Clutch-n-Throttle

Hello again Fellow Garage Monkeys Im hoping you guys can help me with my arduino controller. I got it to work fine. But I think I have a glitch somewhere in the system. A couple of weeks ago, I took the boat out for the first time with the system. Everything thing was going great for about 15 minutes. While surfing behind the boat, the wave would collapse and I would get white water behind the boat. After about 4 seconds the wave would shape up again. It did this 2-3 times while surfing. I was holding the rope when it happened so I could stay behind the boat. When I was done, I asked my daughter (driving at the time) if she was moving the throttle or if the boat was dropping out of the speed range. She said everything was running fine. It was late so we packed it up. This weekend, I decided to check the system. When I first power up the system, the lencos turn on to bring the gates back into the stowed position. I wait about a minute for to the GPS module to acquire the satellite signal and the GPS module flashes every second. I leave the system powered on for about twenty minutes. Then after about 20 minutes, the system activates the lencos for 4 seconds to stow the gates back in. After 5 to 10 seconds, the lencos activate again(stowing the gates in). There is a pause and then the lencos activate again. It will do this for 5-6 activations and then nothing for about 20 minutes. Then it does the same multiple lenco activation for for 5-6 times. It seems like the system is resetting itself. I updated the GPS libraries and loaded the most recent code for the system. Do you guys think its the arduino board? Should I swap out the GPS module? Arduino board? GPS antenna? Everything looks to be running fine. I checked all the connections for the circuit. All help and ideas will be appreciated.

I’m interested in the BT version. BTW. I hook up the LED switches. It didn’t work. It went back to reversing the signal to the lencos. I think it’s the actual LED in the switch that is throwing off the Arduino. I went with a simple DPDT switch to control the arduino on one side and the separate LEDs on the other side.

Thanks for the response Jhartt. You are correct. I did fry a few Arduino boards. 🤣 My problem was that I was connecting the switch from a 12V source and connecting it to 5V Arduino. My electronics-Fu is not strong. But I think I worked it out like you suggested. I thought I could connect the LED switch to 12V so I can get a bright light out of the switch. If I connect the switch straight from the Arduino's 5V (Pin 4 or 5) source, I can get it to work. The LED switch light is a little dimmer than if it was connected to a 12V source, but I think it will be fine. I made a quick circuit to test it out. Its below in black: In red would be the arduino board and its connections. I will try it out later this week.

I found them on Amazon

Greetings Gentlemen. This is my first post on the Garage. I have been intently reading this thread for some time now and I finally got around to building one and My God... It works! Great job JHart and jonthompson. I will be sending in a donation to the Garage soon. I have a question that maybe the Garage Gurus can assist. I used a simple SPDT switch to control the L/R Lencos. It works great. I wanted to geek out and use these LED push button switches, one for each side red and green. (see below) I wanted to press the button on the surf side and the LED would turn on. Here is the switch schematics.(see below) I set the program at -1 MPH to test the controller. When I connected the switches, the arduino controller works in reverse. I press the switch and the lenco retracts. I turn off the switch and the lenco extends. I connected Pin 4 and Pin 5 to the right side (NO) of each switch on the schematic. The negative obviously went to ground. On the left side (NO) I connected to 12V. The top was jumped to the right side to power the internal LED. What am I doing wrong? I'm thinking I'm sending 12v back into the arduino board. Do I need to install a diode? Can you guys help?