beeping autopilot on Hunter 410

[Don Lucas]

My Hunter 410 has a Raymarine autopilot that beeps EVERTIME it powers the motor. The niose comes from the motor itself and has nothing what so ever to do with course or trim (still does with boat trimed and only 2 degrees of rudder, or motoring on a flat calm sea).

Raymarine of course gave me one of their standard answers of "replacement" and said it is the course computer.n (they told me mine was obselete even though I never even told them the model).

The 410 has to me tight steering in general. I'm wondering if the problem really is that the boat is just tight to steer to start with and that causes the system to have to power up everytime it sends power to the motor.

What is the experience of other Hunter 410 owners? Does yours beep and do you also have tight steering?

 

[Bill Roosa]

Don't have tight steering and my auto does not beep unless you press a button and on power up. It does have an anoying high pitch (4000 Hz) tone that you can hear while sailing though. I believe it is some kind of inverter that powers the stepper motor.
I don't believe the motor has any sort of sound making device attached to it.
Does the sound last as long as the motor is turning or just a beep. If you hit the 10+ and 1+ buttons to tack does it sound a tone or a beep as the pilot turns the wheel significantly to tack the boat?

 

[faisond]

My 410's Raymarine autopilot (6000 series?) exhibits the same anoying beep each time the drive motor makes a steering correction. I exchanged correspondence with Raymarine to see if there was a way to turn this feature off. They responded that it could not be turned off. It seems the only solution is to play your CD's louder!

 

[Bill Roosa]

It would seem to me that there must be a buzzer or speaker, noise making device that is hooked into the motor circuit. I doubt that taking it out would cause the unit to stop working.

 

[Don Lucas]

My 410's Raymarine autopilot (6000 series?) exhibits the same anoying beep each time the drive motor makes a steering correction. I exchanged correspondence with Raymarine to see if there was a way to turn this feature off. They responded that it could not be turned off. It seems the only solution is to play your CD's louder!

Finally a real answer. Interesting that RM told you this. The story they gave me is that it is a bad course computer (typical RM response is always to replace stuff).

Does your beep come from the drive motor? I can tell that is the source of mine. I don't think my AP was installed at the factory, and I also read somewhere that Edison may have supply the drive that is in the pedestal, do you know anything about this?

 

[Rich Stidger]

My ST7000 made a chirp when the motor ran at one time, but it is quiet now. I don't know what used to cause the chirp, but I do have some slack in the AP drive chain.

 

[Don Lucas]

My ST7000 made a chirp when the motor ran at one time, but it is quiet now. I don't know what used to cause the chirp, but I do have some slack in the AP drive chain.

The chain tension is something worth checking. Thanks!

 

[kloudie1]

When I read the title line, I thought i read BLEEPING Autopilot.. as in Bleeping former governor of Illinois.. and I thought this is interesting! but it was beeping.. All the power connections clean and tight?? when the RM I have sees low voltage it beeps .. ya might be hearing a low voltage beep when the motor initially starts ro run .. and the higher current necessary can't get across the connections or a small diameter wire??

 

[faisond]

Don,

I have not narrowed the source of the beep to the head unit or the drive motor. I'm sailing this weekend and will take a good listen to see if I can pinpoint the source. I'm confident the A/P drive motor is a Raymarine component and not supplied by Edson. The drive motor is pictured in the Raymarine owner's manual.

 

[Don Lucas]

Don,

I have not narrowed the source of the beep to the head unit or the drive motor. I'm sailing this weekend and will take a good listen to see if I can pinpoint the source. I'm confident the A/P drive motor is a Raymarine component and not supplied by Edson. The drive motor is pictured in the Raymarine owner's manual.

I'm 100% sure that my beep is coming from the drive motor. I did a little more research and Lewmar also makes a drive motor for the AP, that looks excatly like the RM one. I'm going to check the chain tension etc this weekend.

 

[Don12364]

Don,
Are you sure you are hearing a 'beep' as if from one of the multitude of sounders now used in so many electronic items; or is it the sound of a small electric motor running briefly at several thousand RPM every time the pilot turns the wheel?

I have an Autohelm 6000 with the rotary drive and it also makes a similar sound which is just from the motor and gearbox. Mine is now 15 years old and a few years ago I had the unit out of the steering console to make a new key for the chain sprocket, the original one having fallen out. Whilst on the bench my curiosity overcame me and I opened the box and was amazed to discover a very small DC motor, only about 1½" diameter and 3" long. It looked like an ordinary brush motor PM1 size. This motor had a similarly small planetary gearbox on its end and the gears were all made from nylon.
None of it looked capable of sustaining the loads it was meant to bear.
In all fairness to Raymarine/Autohelm it showed no signs of wear or any other distress. It had always driven my helm perfectly with more than enough power to overcome even the most gross weather helm and I could not fault it.
So I just put it all back as it was.
The unit is now 15 years old and has always steered the boat more than I do and is still going strong.
However it goes 'whizz' every time it runs, I think due to the nylon gearing of the motor.
There was no sounder in the unit though.
Rgds,
Don.
Pic below of similar gearbox

 

[AndrewB]

Tight Helm

Our 410 (2000) has had a tight helm and just recently we had the rudder out for some repair work. In 2000 they had a composite rudder post and composite rudder mount that goes inside the post. This has now been replaced by a Stainless steel mount.

Regarding the beep, we had the same problem and I am sorry to say I can't remember how we got rid of it. I think we had to send the unit back to RM.

 

[Don Lucas]

Our 410 (2000) has had a tight helm and just recently we had the rudder out for some repair work. In 2000 they had a composite rudder post and composite rudder mount that goes inside the post. This has now been replaced by a Stainless steel mount.

Regarding the beep, we had the same problem and I am sorry to say I can't remember how we got rid of it. I think we had to send the unit back to RM.

I haven't found anything yet on my beep problem, other than turning the radio up.

I'm going to drop the rudder this winter to check it. I have a 2001 and the top looks to be that it is SS with some type of composite core. Did changing yours make a difference in turning the wheel?

 

[AndrewB]

Rudder

I haven't found anything yet on my beep problem, other than turning the radio up.

I'm going to drop the rudder this winter to check it. I have a 2001 and the top looks to be that it is SS with some type of composite core. Did changing yours make a difference in turning the wheel?

I think it is a "Feature" of the composite rudder. A new rudder with a new bearing is about $3k ......... outside of my budget.