Continued Autopilot Woes...

[Levin]

Hello everyone...

Seems I can never get away from Autopilot woes. I had all kinds of problems with my old Raymarine 4000 autopilot until I finally replaced it with a new Raymarine X-5 wheelpilot. At first I had some issues with the autopilot wheel stalling in heavy winds but I fixed that by increasing the gauge of wire to the motor unit. So I assumed all was finally well... until about a month ago.

About four weeks ago, for no reason I could determine, the autopilot suddenly went dead shortly after dropping some friends off at a neighboring marina before I started motoring back to my own marina. The screen was blank and upon further inspection of the computer itself I found that the 2amp fuse inside had burned out. I replaced this and the system continued to run for about another week until it burned out again.

Since this time I have attempted to figure out what is causing this problem to no avail. It still continues to happen but doesn't seem to relate to anything else going on around it. I've checked the power wires and they aren't corroded or changed in any way. It doesn't make a difference what other systems are on or off, it doesn't seem to happen when the boat motor is started up or when the autopilot is engaged and running... it just seems to happen randomly.

Does anyone know what the 2amp fuse in the Raymarine X-5 course computer is used for? There is also a 15amp fuse in the computer which I assume connects to the power, but I'm assuming the 2amp fuse is used for something else entirely. If anyone knows it would help me to continue to trouble shoot this problem because right now I seem to be at a dead end

Thanks in advance...
-Levin

 

[paulj]

If you can't find your manual you can get it here......

http://www.raymarine.com/default.aspx?site=1&Section=3&Page=166&Parent=3



paulj:troll:

 

[Paul F]

All I know is the control unit goes dead when the 2amp fuse blows.

 

[Witzend]

The 2amp fuse is for the sea talk . You indicated that you up sized the wires going to the motor. In the process of running these larger stiffer wires is it possible that you damaged the insulation around one of your SeaTalk wires.

 

[Levin]

I see...

Hello there...

Yeah I sized up the wires going from the course computer to the drive motor, but didn't change anything related to the SeaTalk system. Perhaps one of my other instruments is starting to go (I have older Raymarine wind, speed, depth instruments all attached via SeaTalk to the course computer). I also have an older Garmin GPS attached to the course computer... I wonder if that is playing a role? I guess I have to try the autopilot with each of these turned off and see if it shuts down until I figure it out.

The real problem is that it is so intermittent that it might run fine for several hours and then suddenly blow the fuse... making it harder and harder to track down the problem.

Anyway thanks for the help.

-Levin

 

[Snotter]

Re: I see...

Levin, did you measure the voltage across the terminals of the coarse computer when it is drawing max current? There should be an operational voltage range listed in your autopilot documentation. Remember, if the power wires are going through a hot engine room, the ampacity tables will indicate a smaller guage or two (larger wire) should be used to accomodate a rise in wire resistance. For laughs and grins, I would recommend that you check the 3% voltage drop tables to see what size wire you need based on the round-trip wire distance (positive and negative distances added together) between your coarse computer and your distribution pannel or battery (whatever the case may be). Compare the specified wire guage to your existing wire guage after determining if the ampacity table dictates a bump up in wire size.

 

[higgs]

Raymarine has pretty good support. Give them a call.