Autopilot Problems

[Corlis West]

I have a an older autopilot, Raytheon ST4000, that wont switch from Standby to Auto. The unit powers upjust fine, and when I hit the Auto button it displays "4000 WHL" and drives to starboard for 3 sec, and remains in the Standby mode. Nothing else, any sugestions???

 

[redhead78]

Check the grounds, these units sometimes do this if there is not full power. Red

 

[sailaway78]

St4000

The computer on the ST4000 is in the control head. Leads from the rudder sensor if applicable, compass and power plug into the back of it. Check all these for good connections and corrosion. As was pointed out in a previous post, look very closely at the ground connections. Another suggestion is to contact RayMarine Tech Support. They can be very helpful, depending on which guy you happen to talk to. Some are great, some not so much.

 

[Corlis West]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check the connections as soon as the rain lets up. Thought it might be something like that. It worked great last fall, but it's misbehaiveing this spring. Do you do anything spiecal for winter storage to you autopilot, like take it off your boat and store it inside or spray the back with something?

 

[sirocovzla]

No need just put a little of white crease or some W40 and will help to avoid corrosion, etc.

 

[Corlis West]

Well, I would like to thank everyone for their help. I ended up sending the head to Dan Gerhardt out in Colorado (C250@mydurango.net ), he said he replaced the 5 power transister in the head. Cost me $90, but way cheaper than replaceing the whole thing. I got it back and it works great. My unit is getting a little old, and Dan said that it looked like some moisture was getting into it. So I'm going to take it home with me this winter when I lay the boat up, and I'm building an enclosure for it to keep it out of the weather during sailing season. Just baby it a little more in it's old age.
Thanks again