Autohelm 4000 problems - Wanders!

[Steve Donahue]

Have had an Autohelm 4000 for several months. Once the wind gets to 12-13 knots, boat starts wandering off the wind as much as 40-50 degress. Slowly comes back, but than wanders again. Can't believe I need to reef, etc. to keep on track. Any suggestions?

 

[Gordon Myers]

Autopilot

Read manual. I have a 7000. I think that you will find in the manual a way to adjust respose time. The wind is making the boat wander and the autopilot is not set up to compensate for the wandering in a "resposive" time.

 

[Pete]

update/cure wanders

there was an issue with some 4000 where thet had to be updated/reset at the factory check in the archives and or call autohelm "WANDERING" was one of the problems if I recall correctly. good luck

 

[Tom FitzGibbon]

How old?

You didn't say how old your 4000 is - only that you have had it for several months. On some older models, there was a software problem with the 4000. On the ST4000, Raytheon said it could be sent back for a software upgrade. I believe that the control head on the ST4000+, however, needed to be replaced. I have an ST4000, so I didn't pay much attention to the 4000+ response. You can contact Customer Service through Raytheon's website. I found them to be very helpful.Good luck!Tom FitzGibbonS/V Plan B

 

[WARREN FELDSTEIN]

OLD 4000?

I CURRENTLY HAVE AN OLDER MODEL 4000. IT IS NOT THE ST VERSION. I ONCE HAD THE PROBLEM IN CERTAIN SEA CONDITIONS. THERE IS A ROUND KNOB ON THE CONTROL UNIT. I ROTATED THIS KNOB ONE WAY OR THE OTHER AND CHANGED THE RESPONSE. THIS SOLVED THE PROBLEM FOR MY UNIT.

 

[Larry Jackel]

Just spoke to Raytheon

The Raytheon rep told me that ST4000+ units that have software versions < V14may had a wandering problem if theelectrical environment is noisy.This occurs because when there isnoise, the software slows down the unit'sresponse time. This can lead tooscillations in the tracking.They can upgrade the software if youreturn the head unit.

 

[John]

Iron in neighborhood

I had a problem with my 4000 not holding course very well and found the culprit was the fuel tank for my outboard which was made of metal and located near the head unit.