combining a tailfin/powertran with a powerpro3

[rolmops]

So about a year ago I bought a tailfin remote control kicker steering setup and I was not overly happy with it because fine tuning the remote control steering speed was an issue and I still had to do the speed control from the front end of my Islander. So what to do? I bought a powerpro 3 remote control kicker speed controller and installed it. The installation was simple and it works well. But now I found myself having to deal with 2 remote control fobs. However the powerpro3 remote has a setup for steering control and speed control which  works in combination with a panther steering actuator. 

In comparison, the tailfin actuator is straight, very well sealed and works on a screw driver principle ,where the panther pushes a piece of cable back and forth and works hanging at 90 degrees from the actuator shaft with a plastic cover to keep it all dry. Besides, the steering is very abrupt

I like the idea of having everything working off the same fob, so I connected the the tailfin actuator motor to the powerpro3 wiring. It worked but the actuator worked full speed only and it was hard to fine tune anything. 

After some head scratching I decided that if I would lower the voltage a bit , say from 12 volt to 10 or 9 everything would slow down a bit but still work. So I bought an actuator speed controller (progressive automations model AC-14) and placed it in between the boat battery and the the powerpro3  blackbox.  It works great. By lowering the voltage a bit , the actuator slows down while the speed control still works like a dream. I love it! It also means that it is possible to combine the 2 systems instead of having to buy a completely new setup

Edited November 19, 2023 by rolmops