Wakespeed WS500 Pro On Test

Well, that was quick. It was just last week that I shared that the WS500 Pro was on time, and today what should turn up here at AAC World Headquarters, but a fully functioning production unit.

Al put on his red suit and slipped down the chimney to put it under the tree…wait, that’s not for four months, so I guess it was Fedex.

Anyway, thank you Al and Dragon Fly Energy for the evaluation unit.

Of course, being a cool calm guy who never gets excited by new technology, I put it aside and might get around to installing it six months from now…not.

The reality was that I had it out of the box and my iPhone connected to it within 10 minutes¹—yes, it’s that easy.

And that highlights one of the features I like the best on the original WS500 and the Pro: both can be powered up on the bench so we can program them before installing on the boat.

As you can see, the Pro is being powered by a standard USB cable using an old Kindle wall wart, and my phone is connected to it via Bluetooth and showing the regulator monitoring screen.

See this Tip for why that’s a way cooler feature than you might think, as well as more information about the Pro.

I also verified that I can fully program the regulator from my iPhone over BlueTooth².

By the way: the Pro automatically detects that it’s being powered by USB, instead of the harness, and so does not throw an error because there is no battery or alternator connected, like the WS500 does³.

Sane Password Implementation

Before I close, one other cool feature of the Pro I have not mentioned before:

The first time we connect a phone to a new Pro it insists we change its password before it will let us change any parameters.

Smart…do you want your brother-in-law playing with the configuration? Or maybe some super-smart but vindictive 14-year-old on the boat next door?

But wait, what happens if you forget the password, or maybe buy a boat with a Pro already installed? Not a worry, if we connect directly to the unit using the USB cable we can reset the password⁴.

Further Reading

• Much more on why the WS500 has long been the AAC recommended alternator regulator.

1. Half of that was looking for a USB cable and wall wart. ↩︎
2. At the time of writing, this requires a Beta test version of the app which is only available by invitation; however, Al tells me that the final app will be available to all within a week…damn, I kinda liked feeling special. ↩︎
3. Said error didn’t have any negative effect, but I guess it alarmed (bad pun alert) people. ↩︎
4. I think we would notice if said vindictive 14-year-old came aboard our boat and disappeared into the engine space carrying a USB cable and an Android phone or computer. ↩︎