Quick Steer; Throttle And Shift Operation With Three Or Four Engines; Triple-Engine Throttle And Shift Operation - Mercury 71712 Operation Manual

Section 1 - DTS Controls and Features
• Auto heading mode will disengage when the ERC levers are moved to the neutral position. You must engage auto heading
at the selected active helm.
• Requesting a helm transfer places the autopilot into standby mode. Any required inputs will need to be entered at the
selected active helm.
• Skyhook will disengage when the transfer button is pressed the second time. Skyhook must be engaged at the selected
active helm.
• If auto heading is activated, the helm transfer functionality is disabled. Turn this feature off and resume the transfer. At the
selected active helm, engage auto heading.
• If route mode is activated, the helm transfer functionality is disabled. Turn this feature off and resume the transfer. At the
selected active helm, engage route mode.
• Route mode (waypoint sequencing) control of the route and display of route data on your chartplotter does not
automatically transfer to the chartplotter at the active helm. You must turn on the chartplotter at the selected active helm,
input the waypoint route to be tracked, and engage route mode.
IMPORTANT: If faults are encountered while attempting to complete a helm transfer, all controlling modules for the engine
and the joystick piloting system must be turned off. To turn these controlling modules off, turn both engines off and place
both engine ERC handles in reverse full throttle for three seconds.

Quick Steer

Quick Steer is available on vessels equipped with Single Outboard Electric Steering. Electric steering versions of the
panel mount and single‑handle console ERCs have a button to enable the Quick Steer feature. This feature is meant
to provide rapid steering and more precise throttle control when operating in tight quarters, such as when docking.
• Quick Steer decreases the number of steering turns, lock‑to‑lock, at the helm to approximately quarter‑turn each direction,
while still providing full steering capacity.
• Quick steer limits engine speed.

Throttle and Shift Operation with Three or Four Engines

Triple‑Engine Throttle and Shift Operation
Movement of the handles on the remote control allows the boat operator to control the engine throttle speed and gear shift
positions of all three engines.
The throttle and shift function is dependent on what engines are running. Refer to the following table.
Center
Port Engine
Engine
Running Running
Running Running
Off Running
Running Off
Running Off
Off Off
Off (ignition key
switch turned
Running
ON)
Turning off one of the outer engines while underway will cause the center engine to go into forced neutral/idle. Operation to the
center engine can be restored by moving the control handle of the functioning outer engine back into neutral position and then
engaging. The center engine speed and gear shift will then be controlled by the functioning outer engine.
Turning off the center engine while underway will have no effect on the operation of the outer engines.
Page 16
Starboard
Engine
Port engine throttle and shift = controlled by port control handle
Starboard engine throttle and shift = controlled by starboard control handle
Center engine throttle = shadows the engine with the lowest throttle setting
Running
until the port and starboard engine are within 10% of one another at which
point all engines synchronize to the starboard engine's RPM.
Center engine shift = neutral unless both engines are in the same gear
Off Port and center engine throttle and shift = controlled by port control handle
Starboard and center engine throttle and shift = controlled by starboard
Running
control handle
Port engine throttle and shift = controlled by port control handle
Running
Starboard engine throttle and shift = controlled by starboard control handle
Off Port engine throttle and shift = controlled by port control handle
Running Starboard engine throttle and shift = controlled by starboard control handle
Off (ignition key
Center engine throttle and shift = neutral/idle unless both control handles are
switch turned
in the same gear
ON)
Control Handle Function
90-8M0180922
72260
MAY 2021
eng