THRUSTER "ON-OFF" ALL BY ITSELF

[Lobo]

There have been discussions before on the thruster motor turning on, then off, without input from the helm. I've been looking for the thread, but no luck. Is there a reader that has information on this? My rear thruster did that yesterday just after docking. No remote, water sealed unit, 2007 or 2008 installation date.

Dave
Lobo

 

[SnugTug]

Dave -

Not sure if this is the link that you were looking for but it does have some thruster troubleshooting tips:

http://www.tugnuts.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6476&p=47319&hilit=thruster+short#p47319

Hope this helps.

 

[bakerboat]

Hi,

You might take a closer look at the control wiring connector for your stern thruster. This winter, I've giving our R27 wiring a closer look and found a problem (see our album as I cannot get the image posted here for some reason).

As you can see, somehow the wiring insulation was cut and salt water corroded the wiring.

These connectors are not intended for wet conditions and we apparently have a SW wash down leak as noted elsewhere in this great blog. I didn't have the problem you described but salt water is conductive and it might have been the cause of what you experienced. So, I have another project on the list to change this out to a connector suitable for the conditions.

Regards,
Ken

 

[Osprey]

Try a search " Stern thruster is coming on for no reason". From there select " jump to post" shown in the info box on the right of individual search returns. I think you will find that water intrusion is the most common cause with this issue.

The Side-Power web site has a trouble shooting download.

 

[Lobo]

Thanks gentlemen, for the responses. I will do my "due diligence" now.

Dave
Lobo

 

[CMS Tony]

There have been discussions before on the thruster motor turning on, then off, without input from the helm. I've been looking for the thread, but no luck. Is there a reader that has information on this? My rear thruster did that yesterday just after docking. No remote, water sealed unit, 2007 or 2008 installation date.

Dave
Lobo

Most likely water intrusion. Have you had high water in your bilge? FYI, the thrusters aren't water sealed, the casing is to make them Ignition Protected. It helps protect against salt spray, but if the thruster goes under water, it will seep in.

 

[doke01]

The original rear thruster was not a water tight model. If water gets into the port side of the bilge there is a drain to the lower bilge that will sometimes shoot water right at the thruster. This happened when I was in some slightly rough water. I ended up getting a free watertight thruster from Ranger or the manufacturer, can't remember which and it was a long time ago. It was a real pain to replace though. I had a post long ago that explained how to do it step by step. The symptoms were sometimes it would run by itself and other times wouldn't respond at all.

Take a look.

This is what the sealed one looks like:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SIDE-POWER-SE40-BOAT-SIDE-THRUSTER-/200471833643

The unsealed looked like this:
http://www.njuskalo.hr/nauticka-oprema/side-power-bow-thrusters-www-yachts-hr-oglas-925540

 

[John Shea Jr.]

My 2010 RT25 is in the shop right now for similar problems. The mechanic is into the thruster and has diagnosed the problem as a bad solenoid and is also going to replace a relay and of course, a shear pin while the motor is out of the hull.