Raymarine Rotary drive?

[scottdube]

Over the years I've had a couple of times where the autopilot would stop working. I'd get a "Drive stop message" I could feel the clutch engage but the drive motor didn't turn.. I could usually rap on it with a hammer and it would work for many hours. I suspected stuck brushes. This weekend same thing happened rapped on it and it started working. It quit again and does not respond the the rapping. So I took the drive out and tested the voltage coming from the Control Unit. I'm getting 7.5 volts and the polarity reverses as you'd expect. I bench tested the motor and the clutch separately and together and they seemed to work fine.

I decided to take it apart anyway to see if there was anything obvious. I could not get the actual motor fully disassembled but loosened the end caps and A LOT of carbon dust came out. I'm hoping that was it... Has anyone had this issue? Does anyone know what the voltage to the motor should be with no load?

Thanks

 

[artboas]

7.5v (plus & minus depending on drive direction) is correct.
It is a PWM (Pulse width modulated) control line, so its not a steady state. On a meter it looks like 7.5, but on a scope you’d see the duty cycle.
Motors are motors. They wear out. Either brushes, or commutators
The way to test the rotary is to activate the clutch with 12vdc, and then feed 8vdc into the motor leads. It should spin one way or the other.
If you don’t have a 8vdc power supply, get a bunch of 1n5400 diodes, and wire 6 of them in series. This will drop about 4 volts from the 12v supply.
Hope this helps

 

[scottdube]

Hi Art,

It does help! I was curious about the voltage value of 7.5v so that helps me feel like it really is the motor. It bench tests fine in both directions now. With all of the carbon that came out I'm sure the brushes could have been getting jammed up occasionally. For the life of me I could not get that motor apart to inspect the brushes though.I had the motor completely out of the drive but could not get either end cap off. I think I'll reasseble on the boat and see how it goes. The question is whether I'm eventually buying a motor or all new drive?

Thanks!

 

[jssailem]

Scott. Not sure which unit you have.. But worked with a friend on his Raymarine AP with a "DriveStop" error message. Opened the manual and it says on page 25...
DRIVE STOP ALARM ...

DRIVESTOP​

This alarm is activated if the autopilot is unable to turn the rudder. This occurs if the weather load on helm is too high, or if the requested rudder position is past the pre-set rudder limits or the rudder end-stops.​

http://www.uchimata.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Notice-utilisation-ST6000-english.pdf

This may be your issue, or as you discovered the motor may need service. Or it may be both.
Best of luck.

 

[scottdube]

Scott. Not sure which unit you have.. But worked with a friend on his Raymarine AP with a "DriveStop" error message. Opened the manual and it says on page 25...
DRIVE STOP ALARM ...

DRIVESTOP​

This alarm is activated if the autopilot is unable to turn the rudder. This occurs if the weather load on helm is too high, or if the requested rudder position is past the pre-set rudder limits or the rudder end-stops.​

http://www.uchimata.fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Notice-utilisation-ST6000-english.pdf

This may be your issue, or as you discovered the motor may need service. Or it may be both.
Best of luck.

Thanks John,

It really was stopped not just a setup error. There is likely an issue in the drive motor itself. It is currently working on the bench so I'm going to put it back in the boat and see where we're at!

Thanks

 

[Don Lucas]

Mine "worn out" a few years ago, it happens.

 

[cagreen75]

Just a note about Raymarine wheel pilots that are bound to wear the motor out much faster than necessary without the optional rudder reference transducer that they recommend in the manual and sell separately. While this not sold as part of the pilot package they sell I think that they should include it, as without it in the system the pilot will constantly hunt for the proper rudder angle even in light wind and calm seas. After installing an ev100 wheel pilot I stopped using it most of the time because the constant grinding of the motor back and forth was driving me nuts. This spring I installed the rudder reference transducer and was shocked at how it change the way the pilot worked even in a heavy wind and rough seas. The constant grind back and forth is gone. So if you are wearing out your motors really fast this could be the cause. Not only that but your batteries will last longer. Shame on Raymarine for not including a component that makes the pilot work so much better. Two things I think caused Ray to exclude this transducer is, it can be difficult to install on some boats and the added cost might make their pilot less attractive on the market. If you have one of these pilots or are planning on getting one don’t leave the transducer behind you will be much happier with it than without it.

 

[JamesG161]

I think I'll reasseble on the boat and see how it goes.

Please report back!
_____

But worked with a friend on his Raymarine AP with a "DriveStop" error message

That is me, with my ST6000+ AP.

Mine appears to be a full recalibration procedure needed, and hopefully not the motor.
Jim...

 

[artboas]

Hi Art,

It does help! I was curious about the voltage value of 7.5v so that helps me feel like it really is the motor. It bench tests fine in both directions now. With all of the carbon that came out I'm sure the brushes could have been getting jammed up occasionally. For the life of me I could not get that motor apart to inspect the brushes though.I had the motor completely out of the drive but could not get either end cap off. I think I'll reasseble on the boat and see how it goes. The question is whether I'm eventually buying a motor or all new drive?

Thanks!

Frankly, I’d buy a new drive. The motor gearing is plastic, so it’s on this earth for a good time; not a long time. It’s a planetary cycoclyclic arrangement, so lots of wear points.

 

[scottdube]

Frankly, I’d buy a new drive. The motor gearing is plastic, so it’s on this earth for a good time; not a long time. It’s a planetary cycoclyclic arrangement, so lots of wear points.

I would normally agree, but I'm out of boat bucks right now. I also took that all apart and it looks like new.

 

[scottdube]

Reinstalled the rotary drive unit yesterday. Seems to work ok on the dock. Still need to take the boat out and see what it does but so far so good.

 

[scottdube]

Put about 7 hours on the autopilot this weekend. Seemed to work fine. So hopefully I haven't jinxed myself by reporting this and I'll get another season out of it!