Autohelm ST2000

[amandal704]

We have an Autohelm ST2000 which came with our Halmatic 30 three years ago. We have not been able to get it to work. It has been checked by an electronics specialist who gave it a clean bill of health but when we use it, the boat just goes round in circles! :disgust: We tried it last weekend in calm waters and lots of space to give it a chance to find its course but to no available, it seemed to be trying to do something but would not move the tiller. Any ideas what might be the problem? The only thing we can think of is that we are at the top of its weigh limit at 4,500 kg. If so, any ideas what alternative we could use without splashing too much cash at it?

 

[Spyro]

If it's not moving the tiller then clearly it has a problem. when you say not moving it do you mean moving it the wrong way? Can you manually steer it when it's in standby with use of the red or green buttons? If you can't then there is a problem with the unit.
These can be set to be mounted on port or starboard. Could it be set wrong? There is also a calibration process but I don't think that not being done would cause it to sail in circles.

 

[Blue Drifter]

I use same tiller pilot, and have also successfully used the 1000 on my Halmatic 30 with no problem. They are very sensitive to electronic or magnetic interference, putting a mobile phone near it sends it wandering. Did a 1000 nm trip this summer almost entirely using ST2000 in all weathers without issue (use the tiller pilot a lot as mostly single handed). Check that there is no electromagnetic source close to the pilot. They are nearly ubiquitous on tiller steered boats - try it out on another boat or borrow a working one to check. Also check wiring is a good size and all connections are sound.

Good luck as a working tiller pilot is a fantastic bit of kit.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

1) As Spyro says, in standby try manually to get the arm to go in and out with the +/- buttons. If it won't do that, try the same with a voltmeter across the power supply at the tiller pilot. If the volts are dropping more than 1V, cable not beefy enough. If volts not dropping and still can't be manually actuated, it's dud.

2) Ok, so you can manually actuate it. Now if you can rig it up to 12V away from the boat so eliminate all possible interference issues. In standby twist it around a bit and look at the digital readout of the heading. It should be something like 'C 123'. Does the heading make sense as you twist it round? If not, it's dud.

3) Put it into auto and twist the whole tiller pilot round a bit. Does it try to move the actuating rod in or out? If not, it's dud. If it does, is it moving the actuating rod in the correct sense for the side you have your tiller pilot on? If not - change the sense in its settings. If sense is correct, it's either dud or it's not up to the load on your tiller.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

I bet its what happened to mine. The motors drive cog comes away from the spindle, the motor turns like crazy in response to the PCB but won't operate the worm gear to operate the boom.

I took some photos when I repaired mine in Woodbridge some years ago. First takes lots of photos as you go so you know how to put it back together! The ST2000 really is a very simple beast, so if you liked mechano as a kid, you'll love this fix.

Take the cover off (it is powered here as this is where I observed exactly what it was doing - make sure it is unplugged before you mess around with it)

Take out the electric motor:

Note the cog on the spindle - Mine had come away in the below, and exhibited exactly the same behaviour as yours.

Glued it back on (I only had superglue, I would probably have gone for epoxy if I had the choice) and it worked wonderfully.

Good luck! Let us know how you get on...

 

[Moonbeam]

We inherited a ST2000 autopilot with a boat that we purchased... the previous owners told us that the autopilot I just stopped working. Like yours it did power up. We were able to use the autopilot in manual using the plus and minus buttons but it would not work in auto setting.

I took it apart and had a really good look inside I removed the compass (underneath the circuit board) and discovered that one of the very fine copper wires going to one of the sensors had broken. I used a tiny strand of copper wire (taken from the shield of a microphone cable I had lying around) and soldered it in to make a connection... hey presto it worked and has done ever since (that was 4 years ago)

Did your electronics expert remove inspect the compass because they might easily have missed that broken wire if they did not.

I don't think that this is a common fault on the autopilots so I thought it was just worth mentioning as a possibility as it was the reason it did 'nothing' in auto mode as it had no compass data.

 

[amandal704]

Thanks everyone, this is really useful stuff. I will pass it over to my fellow boat owner who is in charge of engineering/electronics and see what he makes of it (not my forte). Going out again this weekend so will let you know if any of this works. Very much appreciate your time to respond. Amanda