Autohelm 3000 Raymarine

[ghostlymoron]

I've just been bench testing the above with a friend. The red LED shows that its powered up (as does the bleeper) and switches from flashing to continuous when the standby/auto buttons are operated. The motor responds to the +/- buttons although on standby gives the same motor run time on both 1deg and 10deg and in auto the motor runs contiuously which seems strange.
On Auto the motor does not run in response to moving the control head.
I opened the case to inspect the interior and found that it was in pristine condition with no visible damaged tracks on the pcb or signs of water ingress. I suspected the fluxgate compass and disconnected it and tested the resistances against the references in the manual. One of them was out of spec so it seems that this may be the problem and we're getting a replacement to try.
Has anyone else had similar problems and solved them.
Also, in standby mode, does the unit refer to the fluxgate to determine when the required deviation has been achieved? And how do the +/- buttons function in auto mode?

 

[ghostlymoron]

Is there no one that can help?

 

[James_Calvert]

I have a 2000. Very similar looking box, if not identical, with a separate tiller arm rather than a wheel drive.

I've had fluxgate problems, and the resistances were way out of spec in one case. The fluxgate consequently gave spurious off course signals rather than no signals at all as it appears in your case. Happily I found the dry joint at one of the windings terminations and thereafter the fluxgate has worked fine.

I think you are still right to suspect the fluxgate, but don't know where you'd look if it turns out not to be the problem.

Hope this helps!



Best of luck,

 

[James_Calvert]

Further to my above, on my box, you press the plus or minus buttons in standby and the tiller arm moves in or out - which way depends on whether it'sset up for portside or starboard side operation. Stop pressing the button and the arm stops moving. However I had a repair done which replaced the pcb, and prior to that a jab on the button produced a definitive movement. Different prgramming I guess. I don't think there was any difference between the +1 and +10 buttons but can't remember.i

In auto they act as you might expect, eg if you are on a heading of about 180, the +10 button would initiate a steering correction to result in a course of about 190. Pressing the +1 button another 5 times would bring you on to 195. To simulate this on shore, from standby, press auto. You are now on course. Press +10 twice. The pilot now thinks you are 20 degrees to port off course and will steer to starboard. Now twist the box round clockwise by 20 degrees and the pilot will think you are on course again and centralise the helm.

One obvious point, hold the box as it would be mounted so the fluxgate is free to swing on its gimbals.

 

[ghostlymoron]

James, thanks for your reply. Did you have the pcb replaced by raymarine? That's probably the next step if fluxgate not the problem but expensive i guess.

 

[James_Calvert]

Yes, but in their previous guise as Nautech. The repair was about 20 yrs ago! As I recall it there were originally 2 pcbs in the box, and the technician rang up to ask whether I'd be happy if he replaced them both with a single one from their then latest model.

But generally I'd recommend getting in touch with Raymarine to see if they would help before shelling out on a replacement. If they will support it, the repair should be good for a decade or two.

Do let us know what transpires. Plenty of interest in keeping old kit like this going, eg ebay prices for working autohelms top out at just under £200, half that for control boxes that might or might not work.

 

[ghostlymoron]

This one was bought off the internet (not ebay) and described as 'seems to be OK'. Bit of a gamble but cheap!

 

[James_Calvert]

This one was bought off the internet (not ebay) and described as 'seems to be OK'. Bit of a gamble but cheap!

I did wonder! Hope you get it going.