Micro Commander update, I have met the enemy and it was me.
Thanks again for all of the valuable input on my M/C alarm issue, turns out I was part of the problem. I’ve kept a few old Four Seasons Hotel matchbooks from the past business travel as some had interesting life quotes, one that comes to mind is “What we see depends on mainly what we look for.” I saw a M/C problem.
After a 1 hour cruise to Sebastian we dropped the hook, had lunch. We later pulled the hook and began our return to Vero, a few minutes into the trip I heard a long uninterrupted alarm while at the helm. As I had a past gremlin with the M/C controller which turned out to be corrosion at one of the Deutsch connectors I thought I was hearing the M/C alarm. In fact, I “knew” it must be the M/C alarm, what else could it be, all gauges looked good. I should have realized it was something different as when there is an issue with the M/C it usually drops the engine back to idle and shifts to neutral. Not so that time but I shut down the stbrd engine and returned using the port engine just knowing it was the M/C. At the marina I fired up the stbrd engine and looked at the M/C controller box, I saw an error code 50 which is a failure to communicate. Well that’s above my paygrade so I called my diesel mechanic, described my “M/C problem” and asked for his help.
Long story short, he could never find the problem with the M/C unit and in fairness to him he did state he wasn’t very familiar with the electronic units but would look to see what was causing the alarm. I was finally able to connect with Control Masters Marine Systems in St Augustine, they know the M/C units inside & out. Ed, the tech/owner, was very helpful, he asked a few basic questions, like is your computer plugged in type questions. He asked was I sure it was the M/C alarm as I said it was coming from the helm station. There are two alarms and they sound similar, be sure I knew what alarm was I hearing. He also said error code 50 means one controller cannot communicate with the other controller, easy fix, power up both breakers simultaneously to reset, naturally both engines need to be powered up, if one is not it can’t be seen, thus error code 50 wasn’t the problem.
Ed further stared if the alarm is from helm station and not the M/C control it is the engine, look at oil pressure, water pump, water temp etc. Well, it was coming from the helm station not the M/C control, an engine problem. When I told the mechanic it wasn’t the M/C he found the cause. One of the drip tubes was missing from a drain cock allowing a slow drip onto the oil pressure alarm switch and the alarm. Interesting as the gauges showed good oil pressure, water temp etc. Easy fix if you look in the right places, difficult fix if you are looking for something that didn’t exist as I was.
End of the issue, new switch and no alarm, my apologies to dissing my M/C controller. Thanks again for everyone’s help and comments. And thanks to Ed at Control Masters Systems.
