lesrollins Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) When we picked our second hand boat up last week the bow thrusters were working fine, now when the button is operated for the thrusters it just makes a clicking sound what do i look for. cheers Edited March 15, 2012 by lesrollins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsmelly Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 When we picked our second hand boat up last week the bow thrusters were working fine, now when the button is operated for the thrusters it just makes a clicking sound what do i look for. cheers Is the little green push button switch on ? Is the bow thruster battery isolated or flat ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedlancs Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) Is the little green push button switch on ? Is the bow thruster battery isolated or flat ? on my vetus bow thruster i press the button twice before use as per the instructions.i also had a problem as you describe but it was only a loose battery conection and simple to fix. Edited March 15, 2012 by tedlancs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsmelly Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 on my vetus bow thruster i press the button twice before use as per the instructions.i also had a problem as you describe but it was only a loose conection and simple to fix. My little green button simply stays in for on or out for off, there are probably different types. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Heads Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 When we picked our second hand boat up last week the bow thrusters were working fine, now when the button is operated for the thrusters it just makes a clicking sound what do i look for. cheers Sounds like the contacts on the motor switch. You can take this off and clean the contact faces. Then get an old toothbrush and clean the armature by the brushes on the motor.you will have to unclip the mesh around the top of the motor to do this.Messy job and will take an hour or two Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace and Favour Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Sounds like the contacts on the motor switch. You can take this off and clean the contact faces. Then get an old toothbrush and clean the armature by the brushes on the motor.you will have to unclip the mesh around the top of the motor to do this.Messy job and will take an hour or two Good luck. It'll probably be either be the relays on the thruster - - or it could be the actual control switch - (I had a similar problem - - just a click -= no thrust - - fitted a new switch - - all now good) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tosher Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 When we picked our second hand boat up last week the bow thrusters were working fine, now when the button is operated for the thrusters it just makes a clicking sound what do i look for. cheers [/quote There should be a 250amp (depending on thruster size) slow blow fuse in the motor circuit mounted between the motor and it's battery. If you have been operating the thruster continously for longer than about 10 seconds or operating it repeatedly many times this fuse may have blown. Easy to replace but cost about a tenner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelaway Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 When we picked our second hand boat up last week the bow thrusters were working fine, now when the button is operated for the thrusters it just makes a clicking sound what do i look for. cheers Have you flattened the battery? - How is it being charged? You can flatten the battery in less than 1 minutes use Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackrose Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Have you flattened the battery? - How is it being charged? You can flatten the battery in less than 1 minutes use Alex Yes, if the BT batteries aren't charging properly you'll soon flatten them, as you will if your finger is too heavy. My BT has a max recomended usage rate of about 3 - 5 minutes every hour. Although it doesn't sound like much it's actually quite a lot considering I only use it sparingly for close quarters handling in 5 or 10 second spurts. Besides making sure the BT battries are being charged as efficiently as possible while the boat is in use, if your boat is left on a mooring on shore power then it's a good idea to get your battery charger to charge the BT batteries at the same time as your domestics and start battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisPy Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 is the bow thruster battery separate from the engine and domestic batteries, and fitted at the bow? if you have plenty of volts (and available amp-hours) at the battery then your problem is likely to be the relay switch contacts (fitted under the grey cover) which can be cleaned (carefully - they are silver(?) plated) or replaced (speak to the nice people at Allbright International). I had a similar problem until I fitted a local battery. Low volts causes the contacts to chatter (not enough volts to hold them closed) which burns the contact faces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsmelly Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 if your boat is left on a mooring on shore power then it's a good idea to get your battery charger to charge the BT batteries at the same time as your domestics and start battery. Further to this I have had fitted a 4 position battery isolator switch. In pos 1 all are isolated, in 2 alt or batt charger charge all batteries, in 3 just domestics are charged, in 4 just bowthruster batts are charged this could come in handy if for instance you need to direct more alt charge on initial cruising to a badly depleted bowthruster battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lesrollins Posted March 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 There are two 90 amp batteries with there own isolation switch fitted in the bow of the boat next to the bt. where is the relay fitted so i can check that. is it under the large round cap on top of the bt or is it in the small box on the side of the bt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackrose Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) There are two 90 amp batteries with there own isolation switch fitted in the bow of the boat next to the bt. where is the relay fitted so i can check that. is it under the large round cap on top of the bt or is it in the small box on the side of the bt. I don't know where the relay is but I doubt it's on the BT itself. On my boat the relay is in the engine room and splits the charge from the alternator which charges the start battery, so when the start battery reaches a particular voltage the charge is sent to the BT batteries and then back again and so on. Other boats with BTs have different charge configurations. How about using a voltmeter to check what sort of voltage is actually reaching your BT batteries when the engine is running? Any cheap DC voltmeter will do - just put the probes on the positive and negative battery terminals. Try it without the engine running first to see what sort of charge the batteries are holding, then try it with the engine running. Also, while you're there, if the batteries are open lead/acid you could check the water levels. Edited March 17, 2012 by blackrose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace and Favour Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 There are two 90 amp batteries with there own isolation switch fitted in the bow of the boat next to the bt. where is the relay fitted so i can check that. is it under the large round cap on top of the bt or is it in the small box on the side of the bt. We have a Vetus BT 75KGF, and the relays are affixed to the side of the BT underneath the initial grey moulded cover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackrose Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) We have a Vetus BT 75KGF, and the relays are affixed to the side of the BT underneath the initial grey moulded cover There you go, it is on the BT after all - I was thinking about a different relay! Edited March 17, 2012 by blackrose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lesrollins Posted March 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 The water levels are okay i have already checked that. i will take a look under the cover perhaps tommorow so i will be able to say what i find Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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