Vetus Bow Thruster Stopped working


La Cozzi Vita

La Cozzi Vita

New member
Arriving to my destination my Vetus Bow thrusters worked fine. Several hours later I went to shove off and it was dead. Not even the green light comes on at the joystick. I have pressed the "Auxiliry" near the motor, but it was not tripped. I have looked for a "Bow Thruster" breaker, but did not find one. The one for the windlass is not tripped.

I plan to go and troubleshoot this weekend, but if anyone has a plan of action or has similar experience and can guide me I would appreciate it.
 
There is a breaker for the thruster but not sure where it's located on the 40. They are very sensitive to low voltage
 
This may be a silly question, but is there a rocker switch on your dash like mine? Three position switch for the windless, thruster and center off? Did someone hit it?

if not, then depending on how many batteries you have (mine only has 4, so no separate one for the thruster) in the forward floor hatch, there should be a junction block with cables from the engine compartment. Look for a large fuse holder or breaker in there. I think it may even be fused in the engine compartment before they run to that floor hatch. Big ANL blade fuses.

hope that helps.

Dave
 
axapowell said:
This may be a silly question, but is there a rocker switch on your dash like mine? Three position switch for the windless, thruster and center off? Did someone hit it?

if not, then depending on how many batteries you have (mine only has 4, so no separate one for the thruster) in the forward floor hatch, there should be a junction block with cables from the engine compartment. Look for a large fuse holder or breaker in there. I think it may even be fused in the engine compartment before they run to that floor hatch. Big ANL blade fuses.

hope that helps.

Dave
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Thanks for the reply. The rocker switch at the helm is in the right position. I did check the breaker in the forward hatch. That is the one I call "Auxiliary" near the thruster motor. I did not see the big ANL fuse you mentioned. I will look out for it. There has to be some type of fuse somewhere.
 
There may be an isolating solenoid as well to move the power from the windless to the thruster. It directs the power to either but not both at the same time. Forgot about that, I think the dash switch controls the flow.

Dave
 
could be the joystick on the dash as well. you can order it from west marine if you need one.
 
Well, windlass works and I can't find anything for the thruster. I have 12 volts at the unit. Its got to be a breaker somewhere.
 
I did not know that Formula used Vetus, I thought Lewmar was the thruster of choice.
If you are sure that you have 12 volts and a good ground to the unit, you need to look at the windlass, not a breaker. Sounds like voltage is there, but maybe motor has failed.
 
axapowell said:
Check the dash breaker panel. Does the green light on the control come on?

Dave
Click to expand...

If you see my prior posts, I don't have breaker for Thruster on panel and light does not come one. Since the light does not come on, I am assuming its a fuse or breaker. I did replace the control box fuse (5 amp). On the Vetus Schematic there is a main fuse (355 amp). I just don't know where Formula placed it in my boat. I did check all the breakers on the forward most engine room Firewall. All good and functioning.
 
Found it!!! It turned out to be bad remote controller/solenoid. Its made by BlueSeas. I ordered a replacement. I did jump the cables to the windlass remote controller/solenoid and thrusters worked perfect.

Thought I'd share solution to help.
 
gwazoo27 said:
That's good news. Where is it located?
Click to expand...

In the forward most compartment where the Bow Thruster motor is. Mine sit on the port side. There are two, one for the windlass and one for the thruster. Not cheap though, most places had them for around $200. I was able to find it for $149 in Marine Parts Source.
 
La cozzi vita i am having the exact same problem, could you please explain how you diagnosed this or how you jumped it.. When this problem was happening would it not send 12 volts through the thick gauge wire that goes right to the motor?
 
37-PC said:
La cozzi vita i am having the exact same problem, could you please explain how you diagnosed this or how you jumped it.. When this problem was happening would it not send 12 volts through the thick gauge wire that goes right to the motor?
Click to expand...

That is correct. If your set up is like mine, you will have the two solenoid. You will have a positive (red) and Negative (black) set of cables coming from the bats. The black will go to the motor and the red will go to the one of the solenoids. There will be a bridge to the second. From each solenoid a positive will go out. One to the windlass and the other to the motor.

In order to test, I switched the positives coming out from one solenoid (the Windlass and Thruster). At the helm turned the windlass switch to on (NOT THE UP OR DOWN SWITCH). Heard it click and tested the SIDE TO SIDE of the thruster. If t works you know the solenoid for the thruster is bad. You can also connect the cables from the battery directly to your motor. In other words, bypassing the Solenoids completely. Do not leave that latter setup as a permanent solution.

In any scenario make sure you have at least 12 volts coming from the batteries.
 
I came back to my boat 2 weeks ago. Found the thruster not working,no lights at the joy stick. I jumped the thruster out and ran in both directions. Working backwards jumped the black box on the thruster motor only turned one direction.
Installed new black box and still not working. I jumped the joy stick connector and proved joy stick not working. Replaced it also and now we are back on online. This is a Lewmar thruster and Lewmar was very helpful walking me through this.
 
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