Faulty micro commander

[Capn_Q]

My Sea Ranger is equipped with the ZF Marine MC-2000 electronic engine controls. The last couple of times I've had her out, the bridge control has begun to malfunction. At idle, it will slip the port engine into reverse on its own. In addition, I lose control of the port engine (at the most inopportune times) and have to bounce to the lower helm and then back up to the bridge to regain control.



I'm replacing the control head on the bridge, hoping that resolves the problem, but I'm curious if any others have these control heads and whether this behavior has been observed by others.


TIA

 

[DavidM]

The Microcommander had a checkered history of problems, notably on Mainships from the 2005+ era. Mainship issued a service advisory that recommended replacing a DC relay that powers the MC. Some say it helped, others say no.


On mine a single 34T it would drop out of gear and return to idle for no reason. Cycling the power off and back on resolved it. Nothing as dramatic as yours and I didn't bother with the relay fix.


Some who had severe and dangerous problems such as yours scrapped the MC and replaced it with cable controls. I understand Kobelt is also a solid alternative.


David