Autohelm will not swing compass

[stav]

Rather a long story but had an autohelm st4000 which worked but could not always get it to tack when I wanted to. So saw an St6000+ on the for sale forum and thought I was buying a complete self contained unit. But I needed a computer so bought form fleebay an SPX5. I have put it al together using the st4000 compass unit and this afternoon I started the calibration set up and managed the dockside but once underway I could not get it to swing the compass. Though the first two times I was going the wrong way! Tried it twice the right way and once said going to fast so moved to a quieter spot and tried again. 4 times around and it still just told me to carry on turning.

Was it just too windy and gusty? 19 to 24knts. I have checked the wiring but have I missed something obvious?

Cheers in advance for any thoughts.

 

[srm]

Fitted a new Raymarine wheelpilot on my last boat in 2007 (can't remember model) gave up trying to calibrate the compass after a couple of hours in a flat calm! Fitted a new Raymarine wheelpilot to my current boat in 2010 - the next model, much the same as the last one but did not have a rudder sensor. Same problem, could not calibrate the compass. In both cases the system works without a problem once it gets over the 'calibration required' beeping fit when first turned on. Just ignore the compass heading given on the control display or manually set during the calibration attempt so that most are correct.

 

[stav]

Thanks for the reassurance that it is ok to use as is. Will have another play tomorrow but I did try it and it seemed to have a definite creep to stbd?

More disappointed as I had hoped to get a last sail in on Tuesday.......Oh well.

 

[Tranona]

Pointless trying to do it in any wind. Wait until it is calm. You may need as many as 5 or 6 turns before you get a deviation reading. With a bit of luck if you have sited the compass correctly you will get only 3-5 degrees deviation. Check that the control compass agrees with your steering compass - if not adjust manually. You can then check that it follows your steering compass closely by doing more circles and observing the headings as they change.

If you have the SPX course controller make sure you have the motor wired correctly. Check that the wheel moves the right way when you do +/- 10. Then you can use the autolearn procedure which steers a course with a number of changes either way and adjusts the settings to suit the reaction of your boat.

Reason I know all this is that I had exactly the same problem with my SPX5 after it was reprogrammed by Raymarine, but discussed with their service dept , went out on a fairly calm day (although with quite a bit of tide running), persevered with the initial turns and it all worked according to the instruction book.

 

[Finbar]

I had the same experience sailing a new to me boat back from Holland with a recently fitted and uncalibrated Raymarine Spx autopilot last year. I must have motored in circles in half of the ports in France. At one point Traffic Control in Calais threw me out of the port.The good people in the Chandlers in Darthaven Marina finaly put me right. You need to motor in very wide slow circles in a calm area, without the autopilot indicating "too fast". Upstream of the ferry in Dartmouth was ideal. Each time it says "too fast" you are basically starting from scratch again. Calm conditions and wide, slow circles will get you there in a relatively short space of time. It is also important to run the Autolearn routine, where the autopilot steers the boat for a period itself. Again space is needed as it will make fairly random turns as it calibrates.

Following successful calibration, the autopilot has behaves impeccably, even in relatively difficult conditions.

Best of luck

 

[stav]

Thanks guys, guess I won't be doing it this week then!

 

[Lofty]

I spent a month going in ever decreasing circles on the Humber and then found the problem was that the wire from the compass was too close to a power line. Only for a short distance but as soon as they were moved further, apart end of problem.

Good luck with it

Lofty

 

[stav]

I spent a month going in ever decreasing circles on the Humber and then found the problem was that the wire from the compass was too close to a power line. Only for a short distance but as soon as they were moved further, apart end of problem.

Good luck with it

Lofty

Cheers for that, it was working with the old st4000 unit but I will have a look.