Ridesteady and throttle drop?

[Jon Burns]

Been reading about the newest version of Hydrophase Ridesteady and it seems like something we're interested in. We have a 2015 SX240 and the idea of full time engine sync sounds fantastic. Our boat has always had the issue of throttle drop, especially if we hit a wake or it's choppy out. We bought the Jet Boat Pilot throttle sync years ago and love it, especially for docking, but I still need a hand on one of the binnacles while cruising. Major question is; when Ridesteady is engaged in full sync mode, will it disengage if the throttles drop?

 

[zipper]

@Ridesteady or @swatski as well as many others here who use it will be able to answer your question.

 

[MidnightRider]

The answer is yes and no. If the throttles are slipping Ridesteady won't cure that problem directly. However, because usually throttles will only slip when at certain positions, with Ridesteady, you can set the speed at what you want then move the throttles past the slipping point and Ridesteady will still keep the speed.

For instance, set the speed to 15mph and then move the throttles to "full throttle", Ridesteady will keep 15mph and your throttles won't slip (assuming they don't slip at full throttle position).

Ridesteady will keep the speed constant as long as there is enough throttle head room to maintain that speed.

Example, lets say throttle position 'A' is where the boat maintains speed of 15 mph stock. Ridesteady will require you to have the throttle at position 'A' or any position greater than 'A' to be able to maintain 15 mph. If the throttles slip below position 'A' Ridesteady will not be able to maintain 15 mph and the display will indicate "... needs more throttle". So as long as you can find a position on the throttle at postion 'A' or greater that won't slip you'd be good. Hope that makes sense.

On another note, there are hints and tips around here that people have posted on ways to at least diminish throttle slip through mechanical adjustments and tweaks. I have not seen anyone that can eliminate it completely though, especially when hitting bumps - so I highly recommend Ridesteady. Its one of those must haves for me for this issue and many many more reasons.

 

[J-RAD]

The Ridesteady system can fix this to a point. You can move your throttle levers all the way up and set the system to your desired speed or RPM. With the systems speed control disengaged it will still sync your engines at any speed over 8mph if set to sync full time. In this circumstance the system matches the RPM of one of the engines based on whatever has the higher or lower output (I can't remember which @Ridesteady?).

The reality is you're really only going to be masking the problem. @Speedling has a actual fix for throttle drop posted in the FAQ section of the forum. You'll find it here.: https://jetboaters.net/threads/throttle-dropping-check-here.299/#post-2412

I'd still recommend the Ridesteady to anyone. It's fantastic!

 

[Ridesteady]

Hydrophase has the best customers in the world!

@MidnightRider Excellent explanation - you nailed it!
@J-RAD Great points!

@Jon Burns As has been mentioned, Ridesteady will help mitigate the issue of the throttle binnacles falling, as the throttles can be pushed forward to where they won't drop (it's typically in the intermediate range where they want to pop back towards idle). You could use either the GPS speed based or the very smooth RPM-based mode to cruise in to dial in the speed to where you want it (the speed can be changed with a simple rotation of the knob either before or during use).

Ridesteady has fail-safe functionality not available in other systems. With Ridesteady, the system can only reduce throttle from the amount that you give it with the throttle handles / binnacles. This is implemented in an independent hardware circuit so that no matter what the cruise control wants to do, you can always override it by pulling back on the handles / binnacles.

Because of this fail-safe system, as @MidnightRider mentioned, if you're using either GPS or RPM -based cruise modes, you have to push the handles down a little more than would normally be required to maintain that speed as if cruise wasn't being used (to give the system room to operate). You can choose to push the throttles all the way down if you like to prevent them from moving on choppy water.

If the system is "OFF" (i.e. no speed control being used), if the binnacles dropped because you're cruising with them in a position that they're prone to dropping, the speed of the engine(s) whose binnacle dropped will still slow because of the aforementioned fail-safe technology. If full-time engine sync is enabled, Ridesteady will still try to sync the engines after the drop, but it will only move the engine speed so far to try to sync. If they're too far apart (i.e. only one engine's binnacle drops to idle), you'd have to re-align them in order to regain sync.

Let me know if anything is unclear!

 

[J-RAD]

@Ridesteady or @swatski as well as many others here who use it will be able to answer your question.

Pardon the digression, but speaking of @swatski, where is that character? I guess this is as an appropriate place as any to ask, since he was called out. I normally would have expected to see posts him wakeboarding on a near frozen river every few days... he seems noticeably absent. If you're out there @swatski, I hope all is well.

 

[Jon Burns]

Thanks for all the replies everyone! Great insight and it makes total sense. Hope to pull the trigger on this in the off-season.

 

[zipper]

Pardon the digression, but speaking of @swatski, where is that character? I guess this is as an appropriate place as any to ask, since he was called out. I normally would have expected to see posts him wakeboarding on a near frozen river every few days... he seems noticeably absent. If you're out there @swatski, I hope all is well.

The Doctor is Out...been wondering myself, but recall mention somewhere here of business related travel coming up near late October/November. Last sight of him was Oct. 23.

Edit: Here is the mention of travel coming up... https://jetboaters.net/threads/trim-tabs-lectrotab.24655/page-2#post-412612

 

[Mainah]

Just do the throttle drop fix when installing ridesteady as it will make fishing the wire to the nodes easier with the throttles removed. I have zero drop after that fix. I used pliers to bend in the forks instad of the tape method. Easily one of the best mods I did and it cost zero dollars. Thanks again to @Speedling for that one.