Nice installation. Let us know how you like it after you have had some usage.

Dave

 

Thanks Dave. I put a couple of hours on it last weekend in the river and I never touched the manual controls. The boat rode level at all times. I had the family move around on the boat from side to side and the correction was immediate. So far, it was a great do-it-yourself add on to the boat.

 

Do you know if that system drops the tabs all the way down when you take off or only activates them once on plane?

Dave

 

I have the same unit...........installed a few weeks ago..
we love it. and YES!! trim tab yellow arrows points down when taking off and adjusts once on plane.....:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

At Ease

Great installation and photos. It looks like you found a good spot for the control module and I like the use of the Marinco adapter to get power to the relay.

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine

 

Thanks Tom.

 

I am curious about the tie in with the existing manual Trim Tab controls. Do you have the Standard SR EIM Control pads or do you have a seperate switch?

I have been wanting this system but I have heard it is a nightmare to connect the EIM Controls Sea Ray used in many Sport Cruisers.

I would be interested to hear how you did this if you have the EIM.

Great Install! :thumbsup:

Jason

 

Mines tied in with the standard SR EIM pads, we use the bennett control, and the manual if preferred, once underway if you want to switch from bennett auto to manual all you have to do is touch the manual trim switch and the bennett turns it self off... we can use either, how we did it??? i don't know:huh: my mechanic did it, and it was no big deal as i watched

 

Excellent job. I have been considering this upgrade but have been curious as to the difficulty of doing the upgrade myself, and whether the upgrade was worth the cost. In addition to increasing the size of my trim tabs. Thanks for the post.

 

Dave

I don't know much about your issues regarding coming on plane except what I have read here on the site, but having put the ATC on 3 previous boats and now on my 350EB, I do know that as I increase throttle from idle, I can see the tabs adjusting.

I have an older version (see Picture) but I can easily see the up/down red arrows working as I accelerate.

So I do believe the ATC is trying to keep boat at the predetermined attitude I have programmed in.
And yes, it is fast to react.
Having a bridge boat, the movement of people, wind and waves are much more noticeable than an express boat also.

Belive me when I say they work!

Dan

 

Dave,

I actually cannot answer your question yet. I did not engage the ATT until after I was on plane. I never have the tabs down when coming up on plane. I will try it this weekend to see what the results might be with the ATT engaged.

 

In most applications it's best to engage the ATC after the boat is on plane. I like to think of it as cruise control, you don't use it when you are pulling away from the toll booth, but rather when you are up to speed.

Now having said that, all boats react differently to Trim Tab input, as Dave S well points out. Some boats will respond well to the ATC being engaged at "take off". Just like using Trim Tabs manually, a little experimentation will tell you how your boat will best respond to the ATC.

As far as the EIM Controls are concerned, the best way to install the ATC is to find the 4 color wire harness that leads back to the Bennett Hydraulic Power Unit. The wires are Blue, Yellow, Red and Green. The ATC will tie in to these wires color for color. The trick is to find these wires near where you are going to mount the Control Module.

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine

 

My boat responds very well with the unit....

quote:
In most applications it's best to engage the ATC after the boat is on plane.

YES! and then you push the moon face, and sun face together on the dash control face plate and your ZERO set point is set..

leave it be till you want or need to change the way the boat acts
i never changed my ZERO point since day one....:thumbsup:

 

Billnpat,

You are correct!

Most times once a good zero point is set there is no reason to change it. The zero point is the boat's best cruising attitude, and as conditions change such as passenger movement, wind or boat speed the ATC is going to adjust the Trim Tabs to best return to that attitude.

It's a lot of fun to take the boat out after installing an ATC and have people move around the boat and watch the Trim Tabs correct the changes or once on plane pull the throttle back enoch so the bow starts to rise and watch the ATC lower the Tabs to keep the boat running on plane.

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine

 

AND IT SEEMS TO BE DONE IN SMALL INCREMENTS:smt001

 

Tom

Thanks for all your input. It really is appreciated.

I will be anxious to hear from At Ease to see how the 260DA responds to the system being active before taking off. One of the problems I have right now is when I am pulling a tube, I have to get up on plane before I can start "maneuvering" and that is typically at 25 mph which is a bit faster than I like to pull most tubers. Plus, it takes a lot longer to get up on plane without being able to use tabs to do it. If the auto tabs work well from idle to plane, I will definitely consider buying them myself.

Dave

 

Does for me.....Hope for you also :thumbsup:

 

No that is not correct. The control module goes between the existing switches and the hydraulic control. The ATC switch has a separate (supplied) cable to the control module. Take a look at the wiring diagrams from Bennett.

http://www.bennetttrimtabs.com/catalog.php?vID=167

 

ALSO REMEMBER TO PUT THE RELAY MODULE CLOSE TO THE HYDRAULIC UNIT as possible, very very IMPORTANT..........

The Relay Module is best located in a dry location close to the Hydraulic Power Unit.

 

I installed the auto Tab controller in my boat this spring. Installation is quite easy but quite truthfully I think it was a waste of money.

While on plane the controller is constantly working the tabs and my boat ends up rolling from side to side a little. Sometimes it is so much that I have to turn the unit off to get my boat stable again. It never seams to find a stable position. I don't know if my tabs are too big or the unit is just overly sensitive.
I find I can adjust the tabs myself alot better.

 

You need a new zero point, take her out again with the unit off , then get the boat on plane where you want it, and once that's done set the zero point....:thumbsup:

 

Westie,

I'd like to suggest that you try resetting the zero point on the ATC with the bow a degree or two higher than you have it set now. It's been my experience that on some boats doing this will help with the rolling you are experiencing.

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine

 

Tom : I'll give that a try next time i"m out. It won't be this weekend since it's 8 degrees and raining right now, but hopefully I'll be out next weekend.

To me it looks like the real problem is that the time constant of the feedback loop of the controller is way too short. I see teh LED flash multiple times per second. Within a second I will see the same tab being rasied and the lowered multiple times. Can the tab even move this fast let alone the boat reacting this fast? I think if the system time constant was decreased and the whole system was over damped by increasing the integration constant the performanace would be alot better. Rignt now the system behaves as if it was way under damped.

 

Westie,

It is quite common for the system to make lots of small adjustments, particularly when it is first engaged. The "dampening" is the system is automatically adjusted over time. The system looks at at the amount of time it moves a Trim Tab and the boat's reaction to that movement. The amount of correction is then adjusted as the system "looks at the last series of movements and reactions.

So I hope the weather gets better for you to try a few degrees bow up and then let it run for a bit of time and see if it "settles down".

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine

 

Westie,

It is quite common for the system to make lots of small adjustments, particularly when it is first engaged. The "dampening" is the system is automatically adjusted over time. The system looks at at the amount of time it moves a Trim Tab and the boat's reaction to that movement. The amount of correction is then adjusted as the system "looks at the last series of movements and reactions.

So I hope the weather gets better for you to try a few degrees bow up and then let it run for a bit of time and see if it "settles down".

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine

How long should it take to adjust to the characteristics of the boat?
Are these adjustments stored in the unit (in EEPROM) or does the unit have to readjust every time power is removed from it?

 

I was out today and drove the boat for about 4 hours on a busy river with a good breeze all day. The unit worked well. I even left it on while coming on plane and had no issues with handling. I did notice one problem that did not happen on my initial run after completing the install. The top starboard led stayed on constantly and the unit would not turn off when I hit one of the manual tab buttons. I tried zeroing again with the same results. Any ideas with that issue Tabman?

 

When one or both of the ATC Keypad’s trim tab direction arrows remains in the
on mode, the ATC has determined one or more of the trim tabs has reached a
limit. Unit resumes operation once the boat’s attitude changes.:thumbsup:

 

Billnpat nailed the answer!

When the ATC attempts to move a Trim Tab a specific number of times and does not see a corresponding change in the boats attitude, it essentially "times out" any moment in that direction until a change in the boat's attitude "tells" it to try again. In your case the starboard Trim Tab was all the way up and it would not send any more commands to raise it. If the boat healed to starboard it would have then send a command to lower it.

As long as the boat is at a good attitude, this is normal, especially with a Tab Up indication.

Often if the boat is going too slowly for one or both of the Trim Tabs to correct list or bow high attitude the system will time out when one or both Trim Tabs are in the full down position. More often than not timing out in Tab down position is a good indicator that the Trim Tabs are too small for the boat and could benefit from upgrading to a larger size if possible.

So, long story short, if the boat was in good trim, the indication you got is normal.

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine

 

That's good news. The boats attitude was perfect. Why did the ATC not disengage when one of the manual buttons was pressed?

 

That happened to us when we took our first run test, the manual OEM
trim tab rocker was not working the tabs, when the unit was off, we found out that the module was placed NOT near the hydralic
unit as suggested, we moved it to where it should be and then it worked on the 2nd test run....

 

It sort of depends on the conditions, i.e. a beam sea with chop will take a bit longer than smooth water or a head sea. But it should happen within the first two minutes or less. While the Zero Point is stored in EEPROM, the rate of correction essentially starts every time you power up and then runs continuously to update the system.

Again, I think that trying a new Zero Point, perhaps with the bow a degree or two above what was originally programmed will make a big difference.

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine

 

Tom,

The manual tab control works perfectly. The relay module is within 6" of the hydraulic control unit. This was working on my first outing. I will do as suggested and let you know.

 

I did an install several weeks ago but I've never gotten it to work and my tabs now don't work manually. I'm pretty confident that the helm control and control unit are wired correctly and suspect the problem is at the transfer relay. The transfer relay has two plugs that will mate to a plug set that is part of the original wiring coming out of the pump. In my case Sea Ray cut out the plugs and connected the Bennett wiring to a Sea Ray wiring harness that carries signals to and from the helm. So, I had to cut the Bennett plugs off the relay unit and butt-connect the wires on both sides of the relay to the original wiring while pretty much standing on my head balanced on the aft toilet through the access panel to the transom. I guessed based on the wiring diagram picture which side of the transfer relay wiring to connect to the hyrdraulic pump and which to connect to helm wiring. Is there a procedure I can follow to troubleshoot the transfer relay wiring in hopes of getting my system working?

 

Al,

My first concern is that the relay is installed "backward", with the wrong pigtail going to the Hydraulic Power Unit (pump). I just made up this picture for you to check and see if this is the case.

Note that the pigtail that goes to the Hydraulic Power Unit is on the same side of the relay as the back ground wire.

Can you please check this first?

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine

 

Al,

Can you please check this first?


Tom, thanks. I will check it and get back to you, it will be the end of this week before I get back to the boat.

 

Al,

Great, I'll be standing by.

If the relay is installed correctly you can try this:

Using a hot lead, positive 12 volts, (you can use the power from the orange wire on the module), "hot wire" the leads going into the module as follows:

Orange (+), blue, red= Port trim tab down
Orange (+), blue, green=Starboard trim tab down
Orange (+), blue, red, green= Both trim tabs down
Orange (+), yellow, red= Port trim tab up
Orange (+), yellow, green=Starboard trim tab up
Orange (+), yellow, red, green= Both trim tabs up

Let me know what you find.

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine

 

The ATC is designed to shut off when the manual control is operated. Did you hold the manual control down for a moment or was it a "quick tap"? It takes a moment for the system to "notice" the voltage coming from the manual switch. The basic idea is so that if you start to operate the Trim Tabs by "hand" the ATC will shut down. It should not matter if the ATC is in the middle of a correction or not.

 

The ATC is designed to shut off when the manual control is operated.

OK



Did you hold the manual control down for a moment or was it a "quick tap"?

IT WAS A FEW MOMENTS WHILE I WAS USING THE OEM UNIT MANUALLY TRIMMING, THAT THE BENNETT DID INDEED YES, SHUT DOWN..YES.....:thumbsup:.
BUT AT IDLE, WITH RED LIGHT ON, AND ONE YELLOW LIGHT ON AND [NOT] FLASHING WITH NO BENNETT ADJUSTING GOING ON! AND I USING THE OEM ROCKER TABS! THE UNIT STAYED ON, I MAYBE NEED TO GIVE THIS PARTICULAR ACTION MORE TIME THAN A MOMENT AS YOU SAID FOR THE UNIT TO NOTICE THE THE VOLTAGE COMING FROM THE MANUAL SWITCH, FOR INSTANCE WHILE THE BENNETT IS IN IDLE, I'LL HOLD DOWN THE OEM ROCKER SWITCH TO FULLY EXTEND THE TABS DOWN, IT MAY SHUT DOWN DURING THAT TIME, AND IF NOT! I'M NOT GOING TO WORRY ABOUT IT, I DONT KNOW WHY IT NEEDS TO SHUT DOWN WHILE IN IDLE ANYWAY. IT'S NOT DOING ANYTHING....:huh: AS LONG AS IT'S SHUTTING DOWN WILL IM MANUALLY OEM TRIMMING THE TABS AND THE UNITS NOT BE FIGHTING WITH EACHOTHER IS WHAT I THINK IS MORE IMPORTANT.

IM VERY HAPPY WITH HOW ITS BEEN WORKING AND SHUTTING DOWN, I MAY NEED TO GIVE THE LATTER SCENARIO A LITTLE MORE TIME....



It takes a moment for the system to "notice" the voltage coming from the manual switch. The basic idea is so that if you start to operate the Trim Tabs by "hand" the ATC will shut down

AND IT DOES JUST THAT ,EXCEPT MAYBE IN IDLE...BUT WE'LL SEE...


It should not matter if the ATC is in the middle of a correction or not.

ILL TRY AGAIN WITH MORE TIME:huh:

THANKS TOM.....:thumbsup: