My compass is fluxed

[Sea Change]

I've just had to swap out the fluxgate compass on my autopilot. Fortunately I had a spare onboard.
The old one is a Raytheon, so no spring chicken. Is it likely that it can be repaired? I wrote liked knowing I had a spare.

 

[Dockhead]

I have an unused Raymarine fluxgate, which was a spare in my old system. PM if you'd like to acquire it. They are not expensive.

 

[Sea Change]

I have an unused Raymarine fluxgate, which was a spare in my old system. PM if you'd like to acquire it. They are not expensive.

That's very kind, but I'm in the US. If you still have it next time I'm home (flying back to thee UK in November) I may well take you up on that.

 

[Sea Change]

Hmm. The replacement compass appears to have gone kaput too. Got an eight hour motor ahead of us today, this is going to be tedious .

Is it possible that the autopilot computer is damaging the compass somehow?

 

[Stemar]

Hmm. The replacement compass appears to have gone kaput too. Got an eight hour motor ahead of us today, this is going to be tedious .

Is it possible that the autopilot computer is damaging the compass somehow?

Is it possible that neither is knackered, but there's a corroded connection somewhere that's preventing the signal getting through?

 

[billskip]

Hmm. The replacement compass appears to have gone kaput too. Got an eight hour motor ahead of us today, this is going to be tedious .

Is it possible that the autopilot computer is damaging the compass somehow?

Is it possible its not the compass at fault?

 

[Graham_Wright]

The connections are easy to check.
Raymarine publish resistance figures between the wires (+ screen)

 

[geem]

Hmm. The replacement compass appears to have gone kaput too. Got an eight hour motor ahead of us today, this is going to be tedious .

Is it possible that the autopilot computer is damaging the compass somehow?

I had a similar problem with my old autopilot, it wasn't the fluxgate compass. Guess why we got a new autopilot

 

[Sea Change]

Is it possible its not the compass at fault?

Well last time this happened, swapping the compass out instantly fixed the problem.

 

[billskip]

Well last time this happened, swapping the compass out instantly fixed the problem.

Ok... post#7 is worth a try maybe...

 

[PabloPicasso]

Check all the connections at the course computer, if there is one.

 

[oldharry]

Well last time this happened, swapping the compass out instantly fixed the problem.

Dosn't follow.... there's lots of connections etc that can fail too. Just disconnecting and reconnecting can restore allow a dodgy connector to work for a while.

 

[monkey_trousers]

I've a couple of RM fluxgates up for grabs if you still need one. For what its worth you can buy a replacement 'mechanism' from inside them as well. They're pretty robust things, my money would be on a wiring/connection issue somewhere

 

[PaulRainbow]

Raymarine test figures attached.