Bow thruster alarm.

[Timx]

Hi, I am getting a continuous alarm from inside my morse controller on a aqua line boat, only started today, and I have been moored up for a week. What would that signify, and what is the fix? It is so hard to hear, so the bow thruster alarm is all I can think of. Still can hear it now if you listen carefully which is normal noise level when engaged or turning off.?

[Tracy D'arth]

Is it in Morse code?

Who has a bow thruster alarm? I have never heard of one.

How long have you been hearing things? Do you have tinnitus?

Edited September 13, 2022 by Tracy D'arth

[Alan de Enfield]

51 minutes ago, Timx said:

Hi, I am getting a continuous alarm from inside my morse controller on a aqua line boat, only started today, and I have been moored up for a week. What would that signify, and what is the fix? It is so hard to hear, so the bow thruster alarm is all I can think of. Still can hear it now if you listen carefully which is normal noise level when engaged or turning off.?

 

I don't understand why you would think that a noise from your throttle / gear selector would be from the bow thruster. 

 

I have never seen a 'morse' control box with anything electrical in it, it is quite common for other makes (ie OMC) control boxes to have electrics and even the 'key-hole' incorporated into the control box. There would then be the normal 'ignition' alarms as found on a separate instrument panel.

 

 

When these controls are used with outboard engines it can also have things like power trim & tilt, dead-man-switch etc incorporated into the 'box'.

 

 

Maybe you could post some pictures of your control box.

[Alan de Enfield]

 

 

 

 

Looking at Aqualine pictures they look to incorporate the throttle/gear control handle in the same plinth as the 'electrics'.

 

Are you sure your 'noise' is not coming from the 'plinth' rather than the throttle/gear control handle ?

 

 

 

[blackrose]

It's probably an oil pressure or engine temperature alarm. 

[Timx]

3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Is it in Morse code?

Who has a bow thruster alarm? I have never heard of one.

How long have you been hearing things? Do you have tinnitus?

Why do people have to be rude on here? Please don’t reply to any of my further questions.

[Timx]

2 hours ago, blackrose said:

It's probably an oil pressure or engine temperature alarm. 

Hi, thanks, but the engine is turned off, and has been for a few days, the noise is like when the bow thruster is shutting down, very quiet , normally a few beeps, but it is the same noise level but continuous.

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

 

 

Looking at Aqualine pictures they look to incorporate the throttle/gear control handle in the same plinth as the 'electrics'.

 

Are you sure your 'noise' is not coming from the 'plinth' rather than the throttle/gear control handle ?

 

 

 

Hi thanks , yes it’s coming from that plinth, it’s not the engine alarm though.

[Timx]

3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I don't understand why you would think that a noise from your throttle / gear selector would be from the bow thruster. 

 

I have never seen a 'morse' control box with anything electrical in it, it is quite common for other makes (ie OMC) control boxes to have electrics and even the 'key-hole' incorporated into the control box. There would then be the normal 'ignition' alarms as found on a separate instrument panel.

 

 

When these controls are used with outboard engines it can also have things like power trim & tilt, dead-man-switch etc incorporated into the 'box'.

 

 

Maybe you could post some pictures of your control box.

Just because it is the same sound level and pitch of the bow thruster noise when deployed, and comes from same place.

[Tam & Di]

Is there possibly some electrical fault such that the thruster is engaged even when the engine is off? Can you see any water movement at the bow? Do you have an ammeter or anything to show any electric discharge?

 

Tam

[Momac]

A few thoughts

 

Do you have any gas alarms ? Presumably you do have CO alarms.

I have known gas alarms emit a very low volume beep when they detect fumes such as from a gassing battery . 

CO alarms can beep if the built in battery is low. 

The source of the beeps is not always  easy to understand.

 

Could it be a low voltage alarm?  Check battery voltages ?

 

 

 

 

 

[Chewbacka]

Do you have oil pressure and/or alternator and/or over heat sounder.  If so measure the voltage across it, which I suspect is a few volts, if so then work out which of the 2 or 3 ‘feeds’ supplying it are the problem.

[Hudds Lad]

Moisture damage bridging terminals? Our ignition buzzer on the semi-trad used to emit all manner of wonderful noises when water had got in there.

Oh, and spiders with their webs and remains of their victims.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Hudds Lad
add arachnids

[Chris John]

8 hours ago, Timx said:

Why do people have to be rude on here? Please don’t reply to any of my further questions.

Don’t worry about it. It’s standard behaviour for many. I’m sure they wouldn’t respond like that face to face

Is the bow thruster still working? I had a beeping sound from my bow thruster control and it had stopped working. Turned out to be a loose wire 

[Tracy D'arth]

8 hours ago, Timx said:

Why do people have to be rude on here? Please don’t reply to any of my further questions.

Not being rude at all, see my signature.

Another sad bunny with a damaged sense of humour. Glad to ignore you.

[Iain_S]

9 hours ago, Timx said:

Why do people have to be rude on here? Please don’t reply to any of my further questions.

I don't see Tracy's comment as rude. The last suggestion could be relevant if the noise is very low volume. (For quite a long time, I wondered why birds were often twittering away at night, until I realised it was imagination/slight tinnitus!)

 

I have found a similar fault (alarm sounding at low volume when no power to panel) on an engine with two alternators where the connection to the leisure warning light was from the leisure alternator B+ and returning to D+ via a relay switched by the ignition, which meant that there was power to the warning light permanently. The fault was dampness on the diode block connecting the warning lights to the alarm sounder. 

[roland elsdon]

Its the season of strange electrical issues. Damp and spiders. Yesterday our alternator warning was glowing dully all day. Hey ho diode gone but was charging at full output.

This morning fired up and the glow had gone and charge was normal.

 

Boats are a bit like old landrovers , you know its thursday because the rear wash wipe isnt working. The next day it will but the reversing lights wont work.

Its designed to extract money til you realise you dont need such fripparies.

[jonathanA]

I would open the plinth or otherwise gain access to, and then disconnect the buzzer. If the noise stops then you can do as chewbacka suggested and track down what's causing the issue. 

 

I'd fire the engine up and see does the sound stop or come on more loudly ? Maybe one of the warning lights is glows dimly with the engine running ?

Edited September 14, 2022 by jonathanA
Clarify

[Timx]

Hi , thanks for comments. 
I have been having problems with the engine alarm. It stopped working last year, occasionally it alarms when starting up or shutting down, before I have turned the key off, but rarely.

This year, in the hot days, the alarm started buzzing, rather than ringing as I was going along. Belt tight, coolant level fine, oil level ok. 
as I was approaching a few weeks on rivers got someone to look at it, who decided it might be my solar panels causing this over energising, and to ignore or remove alarm.

if it is not a sunny day and I am moving, it doesn’t start buzzing, but has come on twice since when I’m travelling in full sun.

Today I started the engine, have been getting some sun on my 845 watt panels, 25 amps going in, ( I have 3x 230ah batteries.8 years old) the low noise ringing continued, I had been hoovering up, but the the buzzing started again. I turned the engine off, and the buzzing stopped, went to the normal engine alarm ringing, then as I turned the key to off, that low noise ringing continued, and is still on now.

The temp gauge is faulty, it goes right over to hot , but if you tap on it, the arrow flicks over to the temp you would expect, so I’m thinking the sender won’t be at fault.

The oil gauge must be faulty, it swings over to as far right as possible, although has always done this, and oil level is correct.

This recent development of the almost silent alarm continuously ringing when the engine is turned off, is a new feature.

Anyway thanks for replies, I will keep them in mind.

[Ewan123]

On 14/09/2022 at 21:38, Timx said:

Hi , thanks for comments. 
I have been having problems with the engine alarm. It stopped working last year, occasionally it alarms when starting up or shutting down, before I have turned the key off, but rarely.

This year, in the hot days, the alarm started buzzing, rather than ringing as I was going along. Belt tight, coolant level fine, oil level ok. 
as I was approaching a few weeks on rivers got someone to look at it, who decided it might be my solar panels causing this over energising, and to ignore or remove alarm.

if it is not a sunny day and I am moving, it doesn’t start buzzing, but has come on twice since when I’m travelling in full sun.

Today I started the engine, have been getting some sun on my 845 watt panels, 25 amps going in, ( I have 3x 230ah batteries.8 years old) the low noise ringing continued, I had been hoovering up, but the the buzzing started again. I turned the engine off, and the buzzing stopped, went to the normal engine alarm ringing, then as I turned the key to off, that low noise ringing continued, and is still on now.

The temp gauge is faulty, it goes right over to hot , but if you tap on it, the arrow flicks over to the temp you would expect, so I’m thinking the sender won’t be at fault.

The oil gauge must be faulty, it swings over to as far right as possible, although has always done this, and oil level is correct.

This recent development of the almost silent alarm continuously ringing when the engine is turned off, is a new feature.

Anyway thanks for replies, I will keep them in mind.

I'm not an expert but I would have thought that the solar panels shouldn't be able to affect an engine alarm if wired properly (interested to hear more expert opinions).

[Tony Brooks]

On 14/09/2022 at 21:38, Timx said:

The temp gauge is faulty, it goes right over to hot , but if you tap on it, the arrow flicks over to the temp you would expect, so I’m thinking the sender won’t be at fault.

The oil gauge must be faulty, it swings over to as far right as possible, although has always done this, and oil level is correct.

 

That is a symptom of a lost negative on the gauge and that may indicate a loose negative connection. I would want to check all the negatives on the control panel are clean tight and is actually connected to battery negative. Once you get into poor negatives all sorts of weird things can happen. I am not saying this is the case but with no negative and negatives looped from component to component a bad negative can back feed power to other circuits and if this is happening to the instruments the buzzer may sound at low volume, although the ignition is off.

 

I think that if a main alternator positive diode shorted (assuming a nine diode machine)  then with the engine off current could back feed to the buzzer the associated field diode. What happens if you turn each battery master switch off, see if it makes a difference, and then on again, in turn. That should show which battery bank is involved,

Edited September 21, 2022 by Tony Brooks

[Feeby100]

2 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

That is a symptom of a lost negative on the gauge and that may indicate a loose negative connection. I would want to check all the negatives on the control panel are clean tight and is actually connected to battery negative. Once you get into poor negatives all sorts of weird things can happen. I am not saying this is the case but with no negative and negatives looped from component to component a bad negative can back feed power to other circuits and if this is happening to the instruments the buzzer may sound at low volume, although the ignition is off.

 

I think that if a main alternator positive diode shorted (assuming a nine diode machine)  then with the engine off current could back feed to the buzzer the associated field diode. What happens if you turn each battery master switch off, see if it makes a difference, and then on again, in turn. That should show which battery bank is involved,

Clever man 

[Timx]

Hi, just to revisit this in case someone has the same problem in the future. It was the bow thruster alarm, and there are two separate alarms in the plinth. The problem was a faulty controller switch.

[Timx]

On 13/09/2022 at 22:35, Tracy D'arth said:

Is it in Morse code?

Who has a bow thruster alarm? I have never heard of one.

How long have you been hearing things? Do you have tinnitus?

There are bow thruster alarms separate from engine alarms, don’t believe all advise on here.

[Tracy D'arth]

Thanks for the update, we can all learn something every day. 

Its a problem when boats become over complicated with unnecessary systems.