I installed the EV 100 wheel pilot on my Hunter 34 a couple years ago. For the most part it does what I wanted it to do which is to take the helm when I need a brake or just want to chill. What it will NOT do is take the helm while I drop and flake the main. It wanders all over the marina. I come into the marina where it's calm and spin the boat around into the wind, set the pilot and go forward to drop the main. About a minute in the boat veers off course and I have to take the helm. The strangest part is that it does this consistently. It does not have this problem when sailing or even when motoring out on the bay. The only difference is that I am going quite slow when pulling the main. Anyone else experience this?
EV-100 Inconsistent
- Thread starter markwbird
- Start date
That's what I was thinking. Maybe he should throttle up a tad. He may be going too slow to get steerage since he said it works fine while motoring otherwise.
You must have a really big marina. I wouldn't dare trust the helm to an auto-pilot in my marina. If it suddenly takes some weird notion, how many seconds before I'm impacting something expensive with something expensive? And how long does it take me to get back to the helm if it fails at the worst possible time? Or, if someone pulls out in front of you like they never saw you (a regular occurrence in my marina). Just seems like the time to have your hands on the wheel.
Still, I've never seen your marina.
Still, I've never seen your marina.
As others have said your probably going to slow or the current could be moving against you thus your not moving at all. The EV-1 senses your actual motion against the ground so if you have little to no motion it has nothing to react to.
The best place to ask this question would be on the Raymarine Support Forum.
The best place to ask this question would be on the Raymarine Support Forum.
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We have an EV100 on our boat, and I have actually steered the boat into the marina and docked it using the keys on the P70 control head (just for fun because it could...I don't usually make a habit of doing stupid stuff like that). We don't have a rudder sensor, though I've heard that was an almost necessary addition on the older unit. On the same vein of MS's suggestion, though is your time setting for stop to stop (hard over time) set correctly? I could see that screwing things up.
The only issues I've had with ours is, 1) sometimes downwind sailing with waves, it struggles to stay consistent (I wish raymarine left some real calibration settings in the software on the new unit), and 2) the auto-tack feature is pretty useless...it over tacks, then overcompensates, then boat loses speed as thing get progressively worse. I mentioned this when I sent it in this winter for updates. Maybe they will surprise me with a fix, but it's not that big a deal (unless you want to use it for that).
The only issues I've had with ours is, 1) sometimes downwind sailing with waves, it struggles to stay consistent (I wish raymarine left some real calibration settings in the software on the new unit), and 2) the auto-tack feature is pretty useless...it over tacks, then overcompensates, then boat loses speed as thing get progressively worse. I mentioned this when I sent it in this winter for updates. Maybe they will surprise me with a fix, but it's not that big a deal (unless you want to use it for that).
I recently installed an ev-100 in my H27. I didn't install the optional rudder reference sensor that Maine Sail referred to. If you don't have the rudder sensor it is important to determine the hard-over time and input into the ev-100. I would also check what settings were set for the response levels. This tells the autopilot the speed of response that you prefer. Any of these settings could impact it's ability to hold course while going very slow. Good idea to dig out the owner's manual and go through all of the commissioning settings again.
You have probably stalled the rudder; water needs to be moving through it at certain minimum speed to maintain steerage.
I forgot to mention that the engine is going while doing this although it seems everybody assumed this. The general consensus is that I need to go faster. Yes, It's a big marina. I'm not diving for the helm the second it veers off course. I can afford to go a little faster and still have time to drop and flake the main. Sesmith, you are braver than me. I cannot imagine trying to steer into the slip with the auto pilot. As for steering the boat on a run, my understanding is that most autopilots will not do that adequately if you have waves on the stern. Too much boat motion.
It is mounted close to the engine. Specifically, just behind it in the aft berth on the wall between the aft berth and the engine compartment. I should point out that I motor all the time out on the bay using the autopilot with no problem.
i am not sure we are talking about the same thing ...are you saying the rudder sensor is between the aft berth and the engine...mine is mounted to the tiller arm on my rudder post ...i am just trying to make sense of this and watch what mainsail has to say about it after all he is the go to guy when it comes to things like this and my appetite for information is enormous
The GPS??
Unless you are steering to a track on the plotter there is only the EV100 (accelerometer, digital compass & rate gyro) and a rudder sensor that yield performance, unless you have an additional fast heading sensor sending data over STng/N2K....
As for a rudder reference I simply will not install an AP without one.. I've yet to see one perform as well without one as it does with one. Raymarine has tried to design around it to remain cost competitive,, and done a marginal to decent job, but IMHO every AP benefits from a rudder reference.
That round thing that came with my unit that was not supposed to be within 3ft of compass or engine.
It's not a GPS it is a heading device containing three separate devices in one unit but no GPS..
The old ones used a Flux Gate Compass which were much more sensitive to ferrous metals or wiring interference. The EV100 uses a combination accelerometer, digital compass & a rate gyro. It can tolerate being with 3' of ferrous metals or wiring and I have seen them even closer performing quite well.. It also has to point in the right direction and the embossed arrow is tough to see. I fixed one last year for poor performance and the arrow was simply pointing to STBD. Undid the screws, rotated it fixed...
