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Wiring diagram for Graupner Regatta winch, anyone?

Posted: 25 Mar 2007, 05:42
by cfwahl
I bought a boat that has a Graupner Regatta winch in it, and I would like to eliminate the switch (just to make things simpler). The problem is that three wires are connected to the switch (at least on this one). Do they all do something? I believe that orange is signal, red positive, and brown negative on the connector that gets plugged into the receiver, but I don't understand why all three colors are wired to the switch.

I'm inclined to simply short the brown to the red wire, but I don't want to mess things up, if I can get the right information beforehand.

Thanks for any help,

Posted: 25 Mar 2007, 15:16
by LARRY REEDMAN
The worst possible thing to do is short the Red and Brown wires. Unless of course you intend to blow up you battery pack and possibly burn a hole in your boat.
You said it yourself. Red is positive and Brown is negative. Never the twain should meet.
Apart from all that I don't know the winch you are referring too.
Just don't short out those 2 wires.
I hope you read this in time.

Regards,
Larry.

Posted: 25 Mar 2007, 22:31
by cfwahl
I didn't ask for a lecture, but a wiring diagram; I think that I know what I'm doing. In fact, the switch shorts red and brown wires (that connect to it) in the "on" position, and the red and orange wires in the "off" position.

I think that you will find, commercial ribbon wire being what it is, that just about any radio control switch harness has red and black wires going to it. And the switch shorts these together to make the thing turn "on."

Posted: 29 Mar 2007, 02:00
by cfwahl
bfox1 wrote:I think you'll find that the ribbon cable enters the switch but only one of the wires is toggled by the switch.
Thanks, Barry, but I don't want to put you out. Depending on the comprehensiveness of the winch manual, it might not tell me what I want to know anyway. The winch I have has had the original switch replaced, I think, because it's a toggle switch, and not the slide switch pictured with the winch on Graupner's website. All three wires of the ribbon are soldered to terminals on the switch, which is a DPST type, so red and orange are connected in the "off" position, and red and brown connected in the "on" position. I can't figure out why the orange wire. I think that I'll just cut it, and see if anything doesn't work okay.

Like you, I charge by removing (or at least unplugging) the battery. And I also turn the boat on and off that way -- one less thing to stop working because it got water on it!

Posted: 29 Mar 2007, 19:49
by wim bakker
The boat I bought also came with a Graupner Regatta winch.
Like Mr Wahl, I should like to eliminatie the switch that is in the winch circuit. I always mount a very small switch on each batterypack.
Once found out, could you let me know which wires to connect etc?
Unlike Mr Wahl, I am electronically challenged.
Thanks
Wim Bakker
NED 11

Posted: 31 Mar 2007, 04:57
by cfwahl
bfox1 wrote:I have the documentation now so I'll get my scanner out sometime today and see what I can make of it.
Well thank you kindly! My email is wahlcf@earthlink.net. If there's any way I can return the favor, please let me know.

By the way, I did cut the orange wire going to the switch, with no ill effect. So if you wish to eliminate the switch, just short the red and brown wires that go to the switch, and you're in business. If the wires are red/black/white or red/black/yellow, just short red and black ones, and leave the yellow or white one unconnected.

Posted: 01 Apr 2007, 04:24
by cfwahl
bfox1 wrote:When you say short do you mean taking the switch out and then joining the loose ends of reds together and the loose ends of black together?
On my winch there are three wires coming out of the housing that go to the switch: red, orange and brown**. The switch connects the red and brown wires when it's "on." So in order to eliminate the switch, I connect the red and brown permanently.
** Having received the Regatta manual text and graphics from Barry, I note that the manual claims the wire to the switch is "two-core," not three. So I'm reassured that the orange wire on mine does nothing I can't live without!**

If you wanted to be able to plug in a switch harness in the future without soldering, you could do what I did on my Futaba winch: use a connector (I like the Deans micro/polarized one, which I also use for battery connectors, but it's limited to two wires) on the end of the "switch" wire ribbon, and just add a mating connector plugged into the first, with the red and brown terminals shorted together.

But the older I get, the more I feel that the best piece of hardware is the one you didn't install; so on this one I'm just going to solder the red and brown wires together, put a piece of heat-shrink tubing over the splice, and coat the whole thing in silicone (neutral cure; acetic acid doesn't like copper).