2nd tiller pilot has just expired

[FS322]

As long as water does not drip on the circuitboard i think it is not that sensitive. Keypad MUST be sealed ok. Why not add a plug under the unit to apply slight pressure from a ballon to look for bubbles using soap water?

Or possibly get some air in through cable connector?

 

[ghostlymoron]

Would it be possible to 'pot' the pcb and other elecs?

 

[charles_reed]

I have a Navico 1800 on my boat. I have no idea how old it is, but it could well be the replacement for the 1600 for which the original owner paid £204 + VAT back in 1986. It works reliably and dependably and seems unperturbed by weather: I have used it in some pretty manky conditions. Just in case, I have acquired a s/h spare and a brand new old stock 2000xl.

It seems bizarre that modern manufacturers cannot seal a cable and a pushrod as well as Navico could, 20+ years ago. Was chatting to a fellow owner of my model of boat in Bangor a week or two back, and he also reported (a) that his Raymarine tillerpilot kept failing and (b) that Raymarine had said that it was his own fault for using it at sea, for which it was not designed. "Harbour use only", apparently.

If anyone has a dead modern tillerpilot, it might make an interesting PBO article to pull it to bits and look at ways of beefing up the sealing. It would stuff the warranty of a new one, of course, but might be worth doing the day the warranty expires.

Appears the water ingress is through the keypad and display.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Appears the water ingress is through the keypad and display.

Thats easy then - just gob some sealant round them.
I'd always assumed the leakage would be around the plunger.

 

[FS322]

Yes coating the PCB a bit more vould be possible. My board is totally clean. You can make contact to all pads with a light touch of a probe. No insulation.

But the whole point is to not get water inside. I think the units that stop working get wet from leakage from the top of the unit. It looks unlikely that water from the pushrod seal would make the unit stop working instantly, but even a small amount of water can create vapor and high humidity inside and that will finally make anything degrade even the DC motor, Wires, Connectors.

 

[TQA]

Webb Chiles has just made it to NZ. He had to hand steer the last 40 miles as his 5th tillerpilot died.

4 new and one rebuild. This despite taping shopping bags over them and not using them during the day.

He is also near to running out of spectacles despite liberal use of epoxy and duct tape.

LOG http://www.inthepresentsea.com/the_actual_site/journal/Entries/2014/9/24_Opua__Neiafu_tpua_passage_log.html

 

[Simso]

Sorry but can't be ar*ed reading all the comments, mine beeped constantly but seemed to "do the job". After much dismantling, shoogling of wires, resoldering what might be dry joints and subsequent reassembly where I lost my patience aligning the red rubber sealing whatchamacallit it still continued to bleep!
After 3 attempts I desoldered and removed the beeping speaker thingy and that seemed to cure it. Been okay since.