No joy joystick!

KINGFISHER 9

KINGFISHER 9

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Copied and pasted from the PBO forum - no response there! Someone must have had joystick problems surely - they have problems with everything else Volvo!
Lined up to berth at the pontoon this morning ... switched on the joystick and started to go in sideways (end pontoon) ... alarm started, joystick stopped working so tried to revert to throttles but throttles didn't work because the joystick disconnects them, along with the steering. Joystick wouldn't switch off ... it beeps and you get the normal controls back. Discovered that the starboard throttle worked after pushing every button I could find and a modicum of panic and berthed with that one while the memsahib heaved a couple of long ropes to the guy next door. Having tied up I tried every combination but no joystick or throttles.
Switched the engines off then switched them on again ... everything worked normally. It had reset itself. Any ideas anyone? It's a problem I could do without. No doubt I'll have to get the Volvo man round with his little gizmo ... I wondered if anyone else has had this problem?​
 
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Are you Volvo or Cummins? Oh just re read, Volvo...

I’ve only had Volvo IPS on PODs but my old Cummins / Smartcraft with outdrives would go into panic mode and alarm / fail when wind was above say 25mph and we gave the throttle too much welly. A quick reboot of the Smaetcraft system would always rectify - but it wasn’t ideal. Best to take the boat out, away from the berth and run the joystick through low and high power - vector every which way and see if the problem repeats.

Stupid question but are you certain that both legs were trimmed down? this was a real issue with my Cummins boat, the system would work with the legs trimmed up and the first indication that you’d messed up would be the Smartcraft system going bonkers.

There will be a log of the fault in the ecu so you might have to get an engineer to plug in - if it’s under warranty you should definitely do that anyway....
 
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Good idea to take it a out and go through a test routine. With my joystick the legs trim down when you press the on button ... at least they're supposed to. I'll try going to the Volvo place tomorrow to make an appointment. Haven't got enough technical French to know what they're jabbering about on the phone!
 
I have VP D6 with DPH sterndrives and Joystick. Last time I was maneuvering into a med mooring an actuator alarm was triggered and the port engine disconnected. Managed to finish mooring on one engine. At restart all works ok.

Years ago Volvopaul of this parish warned about the stress the joystick puts on drives so I have minimised using it. Now I virtually never use it and have rediscovered mooring skills of "click in click out" and occasional bowthruster.
 
Andrew38 said:
I have VP D6 with DPH sterndrives and Joystick. Last time I was maneuvering into a med mooring an actuator alarm was triggered and the port engine disconnected. Managed to finish mooring on one engine. At restart all works ok.

Years ago Volvopaul of this parish warned about the stress the joystick puts on drives so I have minimised using it. Now I virtually never use it and have rediscovered mooring skills of "click in click out" and occasional bowthruster.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what mine did! Had the Volvo man round yesterday who said it was an actuator ... OK but then he said the boat had to go ashore to get it done ... can this be right or am I getting lined up for (another) French stitch-up? Call me paranoid but after that he discovered water under an engine which hadn't been there when we checked the oil before he arrived - floor dry as a bone! ... "Have to change the gasket on the water pump and might as well do both" ... hmm. Couldn't have tipped a bottle of water in the bilge, could he?
 
Did you 'taste' the water? I would have thought that a leak from the gasket on the water pump would be an easy spot, particularly with the engine running and pressure in the system.
 
I didn't have an opportunity to taste the water while the Volvo guy was there but I'll be there again on Monday and will completely dry the bilge then run that engine again and see what happens ... easy to detect as the bilge is spotless.
 
Kingfisher 3 said:
That's exactly what mine did! Had the Volvo man round yesterday who said it was an actuator ... OK but then he said the boat had to go ashore to get it done ... can this be right or am I getting lined up for (another) French stitch-up? Call me paranoid but after that he discovered water under an engine which hadn't been there when we checked the oil before he arrived - floor dry as a bone! ... "Have to change the gasket on the water pump and might as well do both" ... hmm. Couldn't have tipped a bottle of water in the bilge, could he?
Click to expand...

I thought the actuators were inboard - I certainly don't remember my boat being lifted but I am not that techie; someone else may be able to assist us. I just checked your profile and noticed more parallels in that I have a Beneteau Monte Carlo 42. The starting issue I had with actuators was that VP didn't agree to warranty because the cables from the throttle controls were Beneteau. As this was amongst several other Beneteau and VP issues, discussions at higher levels sorted the matter out and cables were changed etc. etc. I raise this as it may be something your VP guy raises as a problem. Shame that you can't have total confidence in your local dealer, we are at Sant Carles in Spain and support from our Volvo guy is amazing and he is well trusted. The local Beneteau dealer is also good.

I do strongly recommend minimising Joystick use though.
 
I think you're right about minimising joystick use! The Volvo guy when testing it was ragging the thing round like a loony which was a bit alarming. Till now I've always used the thing when docking because I can ... I think I'll revert to throttles as my berth is an easy one anyway. The boat is now 4 and a half years old so I'll be paying whatever happens!

As for putting the boat ashore ... he may want to tiddle with the joystick controls and check the legs ... or something?
 
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