April 28, 2025
Thank you to all of the Nordhavn owners who responded to my request for assistance. This is just a brief post about my remediation for those that may come across the problem in future.
To begin, Home Free is outfitted with a ZF MicroCommander electric throttle (Model 91100) and it died. It didn’t just stop working. I had to ignore a few signs to make, make some incorrect assumptions and use a few tools to make it die. For other owners, these are the mistakes to avoid.
The MicroCommander is a well engineered piece of equipment that uses an electronic throttle controller to send messages to the engine’s clutch and throttle(s). The box has a modest interface that allows a user to read information about the device and it’s status, set parameters and it also has audible signals.
For the past few months, perhaps a year, I have been getting audible signals from the MC which, again, well documented, are in the manual and it is called a Jam Code. It implies that the MC cannot move the cable(s) to perform it’s work. Once someone told me that this was the case, I simply used a wrench to ‘loosen’ the cable and get it to do what I want. (This was the key error in my behaviour.)
The cable has been sticking more and more over the past few months, and I used the exact same process to unstick the cable. A wrench, a little tug and voila! The cable worked again. That is until early this month when the sticking was happening mid-cruise but I used the exact same response and it was the wrong response. Finally the end of the cable snapped.
Still I pressed on, trying to get the cable moving again and then the power to the unit died. A frantic search for information told me that I could apply 9-30V to the unit and the unit would power up. I did so and tried to get that cable moving again, until my attempts to move that cable resulted in the mother board for the MC failing.
Now I am without power, a broken cable and a failed MC motherboard. Yes, it has been a bit of an adventure this month.
The other owners on the Nordhavn Owners Group were fantastic, reaching back out to me within minutes of my post to offer some suggestions. Unfortunately I was too far gone for some of the specific items, but they did provide me service names and that’s how I got Ed’s name. Then I called my goto team at YachtTech. I spoke with Rob Ethridge at YachtTech, Ed at ControlMaster (the inventor of the device I believe) as well as Parts and Power in Tortola.
Parts and Power could not assist me in Dominican Republic as they couldn’t sell into that territory. Ed had already heard about my order from Rob at YachtTech (that was on April 17th) and, so I decided to stick with YachtTech who suggested they could get the part to me by Thursday (the 24th).
In the meantime, my conversation with Ed was very enlightening. There were many details that helped me understand my problems, but one key insight.
- The Jam Code should be taken seriously. Disconnect the cables from both ends and check the cable. Don’t force the MC.
- It’s almost always a cable problem!
- IF YOU WANT TO GET YOUR BOAT MOVING, CROSS THE TWO YELLOW WIRES. On the left side of the box, there are two yellow wires that is the start interlock. Cross those two wires and the engines will start, even if the rest of the system isn’t working.
Item 3 was the most important information I could get. By simply disconnecting the cables at the engine, I could now move the boat. I started by using the wing engine to make it to open water, then a run down to the engine room to put the transmission in gear and move the throttle up to cruising speed and I was ‘back on the water’.
Of course there are some issues with that as well. First, I had to run on the wing engine when close to land, other ships. Two, I was able to use stabilization (which runs off of my main engine) while underway. And finally I had to be extra careful for fishing gear as I couldn’t go into neutral easily, I could only change directions.
It is now April 28th and I am still awaiting my parts from YachtTech, which is four days beyond what I was expecting. They will likely not arrive until Wednesday, a full six days later than expected. That is useful information given the changes to the world of shipping, expectations for parts around the world.
Notably had I known that I could move my boat, I would have simply gone to Tortola (Parts and Power) where they had the device in stock. I would have only lost a day instead of ten (I got the boat moving on Good Friday). It’s difficult to look back, and I remain thankful that the folks at YachtTech pick up the phone to support owners when we are out in the middle of nowhere and need help.
