Major Drama with Fly High System in X-Star

We ordered a Fly High System (the pro tour ballast system) for our 2008 X Star and my staff and our poor dealer are all beating our heads against the wall trying to get the darn thing to work as advertised. The X-Star itself is awesome, but the Fly High system, thus far, is not.

Our dealer installed it correctly and I personally verified everything was done right, but the troubleshooting instructions are non-existent and Mike at Fly High has not been very helpful thus far at resolving our issues.

We simply LOVE the wake on the X-Star with the system filled and 3-400 lbs upfront, and it’s already installed, so our plan A is to just try and get the system to work as Fly High advertised.

Here’s our problem, so please chime in if you can help: The timers (or sensors?) on the X-Star shut the pumps off every 10 seconds when we go to drain either the stock ballast or the Fly High ballast.

We do know how to reset the timers and both the stock ballast and the Fly High system seem to fill just fine. But, when we go to drain either, it gets about 1/2 way drained and then the timers turn the pumps off every 10 seconds. We then have to have someone sit in the driver seat and turn the pump switches to drain, then to off - repeating until they are drained - which is really annoying.

There are no instructions for resetting the drain timers so that could be it, but who knows. We also thought of taking the timers out.

Anybody dealt with this issue?? Anybody get their system to fill and drain properly?

"the X-Star shut the pumps off every 10 seconds "

Where again is the Flyhigh problem?

I thought the ballast timer issue on the MC was a well known issue?

Is the engine running? The MC timers will shut the pumps down and blink a code. How many bilinks did you get. Search on here and find what code you got. One code is for high draw. My guess is that you are pulling in air from a hole or loose hose and the amperage spikes the pumps see shuts them down as designed. In this case it blinks once or twice (i forget which) when it is done emptying.

The drain cycle isn't working correctly because you have a problem. Find out what code you have and go from there.

I am one of the few who like the new mc timers once I got my fly high system installed and the timers correct.

(Message edited by 1boarder_kevin on June 29, 2008)

Kevin Baugh, Fly High swears that their install instructions are right (they are not) and that they worked with MasterCraft on this system for 2008 to adjust for the timers (they did not). The system was designed for 2007 and the instructions are almost in Chinese.

1boarder Kevin, will do that now. Thanks so much for the tip!!!!!!! I looked before but didn't find anything but will do so again. The wake is super awesome so I'm really wanting to get this worked out.

this is from another post on WW from Kris

Direct from Mastercraft:

ALL PUMPS INDEPENDENT OF EACH OTHER. (INCLUDES SWITCHES)
SYSTEMS HAVE AI MODULE FOR EACH PUMP. (3)
DEFAULT SETTING TIME FOR FILL IS 4 1/2 MINUTES.
DURING THE FILL OPERATION THE SYSTEM ONLY READS TIME.
DURING THE EMPTY OPERATION THE SYSTEM READS BOTH TIME
AND AMPS.

BLINK CODES:
1 = AUTO SHUT OFF
2 = PUMP OVER LOAD (POSSIBLE KINKED LINE OR CLOGGED VENT)
3 = POWER LOSS BETWEEN AI MODULE AND PUMP
4 = NO CURRENT OR LOW VOLTAGE.
5 = ?
6 = SYSTEM FULL


SYSTEM WILL REMEMBER LAST SWITCH OPERATION AND HOW LONG.

EXAMPLE: SYSTEM FULL. OPERATOR EMPTIES SYSTEM 1/2 WAY. TIME WAS
2 MINUTES. NOW OPERATOR TRIES TO FILL SYSTEM AGAIN BUT IT
WILL ONLY FILL FOR 2 1/2 MINUTES. SYSTEM DEDUCTED THE 2 MINUTES
FROM THE EMPTY TIME, GIVING ONLY 2 1/2 MINUTES OF FILL TIME.


COMPLETE SYSTEM RESET: BATTERY SWITCH OFF OR DISCONNECT BATTERY

SYSTEM CAN BE RE-PROGRAMED. SEQUENCE AS FOLLOWS:


FROM OFF POSITION. F O E, F O E, ETC. 4-5
TIMES UNTIL LIGHT ON SWITCH STARTS BLINKING
TO ADD TIME: FROM OFF POSITION, F O, F O,
EACH F O SEQUENCE IS 30 SEC. OF TIME.

REPEAT ABOVE, TO EMPTY SIDE OF SWITCH FOR LESS
TIME.

NOTE: RE-PROGRAMING MODE ONLY APPLIES TO THE FILL TIME.

The only way my Fly High System worked correctly in my '08 X-Star, was to elminate the timers all together.
.

The timers only control the fill, the empty is controled by water pressure. Sounds like you are getting some air in the lines.

Did you install the B.I. switch's? I think the switches complicate the system, when we install the extra ballast kit we typically leave them out and just go straight from the factory vent to the bags and then vent from there.

We've had kits with the timers work but I agree with Shawn K. over riding them is best, basically you take the system back to a full manual fill and drain, this is the way I would set up my boat if I had an X-Star.

Wow, that looks really complex...