Zero Off used for Wakeboarding w/ current

[Chad52]

Does anybody out there have any real experience using the Zero Off system for wakeboarding in a river type situation where current is a factor? If so, how do you deal with the currents? For example, if the current speed is 2 MPH, and you want your speed across the water to be a consistent 23 MPH, do you set the ZO for 21 going up river and 25 going down river to compensate for the current? Please, no speculation, or comparison to how it works for slalom, etc. I am just interested in real observations used for wakeboarding in a current.

Thanks,

Chad

[NautiqueJeff]

RE: Zero Off used for Wakeboarding w/ current

There is supposed to be a software upgrade released by ZO very soon that will address this issue.

[Chad52]

RE: Zero Off used for Wakeboarding w/ current

Jeff,

I know you have experience with ZO. I am looking at buying a boat with ZO in it. I wakeboard 98% of the time on a river. Would you worry about the ZO being a factor to inconsistent pulls or would you see it as a non-factor?

Chad

[NautiqueJeff]

RE: Zero Off used for Wakeboarding w/ current

Although I did have ZO all of last year, I have zero experience with it in a river with a current. On a lake it works extremely well. It was much more stable than I could ever get PP to be.

ZO knows that there are people out there who use their boats on a river and want the speed over the water to be constant. Because of that, they are releasing new software soon that will allow this to happen. I don't have the full details on the software update, but I was told that it should be out fairly soon, and it should make using ZO on water with currents easier than it currently is.

I wish I could give you more information, but that's about all I have right now.

[Laptom]

RE: Zero Off used for Wakeboarding w/ current

I would be very interested....

[lectriklar]

the boats with ZO have a paddle wheel. it provides speed to the Faria speedo. the GPS supplies ZO with SOG or speed over ground. imagine you are running to the gym with a GPS antenna on your beanie with the propeller (as i often do), the GPS display says you running at 5 mph, you get on the tred mill, keeping the same pace and the GPS says you are running 0 mph. your legs are moving at the same speed, but you aren't going anywhere. let's go back to being on a ZO boat, your Faria speedo says you are running 22 mph, and your Zo is set at 20 mph, to the rider while his SOG is 20mph, the water going under him is at 22mph. if there is a software change in the works, the gateway box that has the SOG and the SOW (speed over water) data going into, it will adjust the speed so rider will experience the precise amount of water running under his stick as he wants.

[nautiquenz]

When our main lake is too rough, I ride up a canyon downstream from a hydro dam.

Zero Off seriously sucks in this situation - ONLY because the current varies from almost nil to around 5 knots as you apporach the spillway (over a distance of say 1.5km). This means either you have to continually vary your ground speed or drive manually. You wouldn't have this problem IF the current was steady, but would still have to adjust depending on which way you were heading - although personally I would definitely choose a paddle wheel control over GPS if I was always running in a river (maybe Zero Off will add that as an option???)

The only other issue I have with Zero Off is it cutting out in a high-sided narrow canyon (loses contact with too many satellites). We end up driving it manually.

Other than that, I cannot rave about Zero Off enough. Out in the main lake, you simply cannot getter a better cruise control system, that deals with any weight scenario (from unloaded to factory + 700lb lead + 10 people). Super consistent pull & soooo easy to use.

[pjdave]

We have experianced the same problems as nautiquenz, bring on the upgrade sooner than later.

[Laptom]

What I find strange, correct me if I'm wrong, is that the public GPS coordinates are somewhat 5ft accuarate. How can they build an accurate (<0.4mph) speed control system on it? The numbers on the display seems to be stable (because of the high resolution of the GPS coordinates), and therefore the engine won't rev up and down as much as PP.

Off-course you can extrapolate (calculate) in an easy way extra coordinates, but that won't be any better...
I still have some reservation to ZO, but I hope you guys are right! I hope I can try ZO this summer..

[jelayne]

What R U Guys Talking About?

:?: The zero off system is tracked by satellites. The satellites track how fast the boat is going and tells it wether to speed up or slow down. There are no paddle wheels.

[Chad52]

RE: What R U Guys Talking About?

The 210 I looked at last week with ZO does have a paddle wheel. I took a picture of it. I just don't know if it was for the standard speedo's or the ZO as a backup.

[DanielC]

RE: What R U Guys Talking About?

GPS systems are not tracked by satelites. Your GPS keeps track of where the satellites are. Every GPS satellight sends out a signal identifying its self, and exactly what time it is. Your GPS receiver also knows exactly what time it is. Each satellight is set to exactly the same time, and your GPS is also. Your GPS receiver gets each different satellight signal at a slightly different time, and compares that to the time in the GPS, and figures out where it is by measuring the distance to each satellight, that it can receive. Then by triangulation, the GPS unit figures out where it is. A little while later, the GPS receiver does this whole process again. The GPS now has two different positions, and knows exactly when it was at each position, and does a simple calculation on how long it took to move from point to point, and that gives you the speed.
GPS signals are line of sight. It you are down in a canyon, and the GPS cannot see satellights, it gets lost.
Ideally GPS can see three different directions , and then thay will work with a high accuracy.
I believe the inaccuracy is built in to the GPS receiver, and randomly generated, but the GPS "knows" what inaccuracy it is using at any given moment, and so it can give you a very accurate speed, even if they cannot by law display a very accurate position.

[Laptom]

RE: What R U Guys Talking About?

It's a digital (time discreet) signal, not analog (time continue). The inaccuracy is NOT build into the GPS receiver, it's build into the satellite. The satellite needs time to send out it's signal (the signal itself has a time length, like saying by yourself; "It's now 9:00.01" , " it's now 9:00.01" , etc. This needs time and therefore the "commercial" satellite signal has a quite big resolution) and therefore speed.

[Christopher-W.-Becker]

RE: What R U Guys Talking About?

Speaking from experience with the military GPS.....it is VERY accuarate. Enough to drive a submarine into a port when you could not see a thing. Also note, GPS is three dimensional and provides elevation as well. As the antenna is on the top of the periscope antenna on a submarined, it tells how much periscope is out of the water quite accurately. If I told you more, I would have to kill you.

Commercial is made more accurate with use of differential capabilities (smart guesses) and can use other inputs.

[DanielC]

RE: What R U Guys Talking About?

Christopher, thanks for your military service. God bless.