Electric shifter
 

I am currently in the process of rigging a single engine boat and will be using a foot pedal
for the throttle. I was wondering if there was such a thing as an electrically operated shifter that would use buttons instead of a shift lever.
I will be using a bravo xr drive

Re: Electric shifter
 

Could be done with solenoids with not trouble. I would think a solenoid that operated the linkage would do the trick. Obviously a roll your own solution. I would try to incorporate a spring type of drive for some "cushioning" effect.

Why are you using a foot throttle? Type of boat and speed?

Re: Electric shifter
 

Would Merc's new "drive by wire" work? Now that I think about it, it wouldn't without Smartcraft.

Re: Electric shifter
 

The boat is a 24ft Progression with a hp 500
I feel more comfortable driving with a foot pedal
The area where I was going to put the shifter is a little tight so I was hoping to eliminate a ****er.
I am not familiar with mercury drive by wire
Is that something that could work in my situation?

Re: Electric shifter
 

I should think that the old electric shift unit that Merc. used on their TRS/MerCtrans installations in the late 70's - early 80's would adapt very well to push/pull a bravo secondary cable. There's GOT to be some OSOrs out there with one of those kicking around that they are not using. (I had one till about a year ago) --- JP

Re: Electric shifter
 

mathers micro comander. can do throttle and shift. they are owned by zf now.

Re: Electric shifter
 

Have you ever tried driving a boat with a foot pedal in rough water? There is a reason you don't see them in offshore.

Re: Electric shifter
 

Thanks for all the feed back so far
I am using a foot pedal because I have problems with my right hand
It is difficult for me to throttle for extended periods of time
I will look into the trs and zf
I forgot to mention that I don,t want any lever just some buttons

Re: Electric shifter
 

Mathers and a host of other big names in cruiser controls offer remote station shift and throttle stations. The primary use of these units is multi-station controls (one for cockpit, one for flybridge, one for wing station, etc). To make these work properly, they had to develop a central unit that operates the cables, and then remote stations that send the signals via electric cable.

Dunno what your budget is for this, but the electronic controls are pretty cool. Would be easy to rig buttons, etc, to make it function the way you want.

Re: Electric shifter
 

My budget defenitaly would not allow for anything that crazy
I was told that the trs setup was used to move a valve or actuator inside of the transmission and probably would not be strong enough for this sort of application, although I wil still if I can find one to look at .
thanks for the input