Lectrotab Auto Controller

[Mainah]

EDIT!!!! - It is now working. Not sure if was too may wireless radio devices in close proximity or my built in list messing with the calibration but after a bunch of effort I now have it working. Detail on everything I did on page two. I honestly think what I encountered is somewhat unique given the abnormal setup of my boat.


The auto controller does not work as intended with twin engine jet boats.

Just got off the phone with the crew at lectrotab who are great to work with. The tabs are great and make a very noticeable difference. The manual “MLC” controller is what I recommend after my experience with the Auto “ALC” controller. The issue is not with the ALC controller but rather the application of it with our twin engine jet boats. It will probally work great with single engines jets, and all single/multiple props, just not twin jets that sit high in the water on plane.

Unfortunately our jets sit very high in the water and when the ALC controller compensates for list it lifts the jet on that side out of the water just enough to cause a chain reaction due to the needed steering compensation for the propulsion loss on that side and then continues to try and correct for it making it worse.

The crew at Lectrotab including the owner who I spoke with was very appreciative of the feedback and is making things right for me. I was just seeking to give them feedback on behalf of the folks here that buy from them but they went a step further to do something for me. They are greatful for our business and do make a wonderful product that works great under manual control. The auto controller with also work in manual mode just no need to spend the extra $400 on the auto controller.

So to wrap up ....
Do buy from Lectrotab and do give them a call to get the right setup. They now know the auto controller is less than ideal for our application.

I will try to find the other threads about this and link to this post but a FAQ link to this may not be a bad idea.

 

[seanmclean]

Ah, that sucks. I had heard good things about the ALC, but from a small sample pool. Good news is it just bumped itself up a little on the mod schedule if I'm looking at ~$600 instead of ~$1000.

 

[swatski]

@Mainah Thank you, very good feedback!
Much appreciated.

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[Sbrown]

Unfortunately our jets sit very high in the water and when the ALC controller compensates for list it lifts the jet on that side out of the water just enough to cause a chain reaction due to the needed steering compensation for the propulsion loss on that side and then continues to try and correct for it making it worse.

Just curious for more info or specifics on what exactly happened that you noticed, because both jets are already completely out of the water when the boat is on plane so it has to be doing something other than that.

 

[Mainah]

Just curious for more info or specifics on what exactly happened that you noticed, because both jets are already completely out of the water when the boat is on plane so it has to be doing something other than that.

I think it is the combination of lifting one side the lowering the other that has an impact of where the jet propulsion is creating force aginst the water behind it. The rudder and steering fins may even have an effect on it all as well. What I can say for sure is that in manual mode it worked great and in auto mode I had to counter steer which caused the controller to think more tab was needed in a reapting cyle until the tab was on one side was fully deployed with me fighting the steering and the boat coming off of plane with that much tab deployed. I tried resetting the auto controller many times to get the right inital balance to no avail. Perhaps it is just a matter of how agressive it is for most applications and it could work with the right programming for our boats but that would take a bunch of R&D for a small market segment on behalf of Lectrotab. Add to that if someones steering was just a bit off it would be even worse. My steering was set very slightly toe in during these observations as I had been playing with it this season but always matched up very precisely with a large framing square. Perhaps it could even be the influence of the impellers spinning in the same direction.

The one thing perhaps a bit different about my boat but is that I do have a constant slight list to port with all the weight in my battery compartment from my large batteries, large inverter, and kegerator setup. That is why I went with the auto controller to begin with. That said I am confident that what I experienced could occur in many situations on our twin engine jets as I did try moving my human load around to get it balanced and working.

 

[swatski]

I thought about it, a lot, when I was getting mine. These trim tabs work so well in our high-flying-stern vessels (our sterns/transoms are not "planted" in the water with a lower unit of any kind) - one can literally steer the boat with the tabs alone without ever touching the steering wheel. Consequently, operating on their own, the tabs affect the steering in a major way. In addition, there may be situations in which the intakes are affected as well (and pump loading) - in tight turns, that is pretty complicated but a known issue when extreme listing for wake surfing.

Of course our good friend, @FloJet, doesn't need to worry about any of that as he is properly ballasted with his twenty something 6v batteries, lol.

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[swatski]

I think it is the combination of lifting one side the lowering the other that has an impact of where the jet propulsion is creating force aginst the water behind it. The rudder and steering fins may even have an effect on it all as well. What I can say for sure is that in manual mode it worked great and in auto mode I had to counter steer which caused the controller to think more tab was needed in a reapting cyle until the tab was on one side was fully deployed with me fighting the steering and the boat coming off of plane with that much tab deployed. I tried resetting the auto controller many times to get the right inital balance to no avail. Perhaps it is just a matter of how agressive it is for most applications and it could work with the right programming for our boats but that would take a bunch of R&D for a small market segment on behalf of Lectrotab. Add to that if someones steering was just a bit off it would be even worse. My steering was set very slightly toe in during these observations as I had been playing with it this season but always matched up very precisely with a large framing square. Perhaps it could even be the influence of the impellers spinning in the same direction.

The one thing perhaps a bit different about my boat but is that I do have a constant slight list to port with all the weight in my battery compartment from my large batteries, large inverter, and kegerator setup. That is why I went with the auto controller to begin with. That said I am confident that what I experienced could occur in many situations on our twin engine jets as I did try moving my human load around to get it balanced and working.

That makes a lot of sense!

EDIT: And I don't mind fighting the steering some (in a manual mode) on those occasions when I need to compensate for listing due to uneven load etc. - which would be rare in my boat.

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[Sbrown]

I think it is the combination of lifting one side the lowering the other that has an impact of where the jet propulsion is creating force aginst the water behind it. The rudder and steering fins may even have an effect on it all as well. What I can say for sure is that in manual mode it worked great and in auto mode I had to counter steer which caused the controller to think more tab was needed in a reapting cyle until the tab was on one side was fully deployed with me fighting the steering and the boat coming off of plane with that much tab deployed. I tried resetting the auto controller many times to get the right inital balance to no avail. Perhaps it is just a matter of how agressive it is for most applications and it could work with the right programming for our boats but that would take a bunch of R&D for a small market segment on behalf of Lectrotab. Add to that if someones steering was just a bit off it would be even worse. My steering was set very slightly toe in during these observations as I had been playing with it this season but always matched up very precisely with a large framing square. Perhaps it could even be the influence of the impellers spinning in the same direction.

The one thing perhaps a bit different about my boat but is that I do have a constant slight list to port with all the weight in my battery compartment from my large batteries, large inverter, and kegerator setup. That is why I went with the auto controller to begin with. That said I am confident that what I experienced could occur in many situations on our twin engine jets as I did try moving my human load around to get it balanced and working.

Totally makes sense, thank you for elaborating, I can now picture what is going on.

That makes a lot of sense!

I agree and it's nice to know I can save myself 400 bucks. I've had tabs on other boats, but never had the ALC controller in any of them and I was kind of hesitant on putting one in this boat anyway.

 

[Scottintexas]

thanks for the feedback, added to the FAQ under trim tabs, if you ever have a topic you think should be added to FAQ ping Julian or me, I almost didn't read this post since I don't have trim tabs,

 

[Stevenpigsooie]

So did they send you a refund? Now I’m contemplating what to do. I’ve only been out once with the tabs and the chop was so bad I chalked up any steering issues to that plus I could hardly remember what it was like the previous season.

 

[Mainah]

So did they send you a refund? Now I’m contemplating what to do. I’ve only been out once with the tabs and the chop was so bad I chalked up any steering issues to that plus I could hardly remember what it was like the previous season.

I am going back to the manual controller and they made it right. I had plently of time to try and as stated my boat has many mods and a constant port side list. Perhaps your experience will be different. It was very obvious that something was not right in my case. It was as if I had port and starboard swapped but I labled the wires before pulling them through so I know that is not the case.

 

[robert843]

I was always curious about this as I know others have mentioned the auto controller. I didn't think they would work but glad to hear someone did find out. I have noticed that you cant really correct off center weight with the tabs as they need to be deployed at the same time or it just causes the boat to steer. So it had me wondering if the auto controller would function as planned.

 

[Stevenpigsooie]

I’m going to get the boat out when the lake is glass and trial some things and see how the ALC works under more ideal conditions. Will update my experience then.

 

[Betik]

I’m going to get the boat out when the lake is glass and trial some things and see how the ALC works under more ideal conditions. Will update my experience then.

I am "designing" some competition events for our trip in Lake Ouachita. I am sure that one of the events will require a lot of steering precision, so we can see if tabs will help or if they will screw you over.

 

[Betik]

...... It was as if I had port and starboard swapped but I labeled the wires before pulling them through so I know that is not the case.

good think those tabs are not made from Yamaha. They would have told you "user error: you cross threaded the wires" and then you can officially join the @swatski clan

 

[Gym]

The one thing perhaps a bit different about my boat but is that I do have a constant slight list to port with all the weight in my battery compartment from my large batteries, large inverter, and kegerator setup. That is why I went with the auto controller to begin with. That said I am confident that what I experienced could occur in many situations on our twin engine jets as I did try moving my human load around to get it balanced and working.

And here I thought you were just a nerd @Mainah with all the 0s and 1s you're constantly jabbering about but anybody with a kegetator aboard gains my total respect.

 

[Mainah]

And here I thought you were just a nerd @Mainah with all the 0s and 1s you're constantly jabbering about but anybody with a kegetator aboard gains my total respect.

I like it

Perhaps you missed this. https://jetboaters.net/threads/coolest-boat-mod-ever-literally-and-figuratively.16495/

I am admittedly a geek but those 0s and 1s pay the bills and come in handy for other stuff too. As much as I like electronics and coding I really enjoy sawdust, iron, adrenaline, gun powder, gasoline, and alcohol too.

 

[Gym]

You are truly a renaissance man @Mainah.

 

[rkgdmd]

Maybe I'm a little stoopid, but I don't understand the explanation of why the manual controller works yet the automatic controller does not. Now, for the record, my wife has confirmed for me...on multiple occasions, that I am stupid...so be patient here.

I have the Lectrotabs on my 242 with the manual control and have no issues. My buddy, always trying to one up me, has the Lectrotabs with the Mente Marine auto trim control on his 242. I have been on his boat and seen the controller in operation. It works flawlessly without the above negative feedback described by @Mainah .

When my boat is listing to one side or another while underway due to an uneven load it forces me to steer the boat in a direction opposite to the list. A click or two of the tabs levels the boat and I can gradually hold the boat in a straight line with no steering input. Why is this different whether this adjustment handled automatically or manually? And since it doesn't happen with my buddy's Mente Marine controller, maybe it's a design flaw in the Lectrotab software?

 

[Mainah]

Maybe I'm a little stoopid, but I don't understand the explanation of why the manual controller works yet the automatic controller does not. Now, for the record, my wife has confirmed for me...on multiple occasions, that I am stupid...so be patient here.

I have the Lectrotabs on my 242 with the manual control and have no issues. My buddy, always trying to one up me, has the Lectrotabs with the Mente Marine auto trim control on his 242. I have been on his boat and seen the controller in operation. It works flawlessly without the above negative feedback described by @Mainah .

When my boat is listing to one side or another while underway due to an uneven load it forces me to steer the boat in a direction opposite to the list. A click or two of the tabs levels the boat and I can gradually hold the boat in a straight line with no steering input. Why is this different whether this adjustment handled automatically or manually? And since it doesn't happen with my buddy's Mente Marine controller, maybe it's a design flaw in the Lectrotab software?

You make a real good point. All I can say to that is not working for me. I am going revalidate everything is hooked up correctly when I swap to the manual controller but don’t see how it could work in manual and not auto if it was not.