Dock and Go Override How-to

[brockfromwa]

Another day, another problem. I experienced total failure of the ZF Dock and Go system on my 2014 Oceanis 55 the last couple of days. I'm looking for any resources or steps I can do to override the system into backup operation.
Background: Experienced blinking red lights and audible beeps from joystick when pulling away from dock when just using normal throttle lever and bow thrusters. The error causes the boat to be stuck in idle with no throttle response and stuck in neutral. I restarted the engine and regained control of the throttle lever. This error happened about 5 times in the span of 30 minutes and would sometimes happen when I shifted from forward into neutral. I was unable to make it back to my slip but was headed to the next island next to Tahiti anyways. Dock and go failed again right at the entrance to the pass out of the lagoon. We quickly put up our sails and sailed out of the lagoon to the safety of big water away from the reefs. While sailing to Moorea Island, I continued to trouble shoot the system, checking all fuses, power cycling all the battery banks, etc. Regained control of the drive system and worked fine the rest of the day.

The following day, started up the engine and tested the dock and go system, worked flawlessly. Pulled anchor and did a test sail around Moorea (9 hours). Sailing, motor sailing, and just motoring when the winds completely died. No issues with the drive system.

Yesterday, turned on the motor and the system faulted again. I'm unable to shift into forward or reverse. I power cycled the battery banks, checked all fuses and relays, connections, and everything in between. No luck. I connected the override cable to the system, and was able to get throttle response but no forward or reverse gear. The print out of trouble shooting steps that came with the boat say to check the wiring to the speed sensors and angle sensor, which are in great condition.

I'm assuming that one of the speed sensors is intermittent faulting causing the system to not operate.

I believe there must be a way to override the system to gain control of at least forward gear, but don't know how to do so. The labeled override back up cable just gives my throttle response so I'm half way there, just need to know how to gain control of the clutch actuator. The owners manual says to reference the manufacturer's manual which I do not have and can't find online. I left a help desk ticket with ZF for support but don't expect a response for a few days.

What have you all done to override the dock and go system?

Thank you all for your help!
-Brock

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

My honest opinion, refraining from any sort of criticism, is to completely remove the system and hone your docking skills. This is just another boat system whose failure at a critical moment, could prove disastrous.

 

[dlochner]

I'm with @Ralph Johnstone on this, especially if you are sailing far afield. The more complex the system for opportunity there is for a failure.

 

[brockfromwa]

I agree with you both, overly complicated system with no apparent override system that is intuitive enough for someone to actually gain control of their engine in a time of need. We have yet to actually use the joystick to dock the boat yet. Not responsive enough for new owners when the stakes are high, which is why we just use the normal throttle and bow thruster to maneuver in tight marinas. Our problem is that we are basically in the middle of nowhere and will not even have the option to make significant changes till we make it to Hawaii or better yet, Washington State. Until then we are just trying to keep as much stuff working with duct tape and bubble gum! Hahahaha

 

[dlochner]

Can you just physically disconnect the automatic system? Somethings, like throttle cables should be available even in the tropics if they need to be replaced.

 

[brockfromwa]

Can you just physically disconnect the automatic system? Somethings, like throttle cables should be available even in the tropics if they need to be replaced.

Sadly no, because the drive system is a ZF pod system that is completely a fly-by-wire system. Throttle lever is a wire bundle that runs to the ZF VMU (Vessel Management Unit/// aka main computer) from the VMU, two wire bundles run down to the engine and pod system. Throttle cable is connected to the actuator that is powered/controlled by the "safety box". Same with the clutch actuator, controlled by the VMU. All of the control systems are essentially electric and made by ZF. Shoot, the transmission doesn't even actually go into reverse when you pull back on the control lever, the pod rotates 180° to go reverse...

 

[SycloneDriver]

That sounds like a very complicated system.
Do you have a volt/ohm meter? Do you know how to use it?
Do the beeps and flashing lights have a pattern? It might be giving you a fault code.

 

[brockfromwa]

I have acquired the owner's manual for the ZF Dock and Go system and can share it with anyone who may need it. I tried attaching the pdf to this comment but it will not allow me.
I was hoping I could override the system to allow me to engage the transmission into forward, which technically you can.... At a cost. You have to remove the clutch actuator and manually shift the transmission into forward gear, unplug some wires, wire up the override wire and you are good to go. When starting the engine, you will be fixed in forward gear and have no neutral which will make it interesting getting back to Tahiti into our slip (med docking with bow tied up to lines running to the sea floor). Sadly no troubleshooting steps included instead of just shutting down the engine and power and restarting. My current assumption is a faulty speed sensor (which there are 2) or Vessel Management Unit.

 

[brockfromwa]

That sounds like a very complicated system.
Do you have a volt/ohm meter? Do you know how to use it?
Do the beeps and flashing lights have a pattern? It might be giving you a fault code.

Hi SycloneDriver, yes I have a multimeter on board with me and do know how to properly use it. You hit it right on the nail, the next steps I'm going to do is run tests on each of the sensor wires to see if any of the wiring has malfunctioned. After some troubleshooting today, I'm getting no led lights on the joystick but just an audible chirp like yesterday. According to the manual, apparently if they joystick faults you should still have control with the main throttle lever and vice versa. Given that the main control lever has no response in "normal operation" mode but do in "override" I know at the very least the main control lever is able to send a signal to the motor/VMU.

The only led status error descriptions included in the manual are shown below. I experienced flashing green light on the control led and flashing red led on the status led a few times. Generally the lights have been all over the place and don't align with the chat ZF provides in their documentation. Thank you for your reply!

 

[SycloneDriver]

I work on many different types of equipment. I find that the fault is usually something mechanical, like a bad connection, dirty potentiometer or stripped gear.

Keep after the tech support at ZF. Sometimes you just need to find the right tech.

 

[brockfromwa]

Slight success today... While continuing the troubleshooting, I was able to regain control of the main throttle lever by disconnecting the X9 cable from the system in the engine compartment. By disconnecting the cable I was able to shift into forward and reverse and gain full throttle range. The X9 cable isn't listed anywhere in the manual or the troubleshooting steps and not sure why it worked, but it does. Thankfully it did, because now we were able to sail to our home base marina on Tahiti where there are a few more resources.

With the X9 cable unplugged the joystick is taken offline. The X9 cable is not the cable that runs from the joystick to the VMU but will further investigate where it leads to. Hopefully by finding where it is plugged into I can then trouble shoot the cause of the system failure.

 

[brockfromwa]

Full success!
X9 cable is indeed the joystick cable. After removing the joystick and taking it apart I discovered water was in the housing. Slight tear in the rubber boot let rain water into the joystick control housing and had no where to go.

All dried, reinstalled the system, sealed the tear, and powered up the boat and it's fully functional now.

FYI, the company that makes the system, ZF, has one of the worst customer service I've had to deal with. I still have not received any response from them. I've emailed multiple different help desk emails, called multiple people and have not made it anywhere with them. Currently trying to source a spare joystick from a ZF parts Marine shop and that's proving to be incredibly difficult as well, mostly because Marine shops that carry ZF parts are for commercial vessels only.

 

[kappykaplan]

Great detective work, brockfromwa!

 

[dlochner]

Congratulations!

Have you tried Fred Warner Marine? I found them to be very responsive and helpful.

Fredwarner Marine & Outdoors – Boating & Recreational Parts and Supplies

www.fredwarner.net

 

[Hello Below]

FYI, the company that makes the system, ZF, has one of the worst customer service I've had to deal with.

I understand the sour taste it leaves with you when you have a need for assistance and it is not to be had. I have had that experience myself but not with ZF.
I have worked with 2 of the ZP marine services in the past, one in Miramar, Fl and the other in Mukilteo, WA. In both cases I would have to put them at or near the top of my best support experiences list. In the case of Miramar they were so quick in responding, emails sent back and forth was more like realtime texting. On more than one occasion, the techs at Mukilteo were so proactive that they called me to establish how things were progressing and to find out if they could be of more assistance.

 

[brockfromwa]

I understand the sour taste it leaves with you when you have a need for assistance and it is not to be had. I have had that experience myself but not with ZF.
I have worked with 2 of the ZP marine services in the past, one in Miramar, Fl and the other in Mukilteo, WA. In both cases I would have to put them at or near the top of my best support experiences list. In the case of Miramar they were so quick in responding, emails sent back and forth was more like realtime texting. On more than one occasion, the techs at Mukilteo were so proactive that they called me to establish how things were progressing and to find out if they could be of more assistance.

Interesting.... You wouldn't still have those techs contact info by any chance, would you? Thank you for giving me a little light of hope with ZF.

Thanks!

 

[brockfromwa]

Congratulations!

Have you tried Fred Warner Marine? I found them to be very responsive and helpful.

Fredwarner Marine & Outdoors – Boating & Recreational Parts and Supplies

www.fredwarner.net

I have not yet, thank you for their info and I'll see if they can help. Thanks!

 

[Hello Below]

Interesting.... You wouldn't still have those techs contact info by any chance, would you? Thank you for giving me a little light of hope with ZF.

Thanks!

Certainly, I can give you the names and contact numbers that I have but some are more than 5 years old so they may or may not still be current. I would touch base with Miramar (+1.954.441.4040 ) or Mukilteo (+1.425.583.1900) or any other ZF Marine Propulsion Systems location ( All ZF Locations - USA - including Marine Propulsion) should get you started. I found all those listed below very responsive. I would probably start with Gary Halterman in Mukilteo (North of Seattle, WA) or the Miramar switchboard. I believe Miramar is the head office for the Marine division in North America???

My contacts were:
@ Mukilteo, WA
Gary 425.583.1916/Gary.Halterman@zf.com
Aaron 425.583.1933/Aaron.Brandes@zf.com
Jay 425-583-1900(switchboard)/Jay.Denckla@zf.com
Vikki 425-583-1900(switchboard)/Vikki.McMurray@zf.com
Cherie 425-495-4070/cherie.mcadams@zf.com

@Miramar,FL
Dimitrios 954-441-4040(switchboard)/Dimitrios.Argyriou@zf.com

@Arco (TN), Italy
Gianni +39 046 458 0555/gianni.dincau@zf.com

 

[blueocean]

disconnecting the X9 cable from the system in the engine compartment.

With the X9 cable unplugged the joystick is taken offline. The X9 cable is not the cable that runs from the joystick to the VMU but will further investigate where it leads to. Hopefully by finding where it is plugged into I can then trouble shoot the cause of the system failure.

Amazing detective work @brockfromwa.

It looks like I might be suffering the exact same issue. Could you walk me through how you located the X9 cable on your boat (also any pictures would be greatly appreciated)?

I want to try doing the same on mine to see if it remedies the issue.

 

[brockfromwa]

Amazing detective work @brockfromwa.

It looks like I might be suffering the exact same issue. Could you walk me through how you located the X9 cable on your boat (also any pictures would be greatly appreciated)?

I want to try doing the same on mine to see if it remedies the issue.

The X9 cable runs into the engine bay on the aft starboard corner. Should be located next to the X8 cable. If you can't find it there, you will need to disconnect the cable from the joystick directly, which in my case requires emptying the starboard cockpit locker to get behind the access panel. Or just pull the joystick up by popping off the top cover plate revealing 4 screws.

Good luck!