Tige Touch Ballast Timers

[SBM1234]

Hello everyone, hope y'all had a Merry Christmas.

I'm looking for some advice on setting the timers for the ballast in the Tige Touch. My questions revolve around the zero point to start the timer. Do you do this when the ballast is completely empty? By completely empty I am referring to dumping the system with the boat on the trailer. Or do you do it once you are on the water and have filled and emptied the system once? I'm nervous about this system as it is running Jabsco pumps instead of the Aerators I am used to. Impeller damage from running them dry while emptying the ballast makes me nervous.

Thanks for the help!

[JohnnieMo]

Think of the timers as up and down counters. Fill is down and drain is up.

To initialize, when the bags are known to be empty just hit the reset button. So now if you start filling it will fill until the timer hits the number you preconfigured for a 'full' bag. This preconfiguration is done in the settings menu (I can't recall the exact name)

So whenever the bag fills it counts down the timer. Whenever you drain it adds to the timer. Doesn't matter how many ups and downs you use.

Now in practice they suck and I don't use them. I set it to fill and when water comes out it is full. Draining is the same. Turn it off when it stops peeing out the side. I never have a need for a part full bag. Further the bags passively drain so you can't trust the number anyways.

The new 2015s have more smarts than this so if you have a 2015 I'm not sure how they work.

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[chpthril]

Correct me if im wrong, but doesnt the ASR utilize level sensors as opposed to a timer like the other Tige models have used? I though I remember reading that the first few prototype ACR's had sacs and the same TT as other Tiges, but the final production model was to use hard tanks and level sensors.

[JohnnieMo]

Ya... throw out everything I said. The ASR has Tigé Touch 2 and I'm not sure how they did it in 2014.

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[Dandy]

Actually the 2014 ASR had TT as TT2 didn't come out until the 2015 boats and IIRC some of the very early '15s still had TT. I did not know that Time was running Jabsco pumps on the ASR...just one more way to Natiqueise the ASR .

[chpthril]

Ya... throw out everything I said. The ASR has Tigé Touch 2 and I'm not sure how they did it in 2014.

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i wouldnt toss anything out just yet, still a lot of unknowns RE the ASR. Seems like what we saw for the early 2014 prototypes was going to be different for the production 2014, then there seemed to be some changes already in the works for the 2015 that was getting the active AV.

[SBM1234]

Its a 14 with the first gen TT system. The 15's have the pressure sensors on the bags, and they also have the AVX....but they cost more than what I got this one for.

I guess it's going to take some tweaking to get it done. There is supposedly 750 lb in each bag for a total of 3,000 lbs, but I find that the front bags fill significantly faster than the rear ones - by like 1.5 to 2 minutes faster. Since they are using the reversible pumps, there are four separate thru hulls (one for each pump) and the water is sucked in and pumped out the same hole for each bag. So the problem is getting the system to work as designed and determining when to reset (zero) the timers and set the run time on them. Otherwise I could be looking at replacing the impellers on 4 pumps if I run them dry for too long.

How long have they been using reversible pumps?

[Dandy]

You could still set the timers for fill as the vent/overflow still goes out the side so you can tell when they are full. They should take longer to drain however as they are pumping against the water. There are different impellers for these pumps (color coded) and some do much better with running dry...hopefully someone familiar with the color coding will come in. The correct impeller will minimize the risk of damage from running the dry. Our boat has similar if not the same pumps and I have noticed that you van hear when they are dry as they take on a different higher pitch when running dry. This would probably be the easiest way to determine if they are empty...fill them and then one a a time run them until you hear the pitch change.

Regarding the reversible pumps in a Time, I am guessing that if must be new with the '14 ASR. There have not been a lot of the finer details posted on the ASR system differences and I personally have no hands on experience with and ASR. It seems as if the faster fill times on the front is common. We recently found out that the Z1s bags could hold the rated weight but the space they are in may not allow them to fill all the way.

[chpthril]

The ASR would be the 1st year and model, that Tige has used the reversible impeller pumps. They have nitril impellers and run-dry protection circuit, so no worries about running them dry for a minute for your testing and setup prep for resetting the timers.

[SBM1234]

Thanks for the advice!

You can hear a change in pitch when the tanks is about empty - the problem is identifying with tank is empty. They don't all dump at the same rate to inevitably you get to play a guessing game as to which one it is. The pumps are pretty loud so the change in tone is quite noticeable - maybe in time I will be able to determine which pump goes to which bag by the sound. If I was not planning on trading it in a couple years from now, I would switch them over to Tsunamis LOL.

[chpthril]

Run them 1 at a time as opposed to dump-all till you fee they are all empty.

[SBM1234]

Probably should. But, when I change riders from intermediate to beginner, it's just to convenient not to push the 'empty all' button.

[chpthril]

Im just referring to getting an individual sac empty for resetting the timers. Once thats done, empty as you like.

[SBM1234]

Oh I get it. Yeah good point there. What is the general consensus on using the 0/25/50/75/100 and the Tige You feature? Does anyone use them as they were intended or is everyone going off of a stopwatch?

[JohnnieMo]

I don't care for the Tigé You feature. I find that sometimes I want to temporarily disable it and I can't do that without it draining the ballast. I just don't think it was well conceived. For ballast alone it would work well if you solve the passive draining issues. I'm not sure that the ASR has those issues though.

Everytime I try to use Tigé You I get upset and disable it and go manual. I don't use a stopwatch, I just watch and listen for the overflow/drain.

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