Thruster joystick controls

[grahamdouglass]

I have a Lewmar 185 12V bow-thruster with a hardwired lower station joy stick control and a remote to use when I am on the flybridge.

The remote stopped working and it's replacement cost is $1250 Canadian.
A hardwired upgrade kit, to install a controller to interface with a generation 1 joystick controller is $785 U$ ($1020 cdn) out of Florida. I live in Vancouver B.C. Canada.

I was just at the boat show and one of the vendors said I might be able to use a Vetus controller $385 Canadian and wire it to the generation 1 controller I have on the lower station.

I would prefer a hardwired solution because i experienced problems with the remote in the past.

Have any of you guys mixed and matched different brands of controllers for bow-thrusters?

 

[Ka_sea_ta]

Sideshift markets a thruster joystick with a wireless remote. It will work with most thrusters. It uses relays instead of contacts in the joystick. In order to implement their joystick you connect your existing wires to the relays. In reality most joysticks are a double pole on-off-on switch (unless you have a variable speed thruster) where the B+ is sourced through a timer. Sideshift's joystick is a transmitter, the receiver then energizes either the left or right relay. The relay's contacts simply take the place of the Joystick contacts. The remote is just another transmitter paired to the receiver.... It's a easy swap with the existing joystick