Ballast idiot

[swankster]

All these electronics are nice to have but can be problematic. We got to the point of not using the gages and just filled them until we liked the shape of the wake, which was all full most of the time unless a newbe was riding.

[Whitetail15]

so why do we have sending units. if the pumps work on a timer how do they know when the tanks and piggy backs are empty . does this mean the pumps run dry? if you have only a small amount of water in a tank, and you press "empty tank" and the pump is on a timer, it would then run dry until it times out. that has to wear the impellars out fast. or am i thinking this all wrong.

[Clibka]

I can't answer that. All I can tell you is that my pumps were not running at all and the gauges said full when I filled them and said the tanks were empty when I "emptied" them. And yes, I ran the pumps empty today and they would run dry as long as I wanted them to. Sending units are pointless unless someone can prove me wrong.

[Whitetail15]

I think the sending units are used to shut the pumps off when empty so that they don't run dry.

[Clibka]

I was able to run them dry today . . . the gauges said they were empty (they werent) so when I got on the trailer I ran them until they were.

[bsb4fsu]

I had an issue with my ballast tanks in my G23. I'm not sure if the hard tank systems are the same as the soft tanks in the G's, but here is the explanation I got from the dealer. When you turn on your battery switch, the ballast system goes through a check and registers the tank levels (in a G, it uses a pressure switch instead of a sending unit). Once initial power up is achieved, the linc uses timers to determine tank level. In other words, if you fill for 4 minutes, then drain it for 3 minutes, the linc registers you have 1 minute's worth of water in the tank. Obviously the calculation is done based on the gph of the pump and time fill or drain. The linc tracks the levels like this until you turn your battery switch off for a few minutes and back on again. Then it goes through its check again.

[Clibka]

So you are saying that if i cycled my battery it would then know how much water was left in the tank and then could judge how long to run till empty? I guess that makes sense. To me it makes a tad bit more sense to just always know how much is in the tank via sending units ... But what do I know :/

[Whitetail15]

im sure glad our fuel gauges don't work like that.

ok you added ten gallons of fuel and maybe you used eight. maybe you will make in back to the dock and maybe not. wait -let me cycle my battery switch a couple times and see if I have any fuel in the tank. or just remove our floor boards and look at the fuel tank - like you have to do with the ballast tanks.

holly crap- are you kidding me

[Clibka]

I'm very frustrated with two things ... One, that it is impossible to dial in a wakeboard wake without knowing what your water levels are in each stock tank when you start and that you have to run your tanks completely dry to tell if you have water or not.

Two... That we are just being made aware of this. Why in the $hit wouldn't nautique make this common knowledge? The sending units used to send constant readouts, why would they take away that functionality?

On the fuel issue, we can make another thread about this, but why the f*€k can't I get a readout on my fuel level or hours if the engine isn't running?!?!? What if I want to see the levels so I don't overfill my tank while on trailer (which happens every time!!!)?

... First world problems.