Since last August I have been going through grief with my Autohelm 4000+. It always suffered since it was only recommended for 16300 disp boats and the 37.5 is 16500 and mine actually weight 18000 on the slings when I had it surveyed. I worked sort of okay until last August when all of a sudden it started to veer off course and the degrees it read changed with the sun, the stars and the moon. I could use it in Track Mode and it would keep a course once I set it in Auto Mode but ocassionally it would start to turn X degrees, all on it's own, It got progressively worse. Autohelm has had the head 4 times and the last time they claim to have upgraded the software and put in a new system board. Well, it still screws up intermittently. It will work in track mode for 3 or 4 hours, then it goes nutz. I can put it in standby and all of a sudden I get error messages such as "off course" or "large xtrack error" or Seatalk error (cute-since I disconnected Seatalk based on Autohelm's recommendation. Even when it sort of works, it doesn't hold a course as well as it used to (snake wake heaven) and the motor is hot enough to fry eggs on. Any suggestions! I've consulted with Autohelm till I've been blue in the face! ChuckWolfe@mail.com
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Guest
Join the Club (unfortunately)
My autohelm has also been horrible from the start. According to what autohelm told me, the problems that you described are due to the circuit board malfunctioning. Mine did the same and was repaired/replaced umpteen times. That's my complaint. I have no solution. Felix U.
My autohelm has also been horrible from the start. According to what autohelm told me, the problems that you described are due to the circuit board malfunctioning. Mine did the same and was repaired/replaced umpteen times. That's my complaint. I have no solution. Felix U.
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Rod Leonard
Auto !!!! Autohelm
I had the new 4000 on my old 31' finally we discovered one of the pins on the control head was not tight. Had to take the head apart to find. It did what you talk about. Did autohelm do anything about it NO! out of Warrenty
I had the new 4000 on my old 31' finally we discovered one of the pins on the control head was not tight. Had to take the head apart to find. It did what you talk about. Did autohelm do anything about it NO! out of Warrenty
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Rich Stidger
Does the 4000 use a separated computer unit?
See the collection of answers for the post of http://www.c-2.com/forums/archivepview.tpl?sku=1999325071959&forumabr=aao&fno=2&archyear=99 See if this applies to you. If not, email me and I will see if I can come up with any other ideas based upon your specific information. Rich
See the collection of answers for the post of http://www.c-2.com/forums/archivepview.tpl?sku=1999325071959&forumabr=aao&fno=2&archyear=99 See if this applies to you. If not, email me and I will see if I can come up with any other ideas based upon your specific information. Rich
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Garry Elmer
AH 4000 lacks quality control
The night before we took delivery of our 1980 33, the broker told us the AH 4000 was stolen. All the wires, bolts, connectors, and fixtures! Golly. They replaced it months later with a "re-manufactured" AH 4000. It ran intermittantly and did bizarre things. The control head disassembled into two pieces. There is a circular group of pins and connectors that carry data and power between the two assemblies. we found that one of the signals from the compass lacked a connector in the circuitboard so the pin made intermittant connection with the soldering pad on the circuitboard. We replaced this with one from the "clutch" circuit (we do not have a clutch) and away we went. A close inspection, with a large magnifier, of these assemblies may reveal a bad solder connection on one of the pins or even a missing connector like ours. Now our AH 4000 made it all the way through their repair/refurb facility and came to us MISSING A CONNECTOR from it's initial creation! The LCD window is another problem area. If it ever gets to the point where everything works but the display is GARBAGE, that is usually an easy one too. Contact me via my web page if I can be any help. Garry Elmer Mystic, CT http://www.99main.com/~elmergw/
The night before we took delivery of our 1980 33, the broker told us the AH 4000 was stolen. All the wires, bolts, connectors, and fixtures! Golly. They replaced it months later with a "re-manufactured" AH 4000. It ran intermittantly and did bizarre things. The control head disassembled into two pieces. There is a circular group of pins and connectors that carry data and power between the two assemblies. we found that one of the signals from the compass lacked a connector in the circuitboard so the pin made intermittant connection with the soldering pad on the circuitboard. We replaced this with one from the "clutch" circuit (we do not have a clutch) and away we went. A close inspection, with a large magnifier, of these assemblies may reveal a bad solder connection on one of the pins or even a missing connector like ours. Now our AH 4000 made it all the way through their repair/refurb facility and came to us MISSING A CONNECTOR from it's initial creation! The LCD window is another problem area. If it ever gets to the point where everything works but the display is GARBAGE, that is usually an easy one too. Contact me via my web page if I can be any help. Garry Elmer Mystic, CT http://www.99main.com/~elmergw/
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Warren Blanchard
Runaway Autopilot
I had an identical problem with the Autohelm 7000 on my 376 and it turned out to be a chafed fluxgate compass cable. I had suspected that the autopilot was getting erroneous compass inputs but my dealer insisted that remote fluxgate compasses hardly ever go bad so we sent the control head back to the factory where, of course, they couldn't find anything wrong with it. The dealer didn't figure on a damaged cable. . The cable happened to be routed through the engine compartment and it hadn't been secured and chafe protected properly so eventually it started to wear through and expose bare wire. The problem started out very intermittently and continued to get worse as the cable became more worn. Sounds very much like what you're describing. Good luck!
I had an identical problem with the Autohelm 7000 on my 376 and it turned out to be a chafed fluxgate compass cable. I had suspected that the autopilot was getting erroneous compass inputs but my dealer insisted that remote fluxgate compasses hardly ever go bad so we sent the control head back to the factory where, of course, they couldn't find anything wrong with it. The dealer didn't figure on a damaged cable. . The cable happened to be routed through the engine compartment and it hadn't been secured and chafe protected properly so eventually it started to wear through and expose bare wire. The problem started out very intermittently and continued to get worse as the cable became more worn. Sounds very much like what you're describing. Good luck!
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Al
A high resistant connection
could be your problem. I have owned and used the 4000 on an 18000 lb. sail boat with no problems, except the fore mentioned, for seven years. Go through and clean every connection on the control head and motor, especially if both are continuously exposed to the elements. Check the on/off switch or cb for any voltage drop and clean the connections at and battery. Also, if you use a fuse, replace the fuse even if it's good and check for a voltage drop across the fuse holder. Hope this helps. A.B.
could be your problem. I have owned and used the 4000 on an 18000 lb. sail boat with no problems, except the fore mentioned, for seven years. Go through and clean every connection on the control head and motor, especially if both are continuously exposed to the elements. Check the on/off switch or cb for any voltage drop and clean the connections at and battery. Also, if you use a fuse, replace the fuse even if it's good and check for a voltage drop across the fuse holder. Hope this helps. A.B.
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PATTY CHERONE
JOIN THE CLUB
IT SEEMS WE HAVE QUITE A LITTLE COLLECTION OF DISSATIFIED CUSTOMERS WITH THE AUTOHELM 4000.OURS WANDERS ALOT AND WE DO GET OFF COURSE ALERTS. IT WAS SUGGESTED BY THE INSTALLER OF OURS THAT IT NEEDS A RUDDER TRANSITION TRANSDUCER. WE'RE STILL WAITING FOR THE BROKER TO GET IT DONE. THEY RECOMMENDED THE 4000, IT DOESN'T WORK AND NOW THEY CAN FIX IT.
IT SEEMS WE HAVE QUITE A LITTLE COLLECTION OF DISSATIFIED CUSTOMERS WITH THE AUTOHELM 4000.OURS WANDERS ALOT AND WE DO GET OFF COURSE ALERTS. IT WAS SUGGESTED BY THE INSTALLER OF OURS THAT IT NEEDS A RUDDER TRANSITION TRANSDUCER. WE'RE STILL WAITING FOR THE BROKER TO GET IT DONE. THEY RECOMMENDED THE 4000, IT DOESN'T WORK AND NOW THEY CAN FIX IT.
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Scott Dube
mine broke last week and Raytheon wasn't much help
My 4000+ clutch let go in the middle of our month long trip. I called ratheon and spoke to "john" he was of no help whatever he just said send it in,,, I asked if there was something I could do to get it going he said NO! quite abruptly. So I took it apart anyway and found 2 small roll pins sheared off! BAD DESIGN they are too small for the job!.. I called raytheon back and spoke to Brian who was very helpful and gave me the part numbers needed to repair it. Of course Raytheon didn't have them they were back ordered for a month! But my Hunter dealer (Seacoast Marine) saved the day by shipping me out a spare wheel pilot. My dealer was able to support raytheon better than raytheon! My next boat most likely won't have as many autohelm products on it! Scott
My 4000+ clutch let go in the middle of our month long trip. I called ratheon and spoke to "john" he was of no help whatever he just said send it in,,, I asked if there was something I could do to get it going he said NO! quite abruptly. So I took it apart anyway and found 2 small roll pins sheared off! BAD DESIGN they are too small for the job!.. I called raytheon back and spoke to Brian who was very helpful and gave me the part numbers needed to repair it. Of course Raytheon didn't have them they were back ordered for a month! But my Hunter dealer (Seacoast Marine) saved the day by shipping me out a spare wheel pilot. My dealer was able to support raytheon better than raytheon! My next boat most likely won't have as many autohelm products on it! Scott
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Rod Leonard
Garry E
Was rereading this post what you spoke about is what I found on my unit. Must have been built on Monday, Friday Or Race day! But you have to love raython attitude OUT OF WARRENTY we didn't built a bad unit!
Was rereading this post what you spoke about is what I found on my unit. Must have been built on Monday, Friday Or Race day! But you have to love raython attitude OUT OF WARRENTY we didn't built a bad unit!
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