Speedset will not adjust

[IDBoating]

two of the snap domes refuse to behave as they did before. I can pop them out from behind, but once depressed they remain that way until I push the them back out again.

Not the first time that's been reported. In the last case I heard, I recommended pulling two of the domes out and getting by with two out of the original three on the two side switch areas. You'll have to be a bit picky about where you push to activate the button, but at least it will be working.

Also everything seems to be laminated inside of this coating...I cannot contact a conductive surface from the front or back. I'll have to do some sort of surgery to get access to the snap domes...any thoughts?

Not without personally seeing it. One thing's for sure, you'll be able to contact a conductive surface wherever the snap domes touch, because they MUST reach a conductive surface to work!

[travis5550]

I must not have been careful enough while removing the backing originally, as two of the snap domes refuse to behave as they did before. I can pop them out from behind, but once depressed they remain that way until I push the them back out again.

Also everything seems to be laminated inside of this coating...I cannot contact a conductive surface from the front or back. I'll have to do some sort of surgery to get access to the snap domes...any thoughts?

[IDBoating]

OK, so you have flexible PCB's there. No problem. As long as you're careful with them they should be fine.

Yes, I believe those are LED's and they are supposed to light up when you turn on the interior lights on the boat. That likely means they have a separate power lead for the LED's. It's probably literally as simple as that - a separate power lead that is connected to the light switch, perhaps with some series resistors to drop the voltage accordingly (though they may have put them in series to let them handle the voltage drop inherently). I wouldn't worry about the LED's right now, focus on getting the panel to work.

I'd clean the snap domes and their contact surfaces, reassemble loosely, and confirm low resistance for each one.

[travis5550]

So turns out it was not a protective sheet. It's actually got the buttons and wiring inside of it. As I peeled it back, I heard the buttons pop. Now they are no longer springy when I try to reapply it. Guess at least I can troubleshoot a bit more from the back.

Also - does anyone know if this thing is supposed to be backlit? I saw what could be some leds on the surface. When I reconnected it and turned on my lights, it did not light up. Not sure if that means there's other issues...

IMG_20150324_205008.jpg

[IDBoating]

That's just a protective sheet, right? It doesn't have any active traces on it?

I sure wish I had one of these lying around so I could offer better advice.

[travis5550]

Cool, so to be sure - am I supposed to somehow peel back the top layer of this pad to access the underside of the domes? It's rather stubborn to remove, and I'm not quite sure how it would be reattached afterwards... Thanks again!
IMG_20150324_192209.jpg

[IDBoating]

Lacking direct access myself, I'd start by confirming that you get reliable continuity for each snap dome. Put the probes on the traces on either side of the switch, confirm open circuit, then depress the switch and confirm closure. If you have an ohmmeter (and not just a continuity tester) you could confirm near-zero resistance. If necessary, clean the undersides of the domes and the tops of the PCB contact areas with a standard pencil eraser, brushing away the leftover pieces of eraser before retesting.

[travis5550]

Awesome...glad to hear there's hope! So all of the snap domes appear to still be springy/clickable. In my case, the up/down buttons stopped working first and then the set button went, so currently none of them work.

I do own a multimeter and was going to try to start testing it. I've taken pics of the wiring harness so I can remember which pins have wires going to them. Is it safe to assume the red/black wires in the middle are voltage/ground respectively? That leaves 3 other colored wires on the bottom and then a blue wire on the top left. (I'll attach a pic here shortly for reference). I guess my question is how do I go about testing it with the multimeter? Do I need to peel the white/opaque layer off of the button pad to get to the contacts and then just check to see if I can get a tone when the circuit between two of them is completed? Once the offending snap domes are found, how do you fix them?

My apologies for the ambiguity on how to approach this...I'm relatively new to this kind of stuff. Thanks so much for your help. I'll be happy to document the hell out of this and post a definitive guide on here so others can benefit as well.

IMG_20150323_182025.jpg

[IDBoating]

Just helped someone else with this earlier today. What is your question? It's a simple case of the snap domes completing a circuit. They either work or they don't. I'm happy to help, but what is the specific question?

[travis5550]

Anyone figure out a definitive solution to this? I've got it disassembled and am determined to figure this out. The wife refuses to let me drop $700 on a new part...priorities she says.

[IDBoating]

Another example of why boat owners should own a multimeter!

Presuming you have a multimeter, switch it to the lowest ohms (resistance) setting and start testing. You should be able to follow the traces and see which ones service which sets of snap domes. Obviously the snap domes complete a circuit, so when the unit is partially assembled the meter should tell you when a dome is pressed - and when it is not.

Sorry I can't give more detailed help, it's really tough to troubleshoot something by remote control!

[jbar]

No surprise there at all. The two side switches probably share a common trace, and once it has a problem both switches are affected.

Also, as reported by Timmy there are multiple snap domes per touch area. You may be feeling some that are still working fine, but it would only take one to short the contacts and have an effect on operation. Hard to know until it's opened up.

Thanks for the quick response!
I just took it apart and all six dome switches seem to be working. They all depress the same and all pop back to their original positions immediately after the force is removed. Maybe a problem in the board where it is not obvious? Looking for a simple solution...

[IDBoating]

It seems odd to me that both up and down arrows would fail at the same time which leads me to believe it is a problem other than the dome switches.

No surprise there at all. The two side switches probably share a common trace, and once it has a problem both switches are affected.

Also, as reported by Timmy there are multiple snap domes per touch area. You may be feeling some that are still working fine, but it would only take one to short the contacts and have an effect on operation. Hard to know until it's opened up.

[jbar]

Same problem as original poster with my 2007 22ve. Up or down arrows wont work but middle button can be used to set speed once underway. Major problem being that speed cannot be changed up or down once initially set. It seems odd to me that both up and down arrows would fail at the same time which leads me to believe it is a problem other than the dome switches. With mine I can "feel" the buttons being being pushed down in all the positions (three on down arrow and three on up arrow like in the photos posted above). Could this be a battery voltage issue? Very frustrating!

[Timmy!]

Well, that didn't fix the issue - yet. I put it back together for the moment so I can use the boat this weekend but I will be pinging WA next week so we can see if we can get it figured out. Thanks again for the support, WA!