Opacmare passerelle - can you manually collapse it

Whitelighter

Whitelighter

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My pas has got stuck extended - it lifts and lowers, but now won't retract. It did extend all the way out.
I can here the pump running but it's not moving.

Currently it's extended over the pontoon and I'm concerned someone will walk into it at night.
 
On mine I think there is a manual release lever on the pump block.
will it go up and down ? might give clearance until the morning.
Failing that check out the valve connections ???
 
Hmm, I remember when we were in Menton with Bart, our neighbour in an Azimut had the same issue.

Was resolved when a local rattled it while someone else tried to retract... it worked!
 
Same thing happened to me last year on the Besonzoni passerelle.

The pump sounds like it is running but really it is the motor not the pump you can hear.

It's probably the drive shaft between the motor and the pump that has come adrift.

For a temp repair get someone on the cockpit retract button for the unit and keep the button pushed so the motor is running continuously.

You go into the engine room to the pump unit where you should find a short pump handle. Pump this like mad and the passerelle should retract.

Good luck
 
If it is happily going up/down, then there is nothing wrong with the pump (so don't do as DougH says - sorry DougH!)

Likewise if the pump is running but it wont retract, there is likely nothing wrong with the control panel or the remote. and it if goes up/down, the oil level must be fine (sorry, Porto!)

It is most likely the valve for retract. Could be busted; could be sticky; could be bad elec connection. You can normally operate the valves by hand - someone in engine room should push on the manual button on end of valve solenoid, and someone should run the motor by pushing the retract command on the control panel. Also check wiring to valve solenoid - see if the 24v is present there. If it is, you might need a new valve - easy off eBay etc - they are generic and not "marine"

If all that fails you could do temporary fix if you swap the hoses, at the hydraulic pump, between say "up" and "retract". The bore is small and you'll only lose a teaspoon of oil. Then press "up" and the thing will retract
 
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jfm said:
If it is happily going up/down, then there is nothing wrong with the pump (so don't do as DougH says - sorry DougH!)

Likewise if the pump is running but it wont retract, there is likely nothing wrong with the control panel or the remote. and it if goes up/down, the oil level must be fine (sorry, Porto!)

It is most likely the valve for retract. Could be busted; could be sticky; could be bad elec connection. You can normally operate the valves by hand - someone in engine room should push on the manual button on end of valve solenoid, and someone should run the motor by pushing the retract command on the control panel. Also check wiring to valve solenoid - see if the 24v is present there. If it is, you might need a new valve - easy off eBay etc - they are generic and not "marine"

If all that fails you could do temporary fix if you swap the hoses, at the hydraulic pump, between say "up" and "retract". The bore is small and you'll only lose a teaspoon of oil. Then press "up" and the thing will retract
Click to expand...

Thanks john
 
Sorry Jez I can’t help you on your Opacmare passerel,
I can only advice you to get familiar with it, otherwise this will give you lots of headaches,
Know every “end switch” and contact and relay of it,
Can you operate it manually ?
I have labelled the valves, to know which one to operate (manually) when something is wrong,

And actually today we finished installation of this light indicator display box
to know exactly which switch or contact is wrong when something doesn’t work,

passerel%20light%20box.jpg


Yes I know, not of any help to you,
 
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We ended up contacting Opacmare direct ,they are very helpful , problem we had it would start extending on its own, cause was water on printed circuit board, ended up with an upgraded control panel ,new wiring loom etcetera ,as they no longer supply existing circuit board ,
 
I'll +1 what JFM said.
Having spend a good amount of time with mine (as it came in a box and I had to figure out what does what and install it!), I'd recommend what Bart says, learn it inside out!
Mine has these solenoids which have no manual overlay :eek: so no way to manually play with them

BTW, a few pics of the pump/tank/relays/solenoids assembly would be helpful.
I'd first of all mark which solenoid does what (easy by unplugging the el.socket on top of each one one at a time). NOT easy by trying to follow the route of each pipe through the transom and in the passerelle!
This way you'll also find the offending one :D
With a 15 or 17 spanner, you can remove them (there's no oil running inside them), just clean nice electromagnets shifting something inside the tube/rod they go over.
Swap them over to test the solenoid.

I'd put 50%-50% on a burnt solenoid vs lousy contacts on the solenoid spades. Bought 2 solenoids to make my passerelle 24V, I think I paid 15euro each (max)
Nice, easy job for a sunny morning like tomorrow :p

cheers

V.

PS. struggling with work, will email what I promised by Sat!
 
jfm said:
If it is happily going up/down, then there is nothing wrong with the pump (so don't do as DougH says - sorry DougH!)

Likewise if the pump is running but it wont retract, there is likely nothing wrong with the control panel or the remote. and it if goes up/down, the oil level must be fine (sorry, Porto!)

It is most likely the valve for retract. Could be busted; could be sticky; could be bad elec connection. You can normally operate the valves by hand - someone in engine room should push on the manual button on end of valve solenoid, and someone should run the motor by pushing the retract command on the control panel. Also check wiring to valve solenoid - see if the 24v is present there. If it is, you might need a new valve - easy off eBay etc - they are generic and not "marine"

If all that fails you could do temporary fix if you swap the hoses, at the hydraulic pump, between say "up" and "retract". The bore is small and you'll only lose a teaspoon of oil. Then press "up" and the thing will retract
Click to expand...
Just last week had the same prob - could here pump running but stuck out .
It did before stopping go jerky intermittently earlier in the day .
Put the remote bat over a voltmeter 11. Something V?
Enough to act the pump but seemingly not trigger the In solinoid ( others worked Up /Down and out .
Wife tootled off Chandelier comes back with new remote bat -voltmeter says 12.8 V
Hey presto all works --- so suggests to me that pump and solinoids do not use exact same signal or put another way as bat fades motor signal is last and IN first to die .
Cockpit controls all fine .But these need testing through too
Once we are sure all the signals are true and tested --- then valve - next - agree

mine is a Pincraft so may be diff to Opacmare ? ----

Fluid -level -depends on the positions of the solinoids -just ( guessing without examination ) that low fliud may effect IN first as they may be positioned at diff hieght ? -easy to eliminate -

That's my initial long range without sight thought processes
 
vas said:
... what Bart says, learn it inside out!
Click to expand...
Totally. I'm far more intimate with my passerelle than I want to be. I know every little detail, proximity switch, valve, pump detail, the lot. Had it all apart and had good teaching from an excellent Besenzoni guy. I have tweaked plenty of the wiring and despite its youth (3 years) it is like Trigger's Brush with its spare parts history. I have a complete pump/motor/run solenoid/valves/oil tank unit as a spare, helpfully bought as Fairline surplus when they were clearing out the sq78 shed in the administration, and I have a guy in Sheffield who can re work the PCB when it has a problem!
 
Portofino said:
.
Put the remote bat over a voltmeter 11. Something V?
Enough to act the pump but seemingly not trigger the In solinoid ( others worked Up /Down and out .
Wife tootled off Chandelier comes back with new remote bat -voltmeter says 12.8 V
Hey presto all works --- so suggests to me that pump and solinoids do not use exact same signal or put another way as bat fades motor signal is last and IN first to die .
Click to expand...
Anything is possible and we are all keyboard diagnosing. However it is one heck of a long shot that the battery voltage inside the remote fob has fallen precisely to a point where the signals to run the motor and 3 of the solenoid valves are sent but the signal to the 4th solenoid isn't sent. Especially as Jez has this problem from the local panel as well as the remote.
 
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Couple of things from me
Are there any limit switches that might have got stuck.
Remember DJEFABS and RogerRat fixed ours when it was new.

Also, I've now got a lot of experience with Opacmare cranes so I know how they design things.
With our Opacmare crane, battery voltage/condition was critical.
Everything is much better this year with new service batteries.

I'll pop over later and see if I can add some useful help.
 
So by way of an update:

It seems my pas is probably a retro fit. The very comprehensive Ferretti manual says standard pas was electric only, the electro-hudraulic an upgrade using the same pump as the tender crane.

Mine is definitely a hydraulic pas but there is a completely separate pump etc. It's also not in very good condition with lots of surface corrosion so that's been added to the to do list.

Going to have a fiddle this afternoon and see what's what (HAD to go get the kids new scooters this morning - and it turns out new jacket for the wife, pfds for the kids etc etc etc).
 
Good news is it's working again - Hurricane identified a stuck solenoid. The who control box needs a decent overhaul though so it's on the list with limited use of the pas until then.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice, especially Hurricane
 
Whitelighter said:
t's on the list with limited use of the pas until then.
Click to expand...
Happy to hear that the troubleshooting was effective, but I don't think it's worth bothering with a more limited usage.
In my experience, stuck solenoids are one of the mysteries of mechanics: probably more than 10 yrs ago, my port engine refused to start for the same reason.
The problem was temporarily solved by gently (well, almost) hammering the engine starter, while swmbo turned the start key.
Back then, I thought that at the end of the season I should have asked my Cat mechanic to look at it, but eventually I forgot to tell him.
Long story short, it never happened again in all the following years and a thousands or so of hours, with countless engine starts and without ever looking at it again...
 
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