Anchor not dropping - low power?

[PirateDave]

I have a Simpson Lawrence Horizon 400 anchor windlass (single station with switch in the cockpit). I was out this past weekend and the anchor would not drop. I get no response with the switch in either the up or down position. Circuit breaker not tripped and and fuse is fine. I checked the switch, and I have 13+V going in, but only 10V coming out (for both up and down). I would think low voltage would lead to sluggish operation rather than not working at all. Thoughts?

On a related note - and in the spirit of "there are no dumb questions" - how do you manually drop the anchor? In the moment, I could not figure it out. And the engine had stalled and wouldn't start (that's a thread for another day). And there was an island that we were drifting toward. Good times...

 

[alldodge]

Check for voltage at the motor leads. If you get anything above 11V and its not working, then the motor is bad. If your not getting voltage then check back to the solenoids

You need a wrench (comes with windless) and loosen the nut on the gipsy head. It should then be able to free fall or manually pull rode out