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New(ish) Vetus Bow Thruster (BOW9512C) not working


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I am more inclined after reading that the thing is seised the buzz you can here is the electric running thew the contacts on the motor you may find turning by hand frees it but you may then find leave it a week and it will stop. Either that or something is trapped in the blades big bit of weed maybe

Fairly easy to check. 4 Allen headed bolts attach the motor to the gearbox. Easy to separate and then both motor and gearbox by hand.

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Thanks for the further replies, which are very helpful. I'd like to next check if the motor is seized (I can't check the electrical issues further at the moment because I need a second person to press the direction buttons on the controler at the stern of the boat). There are two sets of four allen-headed bolts, indicated by blue and red arrows below. I plan to undo the red bolts and then lift the motor off the intermediate flange. Is this the right thing to do in order to proceed with checking for a motor seizure? I have a vision of water billowing up and my boat sinking.

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Don't know which bolts but someone will be along shortly who does but note that it's equally as likely that the prop has siezed/jammed as it is likely to be a motor problem. So when you have the motor off there are two checks you can do...

 

1. Does the motor go whirr when you operate the controls?

 

2. Can you rotate the gearbox shaft (and hence the prop)?

 

Tony

 

Edited for clarity.

Edited by WotEver
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On my 9 year old model which looks a bit different to yours (mine has only four brushes) I just undo the four Allen screws in the lower flange and the motor just lifts off. It is connected to the gearbox by a rubber coupling which is splined onto the gearbox shaft and the coupling just comes off the spines with the motor, it's not fastened in any way it just lifts off. I disconnect the motor cables first and beware the motor is very heavy. I have done this many times to service the motor.

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On my 9 year old model which looks a bit different to yours (mine has only four brushes) I just undo the four Allen screws in the lower flange and the motor just lifts off. It is connected to the gearbox by a rubber coupling which is splined onto the gearbox shaft and the coupling just comes off the spines with the motor, it's not fastened in any way it just lifts off. I disconnect the motor cables first and beware the motor is very heavy. I have done this many times to service the motor.

Just undo the Allen headed bolts marked red and lift the motor off the gearbox. No water will come in

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Some further progress. I lifted the motor off. The two shafts indicated by the red arrows in the images below both turn freely and easily by hand. I connected the motor up while it was in this state (disconnected from the propeller unit) and still only clicks when the direction buttons on the thruster control unit were pressed (these are single clicks, not prolonged buzzes of any kind). So the problem appears to be within the area of the motor unit somewhere but is not due to seizure? Any thoughts on next steps? Many thanks for all of your help so far, which is much appreciated.

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I can only suggest what I said in post 22 - do you now have someone to press the buttons whilst you measure the voltages?

 

Anyway the latest pic showing the data plate says "series wound" which means that the rotating coils (armature) fed by the brushes, is in series with the stator coil / field coil (ie that doesn't rotate). So a break in eitheyr of those components = a break in the whole circuit. However since when you rotate the armature you bring into play different elements of the windings, it seems unlikely that the fault is in the armature which brings us back to what I said in #22, either a fault with the relays or a fault with the stator /field coil.

 

So now you have everything disconnected you could also try measuring the resistance of the coils. Across the pairs of brushes (should be very low ohms reading, nearly zero) and ditto across the field/stator windings. I'm not totally sure but I think the thick wires labelled D1 and D2 are the stator connections.

Edited by nicknorman
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Have you checked the contactor contacts to see if they are burnt? They are not difficult to access.

If you don't have a 'remote friend' to operated the buttons, have you tried to replicate the signal at the remote cable connection on the unit, so you can actually see/hear what is happening close up?

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The motor is series wound and should not be run uncoupled from it's load. This would lead to the motor overspeeding and serious damage. Occasionally I have run mine uncoupled but only for a fraction of a second and even then the brushgear and commutator lights up like a Catherine wheel and the speed rockets. Your problem sounds like the main contactors.

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Some more photos and progress with the multimeter.

 

When motor disconnected from power:

Resistence between brushes at opposite sides of motor (7th photo below) = 0.2 ohms

Resistence between semi-circular conductors (6th photo below) = 0.2 ohms

Resistence between D1 and D2 studs (5th photo below) = 0.2 ohms

 

When power connected

Voltage when BT buttons pressed in either direction between D1 and D2 studs = 0v

 

Any further thoughts? The contactor terminals have been mentioned as a possible problem. Where are they located?

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p.s.

When power connected

Voltage when semi-cicular conductors when BT buttons pressed in either direction = 0v

measured where?

 

 

The contactor terminals have been mentioned as a possible problem. Where are they located?

inside that big black plastic block.

 

it comes apart and is full of springs and things.

 

it's called the contactor and is likely made by Allbright International.

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I opened up the two black boxes. The silver contact surfaces looked reasonably OK, but I gave them a clean anyway. A sleeve had become lodged with rust inside a hole (indicated by the red arrows below). I removed it with pliers and gave the sleeve and hole a clean. And now......the bow thruster works perfectly!!! biggrin.png

 

Thank you all for your very kind help!

 

Out of interest, what names are given to the sleeve and its hole?

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Sleeve and hole sounds good! I'd say the hole is part of the solenoid (with its coil of wire creating an electromagnet) and the sleeve is a plunger, actuating rod or the like.

 

Anyway top marks for persevering and getting it sorted!

Edited by nicknorman
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but it was the contactor - it usually is with vetus bowthrusters in canal boats.

no need to play about dismantling the motor, etc.

 

don't ask me how I know. blush.png

 

 

 

PS the moral is - use your BT regularly (1) to annoy the purists and (2) to keep the moving parts freed up. cool.png

Edited by Murflynn
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Out of interest, D1 and D2 are field coil terminals and with contactors at rest both are connected to A2 which is the armature terminal. The other end of the armature connects to the -ve stud, +ve stud is just a junction. One contactor connects D1 to +ve , current through field out at D2 still connected to A2 through armature out of negative. other contactor reverses field connections +ve to D2 and D1 to armature.

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Out of interest, D1 and D2 are field coil terminals and with contactors at rest both are connected to A2 which is the armature terminal. The other end of the armature connects to the -ve stud, +ve stud is just a junction. One contactor connects D1 to +ve , current through field out at D2 still connected to A2 through armature out of negative. other contactor reverses field connections +ve to D2 and D1 to armature.

Yes, interesting thanks. I was trying to get my head around whether to reverse the direction you had to reverse the current in just one of the items (armature or field) or whether it was in both. So presumably if you reversed the power connections to the whole thing, it would still work in the same sense?

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I opened up the two black boxes. The silver contact surfaces looked reasonably OK, but I gave them a clean anyway. A sleeve had become lodged with rust inside a hole (indicated by the red arrows below). I removed it with pliers and gave the sleeve and hole a clean. And now......the bow thruster works perfectly!!! biggrin.png

 

Thank you all for your very kind help!

 

Out of interest, what names are given to the sleeve and its hole?

Albright are a very good company & all their products are well made. You can get spare contacts & all the other parts for their contactors.

 

http://www.albrightinternational.com/

 

http://www.albrightinternational.com/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/SW180-Catalogue-Rev-No-4-June-2011-Electronic-Issue.pdf

 

http://www.albrightinternational.com/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/SW180.pdf

Edited by Flyboy
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