Optimax alarm and LIMP home

gtflash · 12 October 2008, 22:08

1st thing 1st, ive noticed when the boat comes out the water and prop vents an alarm beeps!! at the time im holdin on and steering and all the rest so didnt see what it was! anyone else get this?? is there a water pressure alarm maybe?

2ndly and most important!

As i was just about to trailer the boat all sorts of beeping started..... then the engine kind of pulsed in rpm and it came up with sensor fault, limp mode or limp home mode!!!

How can i recall what this issue was and will it tell me which sensor??

Thanks

Cookee · 13 October 2008, 10:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtflash

1st thing 1st, ive noticed when the boat comes out the water and prop vents an alarm beeps!! at the time im holdin on and steering and all the rest so didnt see what it was! anyone else get this?? is there a water pressure alarm maybe?

2ndly and most important!

As i was just about to trailer the boat all sorts of beeping started..... then the engine kind of pulsed in rpm and it came up with sensor fault, limp mode or limp home mode!!!

How can i recall what this issue was and will it tell me which sensor??

Thanks

The first one is the over rev alarm - if you don't throttle off when you get air the engine will exceed the rev limit and bleep at you - if you accumulate a certain number of seconds or hitting the rev limiter then the engine will go into guardian mode and you will need a DDT or a computer to sort it out.

If it doesn't tell you on the dash display then you will need a DDT or a computer.

gtflash · 13 October 2008, 17:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookee

The first one is the over rev alarm - if you don't throttle off when you get air the engine will exceed the rev limit and bleep at you - if you accumulate a certain number of seconds or hitting the rev limiter then the engine will go into guardian mode and you will need a DDT or a computer to sort it out.

If it doesn't tell you on the dash display then you will need a DDT or a computer.

OK 1st one brill thouht it was somet like that!

2nd happened some 30 mins later just as trailering....... so do not think its related!

However! what is the wire that comes off back of rev gauge, it has a waterproof bullet type connection and think its tan and another colour.... it goes to 12v when engine on! I must confess i used this as a switch wire for lenco tab retractor.... and when the engine went into limp home it oscillated the tabs telling them to go on and off!!!

Could this be related even though it occured after some two hours of driving??

gtflash · 14 October 2008, 16:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtflash

However! what is the wire that comes off back of rev gauge, it has a waterproof bullet type connection and think its tan and another colour.... it goes to 12v when engine on! I must confess i used this as a switch wire for lenco tab retractor.... and when the engine went into limp home it oscillated the tabs telling them to go on and off!!!

Could this be related even though it occured after some two hours of driving??

The wire is out of the loom and is brown with a light blue stripe!! ANyone know it!!

Boatmad post says its temperature switch to warning horn?? What does that mean??

Wondering if this is my problem?http://boatmad.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11845

PeterM · 14 October 2008, 18:49

Agree that the first one sounds like an overspeed alarm , but I'm surprised you notice anything with the prop out of the water , I guess at speed ?

Second seems very odd - some kind of limiter kicking in? Is there any way it could be the troll control doing odd things ? I get a warning of 'check pitot' every so often in the solent , but never had anything else ( apart from overspeed alarm in neutral when warning the engine with the fast idle lever .

Be interested to find out for my own benefit . There are some pretty good opti technical types on here so guess they will be along soon ..................

gtflash · 14 October 2008, 23:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackroady

Agree that the first one sounds like an overspeed alarm , but I'm surprised you notice anything with the prop out of the water , I guess at speed ?

Second seems very odd - some kind of limiter kicking in? Is there any way it could be the troll control doing odd things ? I get a warning of 'check pitot' every so often in the solent , but never had anything else ( apart from overspeed alarm in neutral when warning the engine with the fast idle lever .

Be interested to find out for my own benefit . There are some pretty good opti technical types on here so guess they will be along soon ..................

I frequently get a check paddle alarm, used to be check pitot but ribshop popped some tube on that comes off! i just press button to clear this, i dunno what it is and when ever i quote it everyone says oh u mean check pitot............ NO check paddle!! The only paddle is on the garmin and is now unused despite that small fault not changing......its actually in outboard well now!

Poly · 14 October 2008, 23:35

Gtflash, if I understand correctly you have wired your tabs into the alarm/horn circuit rather than to a standard 12V feed. So when the alarm does go off the tabs are getting activated too. I think the intermittent tabs on and off probably means that the horn/alarm is an intermittent one rather than continuous. i.e. Buzz-Silence-Buzz-Silence-Buzz-Silence... as opposed to Buzz-Buzz-Buzz-Buzz... the different patterns mean different things.

If I understood the diagram on boatmad correctly: You have +12V on the purple wire all the time (with ignition on) this is connected to the alarm/horn and appear out the other side as tan+blue. The tan+blue is connected to your temperature sensor in the engine (and probably to other sensors). But is normally "open circuit" so appears under normal circumstances to be +12V too. When a fault arrises the sensor grounds the tan+blue wire, completing the circuit enabling the buzzer to sound (and drawing current away from your tabs). If this is correct I would expect the buzzer to sound when you are working the tabs?

gtflash · 14 October 2008, 23:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

Gtflash, if I understand correctly you have wired your tabs into the alarm/horn circuit rather than to a standard 12V feed. So when the alarm does go off the tabs are getting activated too. I think the intermittent tabs on and off probably means that the horn/alarm is an intermittent one rather than continuous. i.e. Buzz-Silence-Buzz-Silence-Buzz-Silence... as opposed to Buzz-Buzz-Buzz-Buzz... the different patterns mean different things.

If I understood the diagram on boatmad correctly: You have +12V on the purple wire all the time (with ignition on) this is connected to the alarm/horn and appear out the other side as tan+blue. The tan+blue is connected to your temperature sensor in the engine (and probably to other sensors). But is normally "open circuit" so appears under normal circumstances to be +12V too. When a fault arrises the sensor grounds the tan+blue wire, completing the circuit enabling the buzzer to sound (and drawing current away from your tabs). If this is correct I would expect the buzzer to sound when you are working the tabs?

Makes perfect sense about what that wire is..... The trim tabs require an ign on signal 12v, without it thaey stay retracted....BUT tabs did work fine and did for couple of hours! however when the alrarm occured they oscillated between on and off! SO i think your correct. When i installed them the purple wire out of loom did not change to 12v with ign on.... I figured this was a wiring mistake or error in colours indicated with year change so metered for a 12v i needed this tan blue wire was unused at the gauges end! Possibly the tabs ign on signal has effected the resistance of the temp sensing circuit and caused the alarm condition then?? To be honest if i was out at sea i would have spent more time faulting, but while appoachin the trailer in the water i was otherwise occupied to gather all the info i needed!

Rogue Wave · 19 October 2008, 20:50

it all went tits up did you operate the trim control?
is the engine new or was it installed on the boat some time ago?

gtflash · 19 October 2008, 22:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rogue Wave

it all went tits up did you operate the trim control?
is the engine new or was it installed on the boat some time ago?

quick update! after what polwart said i eventually found an ign live indicated in purple, yet another sh**e repair with odd colour wire...... im eventually chasing through all these and ensuring future fault finding is gonna be easier!

Ive moved the trim tab ign live switch to mercury purple.... It did not go wrong at all for a whole 2 hours regardless of trim or any other problems but im happy to entertain that the minor current draw for ign live on trim tabs or a cct resistance could have screwed up the over temp..... engine starts ok and runs on muffs without any alarms however i need to test it over a greater duration as before!

Cookee · 20 October 2008, 15:06

I can see where Rogue Wave is going with that line of thought - when racing with a trim and a lifter, the Opti 200XS needs a big battery to keep the voltage up as if you are operating both it can draw the voltage down on a battery that is too small - my advice would be to operate the tab and the trim together and watch the voltage to see if it drops, this gave all sorts of warning alarms on the race ECU, especially over rev alarms!

gtflash · 20 October 2008, 18:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookee

I can see where Rogue Wave is going with that line of thought - when racing with a trim and a lifter, the Opti 200XS needs a big battery to keep the voltage up as if you are operating both it can draw the voltage down on a battery that is too small - my advice would be to operate the tab and the trim together and watch the voltage to see if it drops, this gave all sorts of warning alarms on the race ECU, especially over rev alarms!

What sort of voltage sets off alarms??

Cookee · 22 October 2008, 13:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtflash

What sort of voltage sets off alarms??

To be honest I'm not sure - we knew about the problem and fitted a large battery to allow for two hydraulic pumps doing their best to drag the battery down - I would imagine anything under 12 volts for a moment may cause problems, but a big battery or a decent pair would prevent that.