seal.

I agree with Wayne, you really need to keep the water out.

If you go onto Ebay and search for Imtra you'll often find their deck
switches for a lot less than their list on their Ebay store. I've had good
luck with mine.

-- Geoff

Gogarty wrote in
:

Awhike back I commented on the poor quality and failure rate of deck
switches supplied with Lewmar windlasses. The wire potted into the
switches is small guage and non-tinned. It rapidly corrodes and in no
time all you have is red powder and a windlass that won't work. You can
replace some of the wire with good stuff but since it's potted into the
switch itself you eventually run out of wire to replace and have no way
to connect the switch.

On deck, the switch looks really big, about two inches in diamter with
a hard cover and wires coming out the bottom. But if you take it apart,
you find the switch itself is a tiny microswitch actuated by a plastic
disk that sits on top of it and is in turn covered by a flexible
plastic diaphragm. Lewmar charges sixty dollars or so for the complete
assembly.

Radio Shack sells an almost identical microswitch for about $2. It fits
exactly even to the retainer pins. Wiring is not potted. The switch has
solder lugs sticking out of the bottom to which you may solder top
quality wire. Were I to do this again, I would open up the switches
that came with the windlass and replace the microswitches and wiring on
the original installtion.

In article om,
says...



Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 08:19:26 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:

The wire potted into the
switches is small guage and non-tinned. It rapidly corrodes and in no
time all you have is red powder and a windlass that won't work. You can
replace some of the wire with good stuff but since it's potted into the
switch itself you eventually run out of wire to replace and have no way
to connect the switch.

You need to do a better job of sealing your connections so that
moisture does not migrate back under the insulation. I'd recommend
using the Ancor heat shrink tubing the West Marine sells. It is
filled with glue and makes a very tight seal.

I agree with Wayne, you really need to keep the water out.

Keep the water out. In a sailboat. In the anchor locker. Gimme a break.
Let's start with top quality tinned wire in the first place and then keep
the water out as best we can.

On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 21:36:57 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:

Keep the water out. In a sailboat. In the anchor locker. Gimme a break.
Let's start with top quality tinned wire in the first place and then keep
the water out as best we can.

I had the same switches in an anchor locker for 3 years and never had
a problem with them. I did take extra care to seal the connections
however. It can be done, although I agree that tinned wire would be
nice. I will typically solder that type of connection before sealing
it so at least the conduction path gets tinned.

To further their suggestions, I'd recommend using "liquid electrical
tape" on the connection first, then sliding the shrink tubing over it
while it is still wet, then immediately shrinking it down. This
technique forces any small air pockets out of the connection, which
might trap moisture and lead to corrosion. Start from one end and work
towards the other, allowing the liquid to be forced out as you go.

Also, you can buy "conformal coating" (sic?) and paint all electronic
parts with it. This is what is used in many military and/or marine
electronic PCBs that need protection from the elements. A small jar of
it can be purchased from Radio Shack or any electronics store. I
recommend painting any piece of electronic gear with it if it isn't
already coated.

A third approach is to submerge whatever you have in mineral oil. Since
the dielectric constant (how well it conducts electrons) of mineral oil
is similar to that of air, it will protect the component from oxidation
and not affect its performance. In fact, this is a solution being
adopted by some for creating a seaworthy case for their motherboards.

see http://www.markusleonhardt.de.nyud.n...oelbilder.html for pics
of someone who tried this using an aquarium.

Cheers,

Robb



Capt John wrote:
Wayne.B wrote:

On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 08:19:26 -0400, Gogarty
wrote:


The wire potted into the
switches is small guage and non-tinned. It rapidly corrodes and in no
time all you have is red powder and a windlass that won't work. You can
replace some of the wire with good stuff but since it's potted into the
switch itself you eventually run out of wire to replace and have no way
to connect the switch.

You need to do a better job of sealing your connections so that
moisture does not migrate back under the insulation. I'd recommend
using the Ancor heat shrink tubing the West Marine sells. It is
filled with glue and makes a very tight seal.


I agree with Wayne, you really need to keep the water out.

Gogarty, would love to speak with you about the Lewmar switch incident. I think you can shed some light privately. Please contact me via email at so I can tell you what this is all about. Thanks.