Schematic for boat bow thruster

[Donald]

I am trying to understand why a manufacturer would make a change to a joystick (same model) that would make it incompatible with older ones without wiring changes. There must have been a reason.

In the same model manufactured 10 years before the wire all the way on the right of the schematic provided +12 V when the joystick was powered up. It ran to RED wire from the solenoid and the black wire from the solenoid went to negative of the battery.

The current model provides -12V to the wire at the right of the schematic. It runs to the black wire from the solenoid and the red wire from the solenoid connects to the battery cable supplying +12V from the battery.

So your joystick breaks you but a new one of same model and now you have some rewiring to do in the boat to make it work.

It possible it's a configurable option as one can configure the station number of the joystick and whether it's a bow or stern thruster. Have not seen any documentation saying it's a configurable option so being a configurable option is just a guess

I have asked the manufacturer but no response yet.

I am perplexed.

 

[PontiacHO]

No one here can provide a legitimate explanation. Join The Hull Truth. You’ll find more there about boats etc…

 

[97prizm]

My friend had a boat for many years. I'm going to take a stab at it but would it have to do with the way the propeller rotated? If it's mounted at the back and the prop turns clockwise then if you rotate it 180 degrees it's "pulling the boat" vs pushing. I think every prop I've seen always pushes a boat not pulls.

 

[mk378]

That looks like a completely different system where the motor only runs one direction. To push the boat backwards the thruster would rotate 180 degrees.

Also it is not clear from the diagram how the control circuit returns to battery minus.

 

[Donald]

So it has nothing to with controlling the bow thruster right or left. You can use the bow thruster without the solenoid on the left side. Just need a manual battery switch. The "accessory" wire on the right side of the joystick would not be used in that case.

In the case of a solenoid vs manual they use the accessory wire to provide power to energize the solenoid.

I finally got an email from Vetus today saying several years ago they made a design change and changed the accessory wire from providing +12V to providing -12V. No real explanation.

To me providing +12V makes more sense but you need to then supply the solenoid with a separate wire for -12V.

The battery cable side of the solenoid already has +12V. And so you can pick up +12V from there (to energize the solenoid) and then the accessory wire can supply -12V to energize the solenoid. That's the best I can come up with.

So one less wire to battery negative with the accessory wire providing -12V.

But I can see many frustrated people replacing the joystick when it breaks and finding out it does not work and then having to figure it out and change some wiring around the solenoid.

 

[mk378]

Their diagrams at https://vetus.com/wp-content/uploads/020575.03-r01-2023-07-Wiring-diagrams-BPAJ-BPAS-BPJRC-BPSRC.pdf are **just plain wrong**. It can't work as drawn. The other side of the main solenoid needs to return to battery minus, not battery plus.

If you don't have a main solenoid though, it is a bit simpler. The joystick wires are
1 green forward relay (switch to 2 when master switch on and joystick forward)
2 red control power (battery + through 7.5 amp fuse)
3 black lamp return (battery - for lamp which lights when master switch on)
4 white reverse relay (switch to 2 when master switch on and joystick reverse)
5 orange main solenoid (switch to 2 when master switch on)

 

[Donald]

Their diagrams at https://vetus.com/wp-content/uploads/020575.03-r01-2023-07-Wiring-diagrams-BPAJ-BPAS-BPJRC-BPSRC.pdf are **just plain wrong**. It can't work as drawn. The other side of the main solenoid needs to return to battery minus, not battery plus.

If you don't have a main solenoid though, it is a bit simpler. The joystick wires are
1 green forward relay (switch to 2 when master switch on and joystick forward)
2 red control power (battery + through 7.5 amp fuse)
3 black lamp return (battery - for lamp which lights when master switch on)
4 white reverse relay (switch to 2 when master switch on and joystick reverse)
5 orange main solenoid (switch to 2 when master switch on)

Wires 1-4 on the joystick and bow thruster use a 4-pin connector so they always get connected properly. The gray wire #5 is just an insulated female spade connector.

But wire #5 on new joysticks provides -12V when the joystick is powered up. That's my point old joysticks use to provide +12V but now provides -12V.

The solenoid #13 gets +12 from the battery cable. And -12V from the joystick (wire #5) when it's powered up.

So I believe the wiring diagram is correct.

The joystick has more circuitry than is shown. Probably a small circuit board that does some timing. You have to press the joystick ON button twice in 6 seconds to power up the joystick. It shutdown down if you run the bow thruster for more than 2 minutes straight. And turns off after non use for 30 minutes.