Robinb
New member
Hi there. The Control Unit Neco autopilot on the boat im buying has failed. Neco are out of business a long time. Does anyone know if a control Unit from another auto pilot like Garmin etc might work?
Very interesting. Certainly pretty stripped out!Inside of Motor post modification: -
Regarding the motor. It is old and while Hudson Marine tested it, I do not expect it to last any significant time. I would not trust it on a long voyage. Other forums have commented on reliability and failure of the motor under prolonged use after conversation. If changing for blue water use, long distance sailing, I would change out the Neco motor, in my case for a Jaffa rotary unit, as that would best suit my steering arrangement. However, for pottering about in a coastal environment, reliability is not such a big issue.
Ah, welcome . I 'inherited' a Neco and I had a problem with both the Drive Unit and the Control Unit. Daniele Fua from Italy is the world expert and with his guidance I replaced the two Relays (quite cheaply sourced from Texas and very easy to replace). I then followed all his guidance notes to identify a small wiring issue and then that the PCB in the Control Unit needed attention - capacitors had dried because of age. Daniele had told me I needed to find an 'old fashioned radio engineer'. I failed to do that but I found a company that repairs PCBs and they did that. Everything works fine. A very good bit of kit.
Others have mated the Drive Unit to 'modern' stuff - Nigel aka Tradeswind did that using a Simrad I think (I have Nigel's old spare Control Unit) and in conjunction with Daniele there are some notes on how to do the 'connections'
You have a choice spending the cost of the 'modern' stuff - not cheap v the reliability of the repairs (a quarter of the cost and could be cheaper). I only had the chance of putting the repairs into commission half way through last season but it seemed very strong and reliable.
Have you a copy of the manual - which includes the wiring diagrams? Let me know an email via PM and I can send you a copy.
Greenham Regis (in Shamrock Quay, Southampton or Chichester) will modify a Neco motor so it can be used with a modern autopilot control unit, such as Raymarine,
I found them very helpful, but ended up buying a different boat instead.
Ah, welcome . I 'inherited' a Neco and I had a problem with both the Drive Unit and the Control Unit. Daniele Fua from Italy is the world expert and with his guidance I replaced the two Relays (quite cheaply sourced from Texas and very easy to replace). I then followed all his guidance notes to identify a small wiring issue and then that the PCB in the Control Unit needed attention - capacitors had dried because of age. Daniele had told me I needed to find an 'old fashioned radio engineer'. I failed to do that but I found a company that repairs PCBs and they did that. Everything works fine. A very good bit of kit.
Others have mated the Drive Unit to 'modern' stuff - Nigel aka Tradeswind did that using a Simrad I think (I have Nigel's old spare Control Unit) and in conjunction with Daniele there are some notes on how to do the 'connections'
You have a choice spending the cost of the 'modern' stuff - not cheap v the reliability of the repairs (a quarter of the cost and could be cheaper). I only had the chance of putting the repairs into commission half way through last season but it seemed very strong and reliable.
Have you a copy of the manual - which includes the wiring diagrams? Let me know an email via PM and I can send you a copy.
Ah, welcome . I 'inherited' a Neco and I had a problem with both the Drive Unit and the Control Unit. Daniele Fua from Italy is the world expert and with his guidance I replaced the two Relays (quite cheaply sourced from Texas and very easy to replace). I then followed all his guidance notes to identify a small wiring issue and then that the PCB in the Control Unit needed attention - capacitors had dried because of age. Daniele had told me I needed to find an 'old fashioned radio engineer'. I failed to do that but I found a company that repairs PCBs and they did that. Everything works fine. A very good bit of kit.
Others have mated the Drive Unit to 'modern' stuff - Nigel aka Tradeswind did that using a Simrad I think (I have Nigel's old spare Control Unit) and in conjunction with Daniele there are some notes on how to do the 'connections'
You have a choice spending the cost of the 'modern' stuff - not cheap v the reliability of the repairs (a quarter of the cost and could be cheaper). I only had the chance of putting the repairs into commission half way through last season but it seemed very strong and reliable.
Have you a copy of the manual - which includes the wiring diagrams? Let me know an email via PM and I can send you a copy.
It would seem there is now a simpler wiring solution to using the original Neco drive unit with a Raymarine ACU400 unit rather than a Simrad.
BlowingoldBoots had it done by Hudson Marine.
See this post in this thread
NECO Autopilot Update . The link to Hudson Marine is there.
There's also a link from me where you can download DanieleFua's (and mine) notes on how to do the conversion using B&G/Simrad equipment. I'm very pleased with my set up.
Thank you loads....trying to assimilate all these fantastic information pieces! RobinHere's my thread on the same issue from just over a year ago:
Slightly complex autopilot question
I installed a Simrad/B&G autopilot set-up and had the Neco drive unit converted by Greenham Regis.
Thank you so much. RobinHere's my thread on the same issue from just over a year ago:
Slightly complex autopilot question
I installed a Simrad/B&G autopilot set-up and had the Neco drive unit converted by Greenham Regis.
Im told that every thing else works except the Control Unit. He put one in from ebay a few years ago but it failed again. RobinRobin: a question. I note you are buying the boat and have been told the Control Unit has failed. Do you know that the problem i.e. the Control Unit has definitely failed? It could be another problem. There are some tests to isolate the problem; it might be something simple likely the relays.