Battery life with tiller pilots

[yoty]

I wish to fit a tiller pilot to my 17 day sailer for single handed sailing. I'll probably buy an ST1000 if only for the autotack function but, as I run my engine very little and only have a small battery I wonder what the power consumption is likly to be. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[FWB]

If you keep the sails balanced, the battery drain will be quite low.

 

[yoty]

Yes, thanks. I'm usually quite good at that but it gets a bit tricky with the spinnaker up....

 

[simonfraser]

max 1A per hour, less with a well balanced boat and an autopilot set on a low sensitivity, i.e. not too fussy

 

[awol]

The manual calls for a 12A fuse, presumably to cope with the stalled condition.
I've had no success using my ST2000 downwind, either with or without spinnaker, in anything other than a flat sea.

 

[whipper_snapper]

[ QUOTE ]
max 1A per hour

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you mean a maximum current of 1A? that seems low. Or an average current over 1 hour of 1A? Or something else ?

 

[VicS]

I use an Autohelm 1000, an early forerunner of the ST1000, on 19 ft bilge keeler. I find that even on its least sensitve setting it is driving in and out for a large proportion of the time but battery power has never been a serious issue despite, like you, getting very little input from the outboard. I have used various small car batteries in the past although the last one, which now needs replacing, was a 45ah leisure battery. Most of my sailing has been over weekends so I also use power for cabin lights, VHF and very occasionally nav lights. I found that it was necessary to recharge the battery once or twice during the summer but I now have a permanently mounted small (5W) solar panel which has totally eliminated the need to recharge the battery during the season. Note that it is bad news for a battery to leave it in a discharged or even partially discharged state

As others have said balancing the sails properly is a great help but most important I find is to sail a little less close to the wind than one might do if hand steering.

The keel type has an enormous effect on the amount of work a tiller pilot has to do. My bilge keeler falls at one extreme end of the spectrum in that respect and a long keeled boat falls at the other end. I once sailed a Contessa 26 with a similar Autohelm in use and it hardly operated at all, even downwind. I don't know where whereabouts you would put your Dockrell between those two extremes.

High on my list of parameters when choosing a tiller pilot would be its speed of response. I think that will be particularly important if running with a spinaker. I would pay more to get one with a faster response time. Unfortunately I do not have the techical details of the currently available models to hand but from what I remember the ST 1000 would be a good choice. (I sometimes wish my old Autohelm would pack up so that I could replace it with one! )

You should be able to find all the technical info on the Raymarine website ( www.raymarine.com)

BTW I rate my Autohelm as the most useful extra I bought, and the solar panel the 2nd most useful

 

[starboard]

[ QUOTE ]

I've had no success using my ST2000 downwind, either with or without spinnaker, in anything other than a flat sea.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have an ST1000 and ST2000 on my Albin Cirrus 7.8mtr. Both perform well down wind with kite up even in a fair bit of sea!! I would be lost without them as I singlehand 95% of the time.....its the only way to sail...no one to shout at!!!

Paul.

 

[ruff_n_tumble]

I have an ST2000 which according to the handbook is rated at an average 1.5A so over a 10 hour sail it will take 15 Ahr out of the battery. Performance downwind may depend on keel configuration; I've a fairly narrow fin keel and the autohelm will cope up to around F4 with a bit of a sea (not under spinnaker though), but eventually I find the regular rounding up too much to take and feel obliged to hand steer.

 

[pampas]

Use mine most of the time, ammeter shows about 1.5amps jumping to 1.7 when its adjusting the course and a short discharge about 4.5 mps when on full load, came home from Torbay,on 85A/h battery, log, echo,gps and lap top no problem excert that it took a while to recharge,would not go much smaller capacity, so would say go ahead and fit,enjoy.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Yep,

I generally reckoned on just over 1A average for my ST1000 when trimmed up properly.... much more in a big following or quartering sea though... upto 2.5A

 

[simonfraser]

mine uses a max of 1A at 12V in one hour, usually less

 

[VicS]

The variation in current draw reported in various posts agrees with what it says in the specification namely:

Power Consumption Standby: 40 mA (90 mA with full lighting) • Auto: 0.5 A to 1.5 A depending on boat trim, helm load and sailing conditions

 

[Guest]

[ QUOTE ]
I wish to fit a tiller pilot to my 17 day sailer for single handed sailing. I'll probably buy an ST1000 if only for the autotack function but, as I run my engine very little and only have a small battery I wonder what the power consumption is likly to be. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Autotack .... that is a pretty standard feature on near all TP's .... even my old AH800 of yesteryear has it ...

 

[yoty]

Thanks everyone - all very interesting and most usefull.

Cheers

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
even my old AH800 of yesteryear has it

[/ QUOTE ] Oh you have one of the more modern ones then! My AH1000 does not.

Seriously though the first one in the Simrad range the TP 10 does not have an Autotack function but it is £60 cheaper than the ST1000.

The next one in the Simrad range the TP 22 does have Autotack but costs more than the ST1000.

So the conclusion is that if Autotack is required then there is no choice, it has to be the ST1000

 

[whipper_snapper]

Does anyone with autotack actually use it?

Having had it on several different boats, I played with it, but probably never used it in anger. It gives you a 'mindless' tack with a big overshoot. Personally, I would not use it as a feature on which to make a purchasing decision.

 

[oldharry]

I find the auto tack function very useful when I am single handed: I find by the time I have sheeted the jib home holding the tiller over with my backside I often go too far round and lose ground particularely if I am flying the big Genny. Autotack ensures the boat comes onto approximately the right course while I get everything settled down. I can then fine tune the autohelm to the best angle to the wind.

 

[wiggy]

I think youll find the TP10 does have aouto tack, or at least mine does!

 

[yoty]

Yes, I've used it on all my previous autopilots with good effect. I agree that there is an overshoot but this can be dealt with by taking 10 degrees off the course before you hit the autotack. This can also have the effect of accelerating the boat prior to the tack.

Even with the overshoot its a very useful function when single-handed and provided that you time your movements to the autohelm its perfectly suitable for cruising.