Fried Autohelm

[J.B. Dyer]

We had a lightning strike at my marina a couple of weeks ago which resulted in a power spike, which in turn fried some of my electronics. Everything is repaired now with the exception of my 4000+ Autohelm which I discovered was not working properly this past weekend. It will correct to the starboard but will not to the port, automatically or manually. All of the connections are clean and secure. I'm guessing that the problem is in the control display unit which looks as though it is operating properly, but would like opinions from anyone who may have had similar problems before I taking components out and sending them for repair. Thanks!

 

[Paul]

Could be anything...

This is a pain-in-the-rear problem, because it's hard to isolate the failure.You would tend to think it is in the control unit, but you could have a fried fluxgate compass. It could even be the drive unit, though there's not much in the way of delicate electronics in there.You may be better off getting a repair shop involved, one that will send someone to your boat. They won't actually fix anything, they'll send the faulty component off to Raymarine. But they have the equipment and knowhow to isolate the problem down to the component level.Good luck. I just spend $275 to have a $10 tension cam replaced in mine.

 

[Jay Eaton]

Autohelm

Before you remove the system, check with Raymarine online. They will give you some troubleshooting tips.