More Autopilot woes

[PrincessoftheLake]

We pulled the course computer for our Raymarine ST6000 because after it failed last year both our marina and Raymarine suggesed that is what it was. We sent it to Raymarine who bench tested and sent it back saying it is fine. Has anyone had this problem? I don't know what to do next. Should we pull the drive unit and send that in?

Any other ideas would be appreicated.l

 

[larryw]

I've had good service from Raymarine, and had the classic runaround, too. Your failure could be caused by something as simple as a piece of metal too close to the fluxgate compass. Check that first, then trace all the cable routes and unplug and replug every connection you can find, every single one. Make sure your control unit and the actuator are recieving enough voltage. These things should work down to 10.5 volts, but they often don't. Check with local marine electronic shops to see if they can replace/reflash the firmware. Electronics are almost considered as consumables these days.

 

[Bill Murray]

you didn't say what you meant by failed...... My experience is that sometimes these course computers just need to be re-set ( and then re-configured to your specs) just like your PC at home. I have one if you are looking for parts....

 

[druid]

One of the big problems I had with my ST6000 was connections to the gyro-compass. Several times the autopilot "failed" but started up again when I wriggled the connections. Make sure ALL your connections are tight!

druid

 

[Snotter]

Don't feel bad about having sent the unit in. Raymarine usually updates the firmware free of charge without asking. I sent in both my ST6000 and rate gyro recently. They both came back with new firmware. The autopilot has never worked so good.

 

[higgs]

I had the same problem. My unit would fail to read the rudder sensor, was bench tested. Ray sent me a new rudder sensor to no avail. This went on over a year and I finally sent them a letter asking for a special price on a new computer. I explained that all I wanted was a working auto pilot and I had too much money already invested in this one to move to anoother brand. They sent me a new unit free and everything is good now. I did have a pro set up my rudder sensor just to be sure.

 

[timvg]

What is the symptom? We had to have the rotary drive of our Raymarine system repaired a year ago.

 

[PrincessoftheLake]

Sorry, I should have provided some more details! It was working fine until one day when I turned it on and I got the "drivestopped" error message. The Raymarine knowledge base says that is a message from the autopilot's course computer indicating that it is not able to turn the vessel's rudder and the most common reason for this is excessive wear of the electric motor brushes in the autopilot drive unit's motor. It also could be a bad rudder reference transducer.
I asked my marina (who says they have a Raymarine Certified Tech on staff) to diagnose it. They said there was test voltage to the computer but no voltage to the drive so they told us that the course computer was bad. I did metion to them that the motor brushes could be the culprit but I don't know if they checked. I do know that when I first got the drive stop error I could still see the graphic for the rudder when I turned the wheel.
I guess doing some more troubleshooting makes sense.

 

[timvg]

I had the exact same error message. I could also see the graphic for the rudder location. It turned out to be the rotary drive unit that is housed under the cockpit table. The clutch had somehow gone bad and the autopilot would not engage. When the drive unit was uninstalled, you could shake it and hear broken broken parts rattling inside.

I would have someone re-check the voltage to the drive, because your symptom sounds exactly like mine. Not sure how else to diagnose it, but it sure sounds like what happenned to me.

 

[Snotter]

You might want to check the condition of the wire between the autopilot computer and the motor. Make sure it is at leat 12 AWG and that the wire is in good condition. Also, the power leads to the course computer has to be sized equally.