Originally Posted by
goose
Random tips of the day – Ballast Autofill
Another new feature in the 2022 Moomba software is what we call “ballast autofill”. Like I explained before, all the 2022 Moomba models now have a full length tube style ballast sensor. With that sensor we can now tell exactly where the water level is on the sensor REGARDLESS of what the gauge level displays. As most of you know, the water level does NOT actually stay full as you use the boat. There are multiple reasons why. One of those is air in the bag. When you first fill the bag, even if you got most of the air out of the bag, some air is trapped in the top of the bag. The air in the bag adds pressure to the system and actually causes the sensor to see full even if there is some air trapped in the top of the bag. All the rear bags actually have 2 if not more automatic vents on the bags. These vents have a water proof membrane that allows the air to slowly escape the bag without losing water. So, even if you fill the bag completely, with a little time, the air in the top of the bag is vented out leaking empty space for more water. Another reason why the level might drop is under hard accelerations. Sometimes some water will actually leak out the thru hull. And another reason is some water can actually drain out through the impellor on the ballast pump and drain out the bottom of the hull. Regardless how or where it goes, if you have used a boat very much, you will notice that if you start with a completely full looking bag at the beginning of the day, then after a little while there is capacity left in the bag. This is why we developed Autofill. As a disclaimer, this feature is mainly focused for those trying to keep their bags FULL the majority of the time. If you are a consumer that does NOT care about keeping it full, or prefer to have the bags less than full, then this might be a feature you would prefer to turn off or adjust to different settings level. We will discuss that later.
So how does the software work? Similar to leak detection where we have a threshold and trigger, this software feature is looking for a “trigger” and then a “target margin”. The default settings are a trigger of 15 and a target margin of 5. When you fill the ballast level lets say to 100%, then when the sensor actually sees full (lets say it saves 98% as full on the actual sensor), then the system assumes you want the sensor to stay full. So, it is constantly looking at the sensor value and if it sees a “trigger” of 15% less ballast on the sensor (83% sensor value), then it will go back and fill that compartment to within 5% of the target. So, it would fill that bag to within 93% on the sensor. And it will do this automatically. In this case, the gauge would always display 100% even though the truth is the ballast is not really 100% full all the time. You might hear the ballast pumps come on, but you might not. But, if you check your ballast levels, with Autofill on, you should notice that the bags should be full all the time and you should not have to be checking them or “topping them off” any longer.
Again, this works great if you are trying to maximize your ballast and truly keep it full all day. However, there are a few times when this might not actually be what you want. One of those is if you are using your ballast system close to full, but not all the way full. For example, lets say you want to run ballast at 90%. Maybe you have a few extra people and you don’t actually want the wave to be max capacity. Unfortunately the ballast sensors are not perfect. Because the sensors are located in the rear, when you accelerate, the water in the bags “slosh” back against the sensor and forces water up the sensor. We don’t have accelerations currently programmed in the software, so if the water sloshes up the sensor, the sensor actually thinks the bag is full and it can reprogram what it thinks your “new” full value is. So, maybe it had saved 80% as your desired ballast level. But when you slosh the water, now it sees 100%. Then when you stop, the water goes back to normal level of 80%, but it thinks you want it at 100%, so it will try and autofill back to 100%. Obviously this could be a problem. If you have Autowake on, when you take off, it would go back and drain water to reach dynamic state, that then restablishes your new fill level, but you can see where this “slosh” effect could create a short term nuisance. Some of you have probably seen that before when you take off and the ballast levels reset from 90% back to 100%. If you run the levels a lot lower (like below 80%), then the slosh effect should not apply, but if you find this to be an issue, you can get with your dealer and change the trigger level. In that case, you might want to reduce the trigger to 20%, maybe 25%.
We also realize that some people like automation and some do not. If you really just don’t like Autofill or the system filling on it’s own, you can also basically turn this feature off. In that case, again get with your dealer, but have them adjust trigger to 100. If you did that, then that basically turns the feature off all together.
Again, with Autowake we are trying to design the system so that it is adjustable to have a user interface for how you use your boat. We realize that there are many different types of users and that is why we have added these different features and allowed the customization based on how you like it. Later we will discuss the different screen interfaces, but as you learn more about how this software works, you can figure out which features you like, which you do not, and you can adjust your system accordingly. It is also possible that you might want to turn off some of the automation until you understand the system better. In any of these cases, we recommend you discuss with your dealer how you like to use your system and they should be able to help you get it dialed in exactly the way you like it.
I will try to post more next week. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great long weekend!!!