Older chandelier winch help.
first of all thank you for any help or guidance. I have a home that was built in 1997 with approximately a 40 foot vaulted foyer. I have a chandelier on a winch. Apparently this is an older set up?. There are actually two wires coming from the winch, there is the cable that operates the winch(does the lifting). And then there is a electrical wire. There is a coupling about 15 feet where the cable and the electrical wiring runs into a junction box of sorts. Then from there the chain from the light and the electrical wire running to the light. Now I’ve looked at newer modern chandelier lifts. Where there’s only the cable and the wire running to the junction box and then from that point on there’s just the cable. The question I have it seems when my winch operates up and down the electrical wire seems to wrap around the cable as it goes up and down. Is this normal? The light itself and the chain actually rotate as it goes up and down. Also different from the other systems, when the chandelier is all the way down I release the Updown switch the lights come on. there is a separate light toggle switch that has to be in the on position the lights are on and then when you press upper or down (separate toggle switch winch) the lights will go off until it stops. I’m assuming this is normal, the wire that’s being wrapped around the cable which I assume is wrapping around cable as it disappears into the winch area looks to be fairly thick and I’m assuming well protected because it wraps around with the lift cable. I have no access to the winch & there’s no attic space to the winch to access it from above. I’m just curious if this is how the system is designed? Richard

 

The most popular style winch (Aladdin) has an electrical box and plate that mounts at the ceiling with two contacts on it. There is a contact plate as part of the canopy. When the winch is lowered the canopy plate and the contact plate separate. So there is only the winch cable. The chandelier power and the chain both attach to canopy plate.


Your winch may be the two spool type where the winch cable and power cable are wound at the same time.
I'm deeply concerned. The winch is not supposed to be buried. It is supposed to be in accessible location for service. I wouldn't operate it any more than needed.

I've serviced many Aladdin type units. Mostly for other electricians as there aren't many people familiar with them. I've only seen one like yours. It almost looked home made.

The typical mounting location for a lift is on top of the ceiling joists but in applications like yours.... the box and plate would be set at the ceiling and a pulley would be set above the ceiling. Then the winch cable would be run to an accessible location for servicing. Sometimes two pulleys are used.