Vetus bow thruster control

I have a 1988 12v bowthruster. The voltage from the battery is good. The solenoid went bad, part BP19. The replacement solenoid, part BP219, has been finicky.

I have tried different joysticks and get the same results. Bought a 2nd solenoid, same general problems. I did notice that the plug connections to the controller get hot, so I wondered about the amp draw of the new BP219 solenoid. The old one had a 10 fuse.

It’s a 20 foot run up to the controller. (40 feet round trip) so I was thinking maybe the line loss? But sometimes it worked.

I am ready to run new wires to bypass the plugs in the “extension cord” but what size? Can’t find any info on the amp draw of the BP 219 solenoid

Have you talked to the folks at Florida Bow Thruster about this? I have found them extremely helpful in the past on old model Vetus thrusters.

Thanks for the reply. I tested this solenoid today with new leads off of it to the controller. Works to push bow to port but the starboard push is dead. I could get it to work if I jiggled the negative terminal on the dead side. So there is some internal fault/loose connection on one of the solenoids.

Just have to swap it out with a new one. Curses.

John -
See Pilgrim Forum.
Joe