Off Topic - Chandelier Winch?

Not quite off topic, the winch will be c-bus controlled. What I don't know is where to source a winch and traveling cable set-up for a chandelier. If any body has used and can recommend one or even point me in the direction of a supplier I would be very grateful. Thankyou.

 

How scary is that - I just put one in at a mates house

We used a 12V boat winch that was cheap (from Bunnings I think it was) and mounted that in the roof. Needed to rebuild the cross brace in the pendant as it was not meant to handle the point load in the center.

I have not finished the control off yet, but at first glance I think I will just reverse polarity to get it to wind up and down. I don't think there is any gearing preventing powering out.

Wont be using c-bus, but rather the M1, although it makes no difference which is used.

Mick

 

Careful, careful.

Had considered this option but the ones I looked at lacked the ability to set upper and lower limits, imagine the consequences if the relay contacts fused or similar and the thing kept going up only to pull itself through the ceiling or worse pull the winch of its supports then fall to the floor. Also the electrical cable needs to be able to extend/retract with the fitting.

 

Fusing contacts are rare, but if a concern then you use two relays in series. The chance of two going at the same time in very low. We do this with a lot of the high risk motors with the control system.

Mick

 

Help is at hand

Hi. Purpose-built 240-volt chandelier winches already exist, and I've been making and selling them for over ten years. Often. Sending another small one from Brisbane to Melbourne tomorrow morning. Furthest customer so far was at Port Lincoln in S.A. early in 2009.

My biggest so far went into a tall atrium in the Westfield shopping centre at Chatswood in Sydney in June, as part of my sparkie customer's million-dollar rehash of most of the lights in the building.

To install it, his 3 tradies and I spent from 10pm to 4am 32 metres up a scaffold on a Friday night . It lowers a 5 mtrs-high 180kg chandelier down 24 metres, for access by their scissorlift truck. It uses a 500kg 240-volt electric chain hoist, with a hand-held radio remote control. When it's down, the bulbs can be turned back on to check them, because the chandelier's electric cable is paid out and reclaimed by a big spring-loaded cable reel, hung from the roof beam beside the hoist.

My main seller till 2008 was my own much-cheaper design. A 240-volt winch mounted in the roofspace well off to one side and with limit switches lowers and lifts a non-rotating chain that runs round a sprocket above the chandelier. Again, the bulbs can be switched on when down, because this design also pays out their cable as the chandelier goes down, and then cunningly hauls it in on the way up, without the cost of a cable reel.

And without dramas when the cable reel won't retract today, or the cable winds itself round the winch wire as you go down, stopping it all from going back up again. (That's from not having the non-rotating chain.)

I supplied two of this "offset-winch type" for the Brisbane Arcade refurb in April, and one for a home in Sydney last month. In 2008 I put a double one into a house in Toowoomba - one winch lowers two chandeliers simultaneously. Maximum load is 150 kg for my baby and 350 kg for its big brother.

My big seller since 2008 is what I call the Chinese Cake-tin. Mounts in the roof-space above the chandelier, or else under a concrete ceiling with a disguising 500mm-diameter cover rose, and normally runs off the chandelier lights circuit.

A radio remote triggers the winch motor, and is also used to programme the bottom limit. As soon as it starts down, the lights go out, so you need a good memory for dead bulbs. The chandelier bulbs can be on one or two circuits. If you want to dim them, you can easily separate the lights circuit from the motor circuit, which needs a full 240-volt feed. The 50kg and 100kg sizes are cheaper than my offset type, but the 150kg and 250kg sizes are dearer.

All three styles can have the chandelier lights controlled by C-Bus if desired.

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