Lift Tech AC Winch on Shorestation burned its extension cord

swbca

1 year ago we put an old 3600 capacity shore station into service with new cables. The old lift with straight, not V crossmembers. Boat a 2004 ProStar 197.

The LiftTech manual said to use a 12Guage cord for 75 feet. It worked fine all last summer, but the power cord burned up about 6" from the winch-end a couple of days ago. It burned near the top of wind-up process when cable windings make it harder to go.

I just replaced it with a 75' 10 Gauge cord.

More Info. When I installed the Lift Tech winch last spring, it barely worked so the LiftTech manufacturer traded me for a lower geared gear-box. It works fine, but still gets slower as you add cable windings.

QUESTION
Can the lift add substantial friction to the process ? The old Wheel doesn't have many friction points . . just the shafts and bearings for the wheel and the cable drum.

I lubricated all the fiber/plastic slides on the vertical tubes last year with Vaseline, because they made a lot noise. That helped quite a bit. This year they make no noise at all surprisingly.

The dealer that replaces the cable has a lot of experience and the cable-wheels are all turning

Any experience that might help to look for an overload on the first power cord ?

RGilmore

When your lift is lowered as far as you will ever need it to be (assumes non-fluctuating water level) is there very much cable left on the reel? if so, shorten your cable appropriately - as each new layer of cable wraps onto the reel its diameter become effectively larger, thereby reducing the mechanical advantage of your gearbox. This is why overhead lifts wind the cable onto a pipe rather than a reel.

Lars

the new extension cord should help but I would use a kil-o-watt or a power strip with a multi meter to see what voltage/amperage you're actually pulling at the lift while its lifting.

LeonL

What is the circuit fused for? Has no bearing on your specific problem, but if properly fused it shouldn't have burned the cord, just tripped the breaker. (12 ga 20 amp)

mlange

I built a new house last year and didn't yet have power directly at the dock so I was running a 100' 12 ga extension cord down to a LiftTech on a 4000lb SS with the newer style V-bunks. I'd say the cord would get "warm", but never hot and never anything that I would have been uncomfortable with even though I know I was pushing things with that set up.

Sounds like something is definitely wrong there.

swbca

@RGilmore thanks, there is no extra cable on the drum

@Lars 121 volt with no load. Pulls down to 116v at the top of the windup. There is another 75 feet of wiring from the plug at the shoreline to the breaker panel .

I'll bring my AC current meter the next time I am back here where the lift is.

@LeonL it's a 20 Amp breaker no other loads on that circuit.

I am still wondering about excess friction somewhere. Before i installed the electric motor on the old ShoreStation winch, it took me 15 minutes to wind up the boat by hand. A two handed 1/4 turn for each stroke.

Anyone had friction problems?

skihacker

That sounds like way too much work to crank to me, can you see all the pulleys? Ive seen the cable walk off the side of the pulley when it goes slack, usually gets tight and starts eating things at that point.