Mikehp0
Well-Known Member
I've been having problems with the Barka electric struts that lift the tender garage on my Prestige 38s ' Zen Dog'.
I've solved my problem but couldn't find much help on the web so have decided to post my solution here in the hope it helps others in the future. If you don't have these struts, don't read on - it is a very boring saga!
Here's the quick summary...
Apparently, the earliest versions of the circular blue Barka controllers that are used for tables, garages etc are not waterproof. Water gets in and they send spurious signals to the CPU. When that happens, the top and bottom movement limit settings can reset and the up and down arrow buttons will stop working. I followed instructions to clear the limits using the original controller. It then had a rapidly flashing red LED that didn't seem to be what was expected by Barka's expert or the manuals and seemingly wouldn't let me access "program mode". It turns out this just means that it is already in program mode and is waiting for the the limits for strut movement to be reset. On later versions the up and down arrow keys might still work in this mode. However, on mine, I eventually just ignored the flashing lights. I manually lifted the garage (by setting jumpers and using tiny up and down buttons on the CPU motherboard) and I reset the limits. Once upper and lower were set, the lights went out and everything worked.
Now for the boring detail...
Zen Dog's tender garage has a pair of electric "push only" struts made by Barka in Italy. They are the sort that have a motor and a threaded rod inside.
My problem was that one day in December last, I pressed the up arrow button on the circular blue Barka controller located in the cockpit and it just flashed once and nothing happened.
I found some instructions in my boat's vast pack of manuals. With amateurish enthusiasm, I deduced that the software limiters on the struts had reset themselves - the struts thought they were at the bottom and the top of their required stroke whilst at the bottom with the garage closed. Elementary! So, I followed the instructions to clear the open and close positions - just a series of button presses... I now had a control panel with an LED that blinked for 40 seconds regardless of the button that was pressed. The instructions didn't cover this. I couldn't appear to get it into 'program mode' which is a continuous red light.
So, I called Barka in Italy. Their excellent Mr Andrea Luzzeri (andrea.luzzeri@barka.it, +39 035 928771) gave me lots of help over the phone.
The first challenge was to identify the kit on my boat. I discovered I had 2 x 150kg struts which are connected to a CPU which in turn is connected to the blue circular Barka controller via Cat-5 network cable. It was apparently important to find the CPU as there are 2 versions. I struggled to find the CPU. It was eventually located behind an access panel in the port side of the tender garage, accessible even when the garage is locked closed via the hatch under the cockpit sofa that's designed to give access to the life raft. The CPU is an anonymous grey box. I had to remove the lid and photograph the CPU for Andrea to identify the version.
Andrea sent me new manuals in PDF form. I have the mark I version of the CPU and my previous instructions were for the mark II version. I raced back to the boat asap, excited to try the new instructions but failed to clear the 40-second rapid flashing LED.
Andrea put me on to Graham at Penguin Engineering in Hayling Island (www.penguineng.com). Graham is Barka's UK dealer.
He diagnosed a damaged controller. Apparently the earlier ones are not waterproof and get damaged easily. Similarly, they output via a short cable to an RJ45 male connector (a Cat 5 network cable plug) into a female to female interconnector and then into another RJ45 plug and the Cat 5 network cable that leads to the illusive CPU. The RJ45s and the interconnector are not protected from damp or other damage.
So, I drove to Hayling Island and picked up a new waterproof controller with properly sealed RJ45 connector glands.
I connected this straight to the existing Cat 5 cable - and I still had the flashing lights. So, I connected it straight to the CPU via some spare CAT 5 - and still had flashing lights.
I needed to get the garage open - Zen Dog was on the hard for engine and leg service.
Deep in the Barka instructions, I discovered that there's a way of opening one strut at a time to allow for resynchronisation. It involves moving a jumper on the CPU to select the required strut then pushing tiny up and down buttons. They worked. I was able to move the port strut up a few inches then repeat and add a few inches more for the starboard one. I repeated this process until the garage was fully open. Great - the engineer could now gain access!
I celebrated with a cup of tea and whilst drinking it, reread Andrea's instructions.
I spotted in some tiny print that "rapid flashing" indicates the need to set the limits for strut movement. But, even the new controller wouldn't let me enter "program mode". Then it dawned on me - what if the rapid flashing light implied it was already in program mode and unable to do anything till the limits had been set? I crawled back into the now open tender garage, hooked up the new controller direct to the CPU and hit the keys that set the upper limit. No change in the lights..I then went through the complex process of shutting the garage (jumper and buttons). Once closed I used the controller to input the sequence for setting the lower limit. The annoying flashing stopped.......!!
With much excitement and trepidation, I pressed the up key to start the garage lift process. It worked.. It *****, **** *** worked! The down button worked too! I climbed out of the garage and reconnected the CAT 5 cable to the original controller. I pressed the Up key. The **** flashing lights were back!. I connected the new controller. Flashing Lights again. So, back into the tender garage and I ran the whole jumper swapping, button nudging process to set the limits once again. Now with the benefit of the unwanted practice, this only took a further 30 minutes. Once set and tested, I bravely disconnected the new controller from the short length of CAT 5, climbed out of the garage and connected it to the original CAT 5 that previously led to the old controller. It still worked!
Conclusions? There's a good chance Graham is right that the old controller and or part of the cabling is damaged. I was able to set it all up perfectly with new cable and a new controller and it all went wrong when I swapped back to the old stuff. The rapid flashing LED on the controller that seemingly won't go away merely means that the software limit "switches" for the struts have been lost. Ignore the flashing - it is already in "program mode" - just move the struts to the desired extremes then use the controller to set the limits.
I hope this helps someone in the future. If you don't have this kit and read this far, you only have yourself to blame. I warned you it was boring!
I've solved my problem but couldn't find much help on the web so have decided to post my solution here in the hope it helps others in the future. If you don't have these struts, don't read on - it is a very boring saga!
Here's the quick summary...
Apparently, the earliest versions of the circular blue Barka controllers that are used for tables, garages etc are not waterproof. Water gets in and they send spurious signals to the CPU. When that happens, the top and bottom movement limit settings can reset and the up and down arrow buttons will stop working. I followed instructions to clear the limits using the original controller. It then had a rapidly flashing red LED that didn't seem to be what was expected by Barka's expert or the manuals and seemingly wouldn't let me access "program mode". It turns out this just means that it is already in program mode and is waiting for the the limits for strut movement to be reset. On later versions the up and down arrow keys might still work in this mode. However, on mine, I eventually just ignored the flashing lights. I manually lifted the garage (by setting jumpers and using tiny up and down buttons on the CPU motherboard) and I reset the limits. Once upper and lower were set, the lights went out and everything worked.
Now for the boring detail...
Zen Dog's tender garage has a pair of electric "push only" struts made by Barka in Italy. They are the sort that have a motor and a threaded rod inside.
My problem was that one day in December last, I pressed the up arrow button on the circular blue Barka controller located in the cockpit and it just flashed once and nothing happened.
I found some instructions in my boat's vast pack of manuals. With amateurish enthusiasm, I deduced that the software limiters on the struts had reset themselves - the struts thought they were at the bottom and the top of their required stroke whilst at the bottom with the garage closed. Elementary! So, I followed the instructions to clear the open and close positions - just a series of button presses... I now had a control panel with an LED that blinked for 40 seconds regardless of the button that was pressed. The instructions didn't cover this. I couldn't appear to get it into 'program mode' which is a continuous red light.
So, I called Barka in Italy. Their excellent Mr Andrea Luzzeri (andrea.luzzeri@barka.it, +39 035 928771) gave me lots of help over the phone.
The first challenge was to identify the kit on my boat. I discovered I had 2 x 150kg struts which are connected to a CPU which in turn is connected to the blue circular Barka controller via Cat-5 network cable. It was apparently important to find the CPU as there are 2 versions. I struggled to find the CPU. It was eventually located behind an access panel in the port side of the tender garage, accessible even when the garage is locked closed via the hatch under the cockpit sofa that's designed to give access to the life raft. The CPU is an anonymous grey box. I had to remove the lid and photograph the CPU for Andrea to identify the version.
Andrea sent me new manuals in PDF form. I have the mark I version of the CPU and my previous instructions were for the mark II version. I raced back to the boat asap, excited to try the new instructions but failed to clear the 40-second rapid flashing LED.
Andrea put me on to Graham at Penguin Engineering in Hayling Island (www.penguineng.com). Graham is Barka's UK dealer.
He diagnosed a damaged controller. Apparently the earlier ones are not waterproof and get damaged easily. Similarly, they output via a short cable to an RJ45 male connector (a Cat 5 network cable plug) into a female to female interconnector and then into another RJ45 plug and the Cat 5 network cable that leads to the illusive CPU. The RJ45s and the interconnector are not protected from damp or other damage.
So, I drove to Hayling Island and picked up a new waterproof controller with properly sealed RJ45 connector glands.
I connected this straight to the existing Cat 5 cable - and I still had the flashing lights. So, I connected it straight to the CPU via some spare CAT 5 - and still had flashing lights.
I needed to get the garage open - Zen Dog was on the hard for engine and leg service.
Deep in the Barka instructions, I discovered that there's a way of opening one strut at a time to allow for resynchronisation. It involves moving a jumper on the CPU to select the required strut then pushing tiny up and down buttons. They worked. I was able to move the port strut up a few inches then repeat and add a few inches more for the starboard one. I repeated this process until the garage was fully open. Great - the engineer could now gain access!
I celebrated with a cup of tea and whilst drinking it, reread Andrea's instructions.
I spotted in some tiny print that "rapid flashing" indicates the need to set the limits for strut movement. But, even the new controller wouldn't let me enter "program mode". Then it dawned on me - what if the rapid flashing light implied it was already in program mode and unable to do anything till the limits had been set? I crawled back into the now open tender garage, hooked up the new controller direct to the CPU and hit the keys that set the upper limit. No change in the lights..I then went through the complex process of shutting the garage (jumper and buttons). Once closed I used the controller to input the sequence for setting the lower limit. The annoying flashing stopped.......!!
With much excitement and trepidation, I pressed the up key to start the garage lift process. It worked.. It *****, **** *** worked! The down button worked too! I climbed out of the garage and reconnected the CAT 5 cable to the original controller. I pressed the Up key. The **** flashing lights were back!. I connected the new controller. Flashing Lights again. So, back into the tender garage and I ran the whole jumper swapping, button nudging process to set the limits once again. Now with the benefit of the unwanted practice, this only took a further 30 minutes. Once set and tested, I bravely disconnected the new controller from the short length of CAT 5, climbed out of the garage and connected it to the original CAT 5 that previously led to the old controller. It still worked!
Conclusions? There's a good chance Graham is right that the old controller and or part of the cabling is damaged. I was able to set it all up perfectly with new cable and a new controller and it all went wrong when I swapped back to the old stuff. The rapid flashing LED on the controller that seemingly won't go away merely means that the software limit "switches" for the struts have been lost. Ignore the flashing - it is already in "program mode" - just move the struts to the desired extremes then use the controller to set the limits.
I hope this helps someone in the future. If you don't have this kit and read this far, you only have yourself to blame. I warned you it was boring!
