Autopilot When The Boat is on Hard Standing

[vandy]

Hi, please forgive me if this sounds very stupid! I am purchasing a boat that has Raymarine ST4000 Autopilot. The boat is currently on hard standing and when I switched on the electronics everything powered up well. I could hear beeping alarm from both tridata (depth/speed) and the Autopilot display just flashing WHL 4000. none of the buttons would do anything. I understand that the depth sounder won't work is not in the water but shouldn't autopilot work or are they linked etc.?

Any insight into this is appreciated.

 

[VicS]

Hi, please forgive me if this sounds very stupid! I am purchasing a boat that has Raymarine ST4000 Autopilot. The boat is currently on hard standing and when I switched on the electronics everything powered up well. I could hear beeping alarm from both tridata (depth/speed) and the Autopilot display just flashing WHL 4000. none of the buttons would do anything. I understand that the depth sounder won't work is not in the water but shouldn't autopilot work or are they linked etc.?

Any insight into this is appreciated.

You will find the manuals for the ST4000 and ST4000 plus on Raymarine's website .... Maybe you will find the answer to your question

https://raymarine.app.box.com/s/nwf2s5ha9xrltggghogu/folder/720704863

 

[andygc]

ST4000 or ST4000+? In either case, the manual is not overly helpful with this error message. If everything is properly connected the autopilot should work out of the water. If you buy the boat you may well be where I was a couple of years ago - about to send the control unit to A&T Instruments or one of their competitors to see if they can repair the circuit board in exchange for a little under £200 (it might be more now). If it's not repairable you'll either need to search for a second hand control unit or upgrade to one of Raymarine's rather more expensive modern units. (As the display is WHL 4000, I'm assuming you have a wheel, not a tiller.)

 

[jwilson]

ST4000 presumably with ST6000 series control head and wheel drive. On switching on the motor should whirr for about a second. Once powered up, engage the clutch on the drive, press auto and then each time you press +10 or -10 buttons the wheel should turn a bit. I've never seen a WHL4000 error message.

 

[andygc]

As he said ST4000, why do you presume it is an ST6000? I'm assuming that it is actually an ST4000+ for the good reasons that he said 4000 and that the display on an ST4000 cannot display anything as complex as "WHL 4000". The ST6000 might look like an ST4000+ from the front, but it can only control the steering through a course computer.

I own an ST4000+. If it is working and all connections are made it should beep, then display the pilot type "4000 WHL" for two seconds, then turn the drive to starboard for three seconds and then display "STANDBY" and the heading. His isn't working, so it doesn't get past the type display, which flashes. There is a fault on the circuit board. Like his, mine wasn't working and the display was flashing, I sent it off to a repairer, paid some money and now it works.

 

[PaulRainbow]

As he said ST4000, why do you presume it is an ST6000? I'm assuming that it is actually an ST4000+ for the good reasons that he said 4000 and that the display on an ST4000 cannot display anything as complex as "WHL 4000". The ST6000 might look like an ST4000+ from the front, but it can only control the steering through a course computer.

I own an ST4000+. If it is working and all connections are made it should beep, then display the pilot type "4000 WHL" for two seconds, then turn the drive to starboard for three seconds and then display "STANDBY" and the heading. His isn't working, so it doesn't get past the type display, which flashes. There is a fault on the circuit board. Like his, mine wasn't working and the display was flashing, I sent it off to a repairer, paid some money and now it works.

I'd agree with that Andy :encouragement:

Definitely should work out of the water, so if he's buying the boat, factor a new autopilot into the negotiations.

 

[tross]

If it has a seatalk connection to the control head then this could be powering up the pilot head but not the autopilot motor control. Look to see if there is a seperate power switch for the motor head.

 

[andygc]

If it has a seatalk connection to the control head then this could be powering up the pilot head

No it couldn't. The ST4000+ will only power up by connecting it to a 12V supply using its supply terminals. The motor power supply comes from the control unit. The OP's control unit is doing what it is doing because it has a circuit board fault (and that isn't in the manual).

 

[vandy]

Thanks all, the seller is adamant that the autopilot works so I have asked the broker to see if there's a trick which we are missing. I could see the motor on the wheel was "trying" to engage something - I could hear like a motor trying to give a little bit of power but no more (nothing like trying to move just making tiny intermittent noise as if it's getting engaged and disengaged)

Just checked the advert and it is ST4000+

 

[lpdsn]

Thanks all, the seller is adamant that the autopilot works so I have asked the broker to see if there's a trick which we are missing. I could see the motor on the wheel was "trying" to engage something - I could hear like a motor trying to give a little bit of power but no more (nothing like trying to move just making tiny intermittent noise as if it's getting engaged and disengaged)

Just checked the advert and it is ST4000+

Agree with the seller to hold back part of the purchase price until you've tested the autopilot at sea.

 

[andygc]

That's not quite what you said originally and suggests another possibility. You're not powering it up with the wheel locked and the autopilot drive engaged, are you? The drive has a lever which should be up - engaged is down against the body of the motor. It might choke severely on that. I wouldn't power mine up like that to see if I could replicate the fault ...

Whatever, there's no real need for a sea trial. If it gets past the 4000 WHL display to STANDBY you just need to select AUTO and then use the plus and minus buttons to drive the motor in each direction.

 

[ithet]

Whatever, there's no real need for a sea trial. If it gets past the 4000 WHL display to STANDBY you just need to select AUTO and then use the plus and minus buttons to drive the motor in each direction.

Then allow it to run a while to see that it doesn't give the infamous 'LOW BATT' warning.

 

[lpdsn]

Whatever, there's no real need for a sea trial. If it gets past the 4000 WHL display to STANDBY you just need to select AUTO and then use the plus and minus buttons to drive the motor in each direction.

Are you offering him a warranty if he buys the boat and it turns out not to work? I'm afraid I fell for just what you're describing buying a boat (ST6000). The rudder turned in both directions. I really don't know how they got it to start up in that condition - must've tried dozens of times when I was due down to see it had been fixed before they hit lucky.

If the OP wants to be certain he needs to make a deal with the seller. If it turns out to work fine as the seller says he can shake his hand and hand over the final payment.

Autopilots aren't cheap when you end up buying a boat with a duff one.

 

[vandy]

You're not powering it up with the wheel locked and the autopilot drive engaged, are you?

I don't think so - basically I just switched on the fuel panel and all the electronics powered up - the wheel was not locked and drive was initially disengaged - I did engage the drive but that didn't change anything... I will be asking the broker to do a check as there's a marine electronic dealer just opposite them and they could have a look.

 

[Slowtack]

If you unfix the sensor unit and move it around a bit then the motor should activate.................

 

[Tranona]

I don't think so - basically I just switched on the fuel panel and all the electronics powered up - the wheel was not locked and drive was initially disengaged - I did engage the drive but that didn't change anything... I will be asking the broker to do a check as there's a marine electronic dealer just opposite them and they could have a look.

The contract should allow a sea trial before handing over the last payment. A sea trial is for exactly this scenario - checking that what the vendor claims works does actually work. Much better if it can be resolved in advance and asking him to demonstrate it or get an engineer to check it over (at his cost) would save a lot of hassle.

 

[andygc]

I don't think so - basically I just switched on the fuel panel and all the electronics powered up - the wheel was not locked and drive was initially disengaged - I did engage the drive but that didn't change anything... I will be asking the broker to do a check as there's a marine electronic dealer just opposite them and they could have a look.

OK. In that case it appears to be faulty. As PaulRainbow (a systems professional) and I have said, there seems to be a circuit board fault. There is no point whatsoever in talking about a sea trial if the autopilot doesn't work on land.

 

[vandy]

Thanks for all the responses. Basically the fault was due to the wheel being powered up separately and there's a switch which was switched off. I could hear small movements but that's only small current it was getting from the control unit and not enough to power it up.