New Speed Control / Electronic Throttle Synch For Twins / Ridesteady by Hydrophase

[Spooling]

Ok so how can we organize a group buy?

 

[swatski]

Ok so how can we organize a group buy?

That would be a @Bruce question! But I would contact Justin (jmuessig@hydrophase.com) about availability and pricing. He is very responsive, and really a class A+ vendor in terms of customer support, but he may have a waiting list as this is a completely new system.

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[swatski]

Here is one more clip showing the system working in the RPM-controlled action. (I'm trying to narrate what I'm doing in the background, but my voice is drowned in wind and engine noise.)
Basically, adjusting the RPM/speed up and down without touching the throttle levers, and also a demo of electronic "single throttle" action. As you can see the engines stay perfectly together (in synch) -- pretty robust.

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[Bruce]

That would be a @Bruce question! But I would contact Justin (jmuessig@hydrophase.com) about availability and pricing. He is very responsive, and really a class A+ vendor in terms of customer support, but he may have a waiting list as this is a completely new system.

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If someone contacts Justin please ask him to join the forum.

Group buys are always welcome as are vendors who are doing good things for our members. This post outlines the criteria to have a notice posted about the group buy https://jetboaters.net/threads/forum-policy-for-notice-use.3517/

 

[Bruce]

@JetBoatPilot, are you following this thread?

 

[Ridesteady]

Thanks much @Bruce for the invitation. I’m always hesitant to join forums as I don’t want to upset the powers that be. I’m glad to hear you welcome well-behaved vendors.

I also want to gratefully thank @swatski for everything he’s done to help share his experience with our new product. He is, and always will be, Ridesteady for Yamaha customer number 1!

Since we sell direct to the customer, we prefer to offer incentives that you can take advantage of immediately. Currently we offer $100 off (as a limited time “introductory” discount) as well as $100 back for install pictures and info. That said, since we officially launched this product a few hours ago and have limited initial production, the introductory discount may not be around for long.

I’m happy to address any questions you may have, and thanks to everyone for their interest!

 

[Ridesteady]

Here is one more clip showing the system working in the RPM-controlled action. (I'm trying to narrate what I'm doing in the background, but my voice is drowned in wind and engine noise.)
Basically, adjusting the RPM/speed up and down without touching the throttle levers, and also a demo of electronic "single throttle" action. As you can see the engines stay perfectly together (in synch) -- pretty robust.

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Haha! I love the thumbs up at the end.

 

[Cambo]

Great looking system... For anyone that wakeboards the constant speed is so important for the fun factor and safety when you have inexperienced drivers pulling you these boats are super sensitive in the 17-22 mph range. It was not uncommon to have someone driving the boat pulling me and before you know it the speed is at 30mph + . If you wipe out at that speed or just burn your energy holding on until the driver gets back to the optimal speed that takes a lot of fun out of the wakeboarding experience.

Swatski can you post a video going into a fairly sharp u turn with the speed set around 19mph . I'm curious to see if it is able to hold the speed typically the rpm jumps dramatically . My usual spot for wakeboarding is in a cove that requires u turns at each end to stay in the optimal calm spots. The boat is equipped with perfect pass and it drops a few mph while initiating u turns. The 2-4 mph drop is not terrible if the rider stays on the outside they get the whip action that most likely keeps them a few mph faster than the boat.

 

[Ridesteady]

@Cambo I'm afraid that our system will not likely be that much different than PP in regards to turn performance. Sharp turns, particularly in jet boats where the thrust is directed to the side, causes a fairly significant reduction in speed, which results in a fairly large increase in RPM by the speed control to compensate (in speed-based GPS mode).

 

[Spooling]

With the Ridesteady, do you have much control over acceleration from a stop up to the set speed? Does the system support firmware upgrades?

 

[swatski]

Great looking system... For anyone that wakeboards the constant speed is so important for the fun factor and safety when you have inexperienced drivers pulling you these boats are super sensitive in the 17-22 mph range. It was not uncommon to have someone driving the boat pulling me and before you know it the speed is at 30mph + . If you wipe out at that speed or just burn your energy holding on until the driver gets back to the optimal speed that takes a lot of fun out of the wakeboarding experience.

Swatski can you post a video going into a fairly sharp u turn with the speed set around 19mph . I'm curious to see if it is able to hold the speed typically the rpm jumps dramatically . My usual spot for wakeboarding is in a cove that requires u turns at each end to stay in the optimal calm spots. The boat is equipped with perfect pass and it drops a few mph while initiating u turns. The 2-4 mph drop is not terrible if the rider stays on the outside they get the whip action that most likely keeps them a few mph faster than the boat.

@Cambo
Darn it, I do not have that footage unfortunately... (I tried but fumbled and dropped the phone in a turn . Twice). I will definitely try to get it next time I get out!

But, the long and short answer is: the boat's ability to hold speed in tight turns will be limited by the availability of engines' power/pumps' thrust ONLY, and not by Ridesteady's ability to deliver signal to open up throttle bodies. In other words, the Ridesteady will push the RPMs as high as WOT to hold the speed. It will ask for "more gas" - you will need to bump the throttles or just keep them WOT, it can't give you more thrust than that.

I had a PP in my SX190. I can not reasonably say too too much about Ridesteady after half a day of use, but that said, the responsiveness of Ridesteady (the version I have -- APS, E-edition) is beyond compare. I still need to figure out the best settings for various scenarios, but I think it is about as good as it gets. The main difference with PP, or a conventional version of the Ridesteady for that matter is, the way I see it, the Ridesteady's electronic signal completely bypasses the APS control by cables and pulleys, thus eliminating any inertia associated with pulling and pushing mechanical ropes and cables.

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[FloJet]

Yes I would love to get a connext diagram if anyone has one?

 

[Bruce]

@Julian, @OperationROL, you guys may want to follow this thread to up your surfing game.

 

[swatski]

With the Ridesteady, do you have much control over acceleration from a stop up to the set speed? Does the system support firmware upgrades?

No idea about firmware upgrades, that is a Justin @Ridesteady question.
But, yes, there seems to be a huge difference in the pull characteristics by changing the settings' values for "response", "active speed" and "overshoot". I am still trying to figure that out. The factory settings are pretty aggressive, I think, but adjustable.

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[Ridesteady]

With the Ridesteady, do you have much control over acceleration from a stop up to the set speed? Does the system support firmware upgrades?

The initial acceleration, from idle to near the set speed, is up to the driver. The firmware can be updated, but it would require us to send an 'updater stick' with the new firmware, or reflashing the system at the factory.

 

[Julian]

@Julian, @OperationROL, you guys may want to follow this thread to up your surfing game.

The E-Series boats have GPS controlled speed control, throttle sync and launch controls....all I need to do is set the launch ramp speed and target speed, then push the throttle forward and the boat takes over!

 

[Mainah]

@Ridesteady - Do you employ rate of turn (ROT NMEA 0183 string) in your algorithm? If not that could be something worth trying to help with turns by upping the correction amount as the ROT absolute value increases in advance of speed decreasing and dropping the correction as ROT absolute value decreases in advance of speed increasing.

@FloJet - I recommend obtaining the Yamaha service manual for your boat from www.yamahapubs.com . It will cost 75 bucks but you will have the full service manual and wiring diagram for your boat. Keep in mind that they don't disclose much about Connext in here. The best way to think about it is that Connext sends and receives all commands including its hard buttons and the joystick in proprietary N2k data to other parts of the boat that interpret the data and then take action on it. For instance pressing cruise up on the joystick sends 00 00 00 00 F1 FF FF FF on PGN 65283 (0x0FF03) for as long as it is depressed and in return the boat responds. Or if you press the hardware bilge button next to the screen connext sends on another hex command on a different PGN which the SPU reads and flips its internal relay/switch for that pin to give the bilge power. With the wiring diagram you will be able to see which items are hooked up to the SPU but the pinout for the connext screen itself maybe disappoining as you will see all of the different canbus connections but there is no info on the canbus beyond that in the manual. As a quick tip I think someone here posted snapshots of the paper tech manual wiring diagrams from a 2015 ar / 242ls which would be the same for a 16 or 17. The e and x series share a different manual and the wiring diagram has many differences.

 

[FloJet]

Ok cool. Thanks for the info @Mainah

 

[Ridesteady]

@Mainah thanks for the feedback - I'll take a look at that!

 

[swatski]

@Ridesteady - Do you employ rate of turn (ROT NMEA 0183 string) in your algorithm? If not that could be something worth trying to help with turns by upping the correction amount as the ROT absolute value increases in advance of speed decreasing and dropping the correction as ROT absolute value decreases in advance of speed increasing.

@FloJet - I recommend obtaining the Yamaha service manual for your boat from www.yamahapubs.com . It will cost 75 bucks but you will have the full service manual and wiring diagram for your boat. Keep in mind that they don't disclose much about Connext in here. The best way to think about it is that Connext sends and receives all commands including its hard buttons and the joystick in proprietary N2k data to other parts of the boat that interpret the data and then take action on it. For instance pressing cruise up on the joystick sends 00 00 00 00 F1 FF FF FF on PGN 65283 (0x0FF03) for as long as it is depressed and in return the boat responds. Or if you press the hardware bilge button next to the screen connext sends on another hex command on a different PGN which the SPU reads and flips its internal relay/switch for that pin to give the bilge power. With the wiring diagram you will be able to see which items are hooked up to the SPU but the pinout for the connext screen itself maybe disappoining as you will see all of the different canbus connections but there is no info on the canbus beyond that in the manual. As a quick tip I think someone here posted snapshots of the paper tech manual wiring diagrams from a 2015 ar / 242ls which would be the same for a 16 or 17. The e and x series share a different manual and the wiring diagram has many differences.

Well, it will be interesting to compare the Yamaha "drive control" with the Ridesteady in action. But I can tell you right now, the Ridesteady turn/push-knob (optical reader?) is GENIUS. I would pick the knob control over going through Connext menus every time. That KNOB is just super handy.
(Same with PP Stargazer screen w/arrows for that matter, not the most easy to adjust on the fly)

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