nimblewillo - Anyone built an anchor chain coun...
Anyone built an anchor chain counter? I'm thinking of just epoxying a magnet to my windlass and adding a reed switch to count the turns along with a voltage sense (divider) to tell me what direction it's going.
4 Replies
you could also get direction by putting 2 reed switches next to each other, then you can save the analog input for something else
Voltage sensing on the up button is the best method to use and it would only require a single digital input and would be more reliable than two reed switches (they would read backwards if the trigger magnet started between them). By using the up switch, it would allow the counter to still count if the windlass is freewheeling down.
I think @gregy has built one.
yes, however in my case, already had sensor on winch… and i use sensesp to look at the up/down switch (relay voltages) to determine direction. i never free wheel my anchor … always raise or lower under winch power (its a biggish anchor!)
thus sensesp/esp32 has an opto, that reads the two switches, and an “input” to read pulses from (hall effect sensor) on winch.
https://github.com/gregsyoung/SensESP-Windlass-Monitor
the unit is on my workbench at the moment.. im modifying the pulse sensor circuit to more reliably read the hall effect pulse .. which gets quite distorted from the length or wiring from winch to the fkybridge dash (where i read it with esp32) .
im going to update the github docs to provide better detaiks in HW etc..
note that it uses a “last gasp” circuit to power esp for a shirt period after power removed … long story for later
you could modify my code to achieve what roger describes above (ie assume that anchor is going down unless the UP switch is operating) in this way it would work ok for “free wwheeling” the anchor out.
a reed switch should give a much cleaner pulse (as compared to my existing hall sensor, that also connects to a dash mounted display etc … i just piggybacked across existing wiring .. so have to tolerate a weirdish pulse .. and sense it accordingly)
The clutch on my windlass releases the spool, I suppose I could mount the reed to the top of the chain guide tube to capture it there...