Bow Thruster Help Required

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sonic

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I have a Volvo Penta QL BP80 bow thruster fitted to a motor boat. The thruster has been inoperative since last year because of a faulty Print Card. Do any of you good people have one or know who might have one. The factory that used to make them is no longer in production and VP cannot provide one. Any sensible suggestions would be appreciated.
 
By print card, do you mean the circuit board?

A bow thruster is a bow thruster whoever makes it. It is just a motor able to be spun in either direction. If VP don't do spares, I am sure you could get yours to work with the electrics from another manufacturer with a bit of imaginative wiring skills.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Drop the card into your local electronics repair shop, they should have no problem finding the faulty part and replacing it.

[/ QUOTE ]It's certainly worth a try but there are three rather important things that need to be preserved in the control unit. One is the thermistor overheat protection and the other is a timer to prevent instant reversal of the motor. Also, the driving contactors need to be driven and wired in such a way that they can never possibly both try to drive in opposite directions.

It is very hard to fault-find a modern pcb with no circuit diagram especially if you don't even know exactly what the thing was supposed to do. But they might be lucky, maybe it is something obvious.

A better bet might be to track down the old distributors or makers, and see if some ex-employees can help or have some bits in their garages. People often have piles of stuff at home, from their work. The pcb itself might give a clue if it was sub-contracted, the contract manufacturer might be able to supply spares or still have some bits.

Back in the 1970s after EMI Marine closed down we used to get bits and help from an ex-employee. Same with a depth sounder.
 
Are you sure that it is a faulty pcb and not a wiring problem?
 
The print card was used in several BT units but they were all supplied from one factory in Europe which has since gone bust. One printcard was found local but was used in another unit on a diffrent boat. I will try and obtain photograph of card and post same on this thread.
Thank you all for the input.
 
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