Outdrive Corrosion

[Madifonzo]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I did not realize the red controller would power the three units. I understand now...thanks!

 

[src]

I spoke to my mechanic about changing to the red controller, and he recommended not making the change. I currently just have the outdrive electrodes, and he said I would do better just added the additional electrodes to the blue controller, since we are in fresh/brackish water. He thought red would be too much, and create an imbalance in the other direction (if I understood his point correctly).

 

[jason78]

I spoke to my mechanic about changing to the red controller, and he recommended not making the change. I currently just have the outdrive electrodes, and he said I would do better just added the additional electrodes to the blue controller, since we are in fresh/brackish water. He thought red would be too much, and create an imbalance in the other direction (if I understood his point correctly).

Common logic to me says that spreading the available "power" from a Blue controller designed to maintain a single gimbal anode out to an additional (2) Puck anodes will reduce the overall effectiveness of the system and cause more issues than you started with. Then you have to wonder if the transom pucks require the same amount of power that is sent to the gimbal anode since there are different connections. You could potentially render the entire system ineffective.

Maybe your mechanic knows more about this stuff than the engineers coming up with this stuff at Merc, maybe not. Either way I personally would suggest either sticking with the stock single gimbal anode configuration or go all the way and install the system as it was designed. I do understand the root theory he is operating on but not sure I would risk it with out an opinion from someone more informed on the operation of the device. Maybe a call to Merc customer service is in order. They should be able to give guidance on your mechanic's suggestion.

 

[src]

Common logic to me says that spreading the available "power" from a Blue controller designed to maintain a single gimbal anode out to an additional (2) Puck anodes will reduce the overall effectiveness of the system and cause more issues than you started with. Then you have to wonder if the transom pucks require the same amount of power that is sent to the gimbal anode since there are different connections. You could potentially render the entire system ineffective.

Maybe your mechanic knows more about this stuff than the engineers coming up with this stuff at Merc, maybe not. Either way I personally would suggest either sticking with the stock single gimbal anode configuration or go all the way and install the system as it was designed. I do understand the root theory he is operating on but not sure I would risk it with out an opinion from someone more informed on the operation of the device. Maybe a call to Merc customer service is in order. They should be able to give guidance on your mechanic's suggestion.

I guess it really depends on if the controller splits the total output among the electrodes, or if it delivers a fixed level to each. If it's the first, then your concern would certainly be valid. If it's the latter, however, the additional pucks would certainly make sense.

Any mercathode experts around?

Edit: I did a quick search and found the item below. It indicates that in fresh water (my situation), adding additional pucks is the correct strategy, since the protection is limited by the area of the anode. It also looks like the output is split among the anodes. It appears that this information predates the red controller, so I don't know how that affects the situation.

 

[Dave S]

I can confirm what Jason said about replacing the blue controller with a red one. The install of the red controller was also confirmed by a Mercury Factory Tech I talked to directly when he was visiting our dealership. Like wise, I can also tell you I get the correct readings from my Mercathode tester (which I use on a regular basis). And I will add that everyone who is concerned about corrosion, ought to buy their own tester and use it on a regular basis because if something does fail, you want to know about it as soon as you can.

Dave