Dear Ridesteady for Yamaha owner,
It has been brought to our attention that marine VHF radios can cause interference issues with the Ridesteady throttle nodes, particularly when running in 25 watt “high power” mode.
Symptoms: When transmitting or “keying” the VHF radio, the Ridesteady display may display “ERR”, indicating it has detected a signal issue (halting any speed control operations). Engine speed reduction during transmission may also be present, resuming engine speed after transmission has ended.
Prevention: Do not transmit on VHF radios on or around your boat. If this cannot be avoided, the throttle nodes must be unplugged from the APS, and the engine wiring harness plugged back into the APS (after both the Ridesteady system and your engine have been powered OFF, and the lights on your gauges have turned OFF).
It is important to keep all Ridesteady wires as far away from “electromagnetic interference” sources such as VHF radio antenna cable.
Solution: We expect to have a solution to the issue in the next few weeks, if not sooner, allowing for regular VHF radio use.
Questions/Answers: Could my mobile phone cause issues with the throttle node when it is transmitting? No; 25W VHF radios are about 100 times more powerful than a cell phone signal. We have never had any reports of, nor were we ever able to affect a throttle node in any way with a mobile phone, even in ‘worst case’ conditions.
Does this happen regardless of whether we are actively using speed control? Yes. Because the issue affects the throttle node itself, it does not matter whether the Ridesteady system is OFF or not, the system will be affected.
Next steps: We will contact you once a solution has been verified. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to get in touch with any questions or concerns.
