Timed ballast

[vision]

Ok, I have read the excellent threads here on getting around the timed ballast relays in the newer MCs.

1. Bypass the timers altogether. Perfect, but I have destroyed many an impeller on my older boats by leaving them running.

2. Go from the 6 minute to the 20 minute timers. This would help, but I still do not like the fact that if I do not reset the timers by either completely emptying the tanks or turning off the batteries, that the timers do not reset (unless this is different on the 20 minute timers than on my 6 minute timers). We may adjust the ballast many times during a day for different riders. 20 or 6 minutes, I will use it up if they are not reset some how.

3. Have fill or empty timers that reset each time they are turned off. This would be perfect. Say the timers fill or empty for 3 minutes. Once they stop, they reset. You get another 3 minutes as soon as you turn the pump back on. No need to reset, the switch simply stays on for 3 minutes. Fill or empty a few times depending on your ballast needs. No way to ruin the pump by running it for 30 minutes. It shuts off after 3 minutes always.

Or even an old analog egg timer, like the heat lamp timers you used to find in bathrooms. Turn it and it simply counts down and shuts off. Want more time, turn it again. That would be perfect.

Anyone make a 12 volt version of either a digital timed switch I could substitute or even old analog rotary switch?

On the 2010s, did they change the timers? If not, then if you incompletely empty and fill 10 times in a day for different riders using the now integrated BIG auto ballast and perfect pass settings, don't the relays time out eventually?

[skeeler]

Well, from my experience. I replaced the timers with my own system (basically removing the timers all together) even before I put it in the water for the first time. I have never had an impeller issue at all in the past two years. We ride three to four times a week, and have the Fly High System as well, so the system gets quite a work out.
Having said that, any particular reason you need to fill/empty 10+ times a day? if you are doing this day in and day out, it seems that removing the timers is the easiest solution, IMOP.

[vision]

Skeeler, I think you are correct. I am about to remove the timers and the notes you posted from when you bypassed your timers will be a great help. Thanks for posting that info.

We rarely run with all ballast full, and often adjust the ballast levels depending on the rider, skill level, and rope length. So, we may partially empty and partially fill the bags several times during the day. It is not a big deal with the 6 minute timers, and I am sure that with 20 minute timers it would be less of an issue. But a slight PITA when the timers time out.

I just can not figure why MC went with a timer system that does not reset after each on cycle. That would seem to have made more sense. Better yet, I would enjoy a timer system where we could set the exact time each pump runs, allowing us to replicate ballast levels accurately. Have 10 presets and have the ballast adjust automatically. I am thinking that what is present on the 2010s, but I am not sure.

I have hesitated to remove the timers because of the number of impellers we destroyed in our 05 X2. Maybe I can wire an extra, more noticeable light, besides the faint LED in the toggle switch, that lights up when the pump is running. Less chance I or someone else will miss that a pump is still running. I was also thinking that I could wire the pumps through the ignition circuit so you could not leave them accidentally running with the boat off.

[skeeler]

I have heard of others burning up impellers as well in other MCs. To be honest, I have never had an issue in the '04 X-2, '07 X-2, and the '08 X-Star i have owned. And again we ride three to four times to week. just never had an issue with them, crazy!
Also, I have never forgot to shut them off. I may have let them run for a few extra minutes and then shut them off, but never "forgot" and left them on. They are loud enough that I have always heard them. Hope that help.

[vision]

I hear ya. Now that my son is in college, perhaps the odds of coming down to the dock the morning after he put away the boat and hearing a ballast pump slowly running are over.