Perfect Pass "Basic Cruise"?

[jroberts]

I just purchased an '06 22SSV that has the Perfect Pass "Basic Cruise". I had the PP Wakeboard pro on another boat, and loved it. I'm still trying to figure out this Basic model, and whether it will work for me. I took it out for the first time on Friday, and although it holds well once it gets to speed, from a stop it is terrible. It stutters and cuts in and out in a way that would make it very difficult for a novice boarder to get up. Anyone know anything about these?

[sailnaked6842]

Is your boat Drive By Wire or is the throttle cable driven?

[jroberts]

Thanks for the reply.
I'm pretty sure that it is throttle cable driven. I left the boat at the lake 4 hours away, and will need to take a closer look next time that I am there. I talked with PP today, and the very helpful gentleman seemed surprised that this particular year and model of boat only had the basic cruise, and then talked about it as if he assumed there was a cable involved. The upgrade is $654 plus shipping. Assuming that it is throttle and servo, do you know of anything quick that I could try to fix it?

[spydermonkey]

I have an 06 21v I just remove servo and module and upgraded to stargazer dbw. From what I understand 06 was a crossover year in which some were controlled by servo motor and others dbw, but all have the capability. I have only had the boat out twice since install but am amazed by the results. If you can I would upgrade to gps with gps you will not be disappointed. Easy install. Good luck

[jroberts]

Yes, I will probably upgrade either to the Wakeboard Pro (paddlewheel) or Stargazer. I'm going out over Memorial Day however, and won't have a chance to upgrade before then, so I'm wondering if there is something simple that could either diagnose or even resolve the problem.

[sailnaked6842]

So, just out of curiosity, does it surge when you're idling in gear and then hit the throttle with PP on? If PP is off does it surge when you hit the throttle?

[jroberts]

No, it works great when the PP is off. I experimented with throttling up quickly and slowly, with and without the PP being on. Without PP, it works just as you would expect. With PP, it surges.

[chris young]

If you do decide to upgrade to dbw, put the servo on ski it again or ebay. There are lots of basic wakeboard pro etc used, but everyone keeps the servo so usually you can't get a whole kit. It'll fetch a few bucks to ease the pain of the upgrade money.

Did you ask PP what was likely to be causing the surge? I know the servo system pretty well, and PP shouldn't actually do anything until it reaches set speed, so surging on acceleration would be rather odd especially if it holds the speed well when you're up to speed.

[sailnaked6842]

Well, the good news is that I've seen these problems so you're not the only one to experience these problems! The bad news though...I have no idea what's wrong... However I can tell you they call it a dead stick. Last year I replaced the paddle wheel with a GPS unit because most people assumed it was paddle wheel interfering with the PP, or the voltage wasn't right. Big mistake since it takes a minute to get the GPS to connect to register speed, speed needs to be calibrated and it's not a "true" speed if there's current. I called Perfect Pass several times asking for information, called the dealer, reset the system, called Medallion to get the wiring guides to check all the connections that have to do with Perfect Pass and nothing helped. Last thing I did was purchase and install a new computer assuming it was trouble with the software but I haven't had the boat out yet to tell.

By the way your system is DBW because a mechanical throttle linkage and servo wouldn't surge simply because PP was turned on. Sorry I couldn't help, this is most likely going to be a dealer thing. If the PP works with the new computer I'll post back. If you go to the dealer and they figure it out it'd be great to have what was wrong on the record for people to know if it ever happens to them

Lastly there's no upgrades that can really be done to the system to make it work. I replaced everything I could and still the only way I could get it to work was by turning PP off every time I pulled someone up then turning it back on. It wouldn't beep when it hit the speed or hold speed well so I quit using it.

[jroberts]

So, the PP guy seemed to think that the problem might have something to do with the cable... I'm not familiar with the system, and once I look at it perhaps what he said will make more sense. But something is supposed to happen when you hit a little more than half of the set speed... Perhaps the throttle backs off a bit in preparation for leveling off. In any case, he seemed to be saying that if the cable was experiencing abnormal friction, the symptoms that I described could appear: a loss of power at about 50%, a surge, a loss of power at about 75%, a surge, and so on. My fear is exactly as you described- that I would upgrade and still have the same problem. He said that because the DBW would remove the cable and the servo, then it should fix the issue. My hope was that one of the people here could confirm or explain it to me a little more clearly. now that I think about it, you are right; I can't recall ever hearing it beep. I didn't think about that... Is the basic supposed to beep?

[sailnaked6842]

Not 100% positive about all PP models but the ones I'm familiar with will beep to let you know to back off the throttle so that because that's how PP takes over. Unfortunately I think your boat was manufactured with the DBW so there are no cables since the throttle is all computer controlled. If you have a mechanical servo that look like http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/283204.jpg then you can disregard everything I've said. If you don't have a mechanical servo then it's DBW and the problem is electrical somewhere