Autohelm ST4000+ problem.

[GeorgeLlewellin]

I have a Raymarine C80 plotter with ST60 Instruments and an Autohelm ST4000+ and wheel steering.
Today for some reason the Autohelm does not work. The other instruments work as they should. The Autohelm appears normal on Standby, everything that is except, when the wheel is turned one way the rudder indicator seems to indicate it has been turned the other way.

When the Autohelm is set to Auto, it seems ok for the first second or so, then when the vessel goes off course it tries to correct the matter by turning the helm the wrong way. It gets worse so it turns it further, within a second or so the helm gets turned more and more until the boat is full lock.

Nothing has changed since the last time I took it out, ten days ago, when it all worked OK. It seems to me that the wires have become crossed, any ideas.

Thank you, George

 

[Elemental]

Nothing has changed since the last time I took it out, ten days ago, when it all worked OK. It seems to me that the wires have become crossed, any ideas.

Hmmm, that's what it seems like but that's clearly impossible.... My ST4000 underwent a similar (although not identical) transformation in so far as the display appears to have reversed itself so that the displayed heading is now 180 from the actual boat heading. I generally only use it to maintain the current heading which it appears to do, so apart from the annoyance factor I'm not especially bothered at the moment. I suspect that when I attempt to hook up my OpenPlotter system to issue instructions to it ( "because I can" .... ) then the issue may be more apparent. There have been no wiring changes that should affect it.

 

[Pye_End]

Is the compass on it reading correctly?

Do you have crew, and if so are the connections exposed?

 

[alan]

You could try to go through the commissioning instructions to see if this highlights a real problem (Dockside commissioning first, then Sea Trialcommisssioning). Sometimes the software seems to go "tits-up" and repeating the commisioning can resolve the issue [you should have had a commissioning guide book with the system or try the Raymarine website for one).

Alan.

 

[GeorgeLlewellin]

Hmmm, that's what it seems like but that's clearly impossible....

What I meant was that I have changed nothing. I agree something must have changed for it to go so wrong.

Is the compass on it reading correctly?
Do you have crew, and if so are the connections exposed?

I will check the heading, when set to “Auto”, I know it was correct on “Standby”.
Normally only my wife and I use the boat, she does not alter anything electrical or electronic.

Thanks to both of you for your replies, if anyone else has had this sort of problem I would be pleased to hear from you?
George

 

[GeorgeLlewellin]

You could try to go through the commissioning instructions to see if this highlights a real problem (Dockside commissioning first, then Sea Trialcommisssioning). Sometimes the software seems to go "tits-up" and repeating the commisioning can resolve the issue [you should have had a commissioning guide book with the system or try the Raymarine website for one).
Alan.

Thanks Alan, sound advice, I will look into that also.
Regards, George

 

[jwilson]

I had this happen: C70 plotter, ST60 dials, and ST4000+ wheelpilot. When it first happened I tried changing the rudder sensor wires round, it sorted it briefly then the same thing soon happened again, so put the wires back in the original (correct) places. Again worked for a while, but problem happened again: boat would be on AP and suddenly start turning, then slam into a full-rudder turn. Called in a professional, who said the ST4000+ head unit and the wheel drive motor was taking all their power from the daisychained Seatalk cables coming from the C70 (this was how the installer had set it up when the boat was new). Gave ST4000+ a separate 12v supply, problem went away. Could of course be entire coincidence, or a different problem you are having, but it has not happened since to my setup...... though I have now removed the C70 from the system.

 

[GeorgeLlewellin]

Thanks J Wilson,
That also is very helpful, I hope to have a try to sort it out this coming weekend.
Regards, George

 

[GeorgeLlewellin]

When it first happened I tried changing the rudder sensor wires round, it sorted it briefly . . .

My Raymarine ST 4000+ Autohelm has a rudder sensor with four wires from it to the back of the Autohelm display unit. The shield is the Grey one, this leaves Red, Blue and Green, which pair did you transpose?
Thanks again, George

 

[jwilson]

Sorry, can't remember: this was about 8-9 years ago.... Swapping wires did not fix the problem for long anyway. Giving a better power supply to the head unit and motor did.