boo1966
New Member
My compass readout stuck on 158 Display seems to be working ok but I think the sender unit might be stuck ... I don't want to start taking screws out until I know what I'm doing . Any ideas ??
Nasa Fluxgate Compass stuck
- Thread starter boo1966
- Start date
Ubergeekian
Well-Known Member
There are no moving parts in fluxgate compasses: they do not stick, they break. Sorry.
planteater
Well-Known Member
Maybe you've left a magnetic object near the fluxgate sensor.
pvb
Well-Known Member
Has it worked properly before on your boat? Or is it newly fitted?
Check the wiring connections first. The sensor itself can't "stick" as such (it's a solid state device) but it does move around on gimbals inside its housing.
philip_stevens
Well-Known Member
Sounds like a similar fault I had on an ST2000 autohelm, when one wire from the sensor came off. The display "stuck" on one heading at all times.
If you open it, check that all wires from the sensor are intact.
crossbones
Well-Known Member
Fluxgate
Nasa have made two different types of electronic compass. The big round one which was a true fluxgate and the small square one which, despite its name, is actually a " giant magneto-resistive semiconductor sensor" If yours is the round one perhaps I can help.
Nasa have made two different types of electronic compass. The big round one which was a true fluxgate and the small square one which, despite its name, is actually a " giant magneto-resistive semiconductor sensor" If yours is the round one perhaps I can help.
kosciuskokids
New Member
Re: Fluxgate
Hi,You may be able to help, my faithful crew put his knee through the Nasa master unit, we have replaced the master unit, wired it in as the old one. We have the big round fluxgate compass, sadly all we have on the master unit after half an hour is "On". The round unit fluxgate bit makes a quite whining sound.
Help.
Hi,You may be able to help, my faithful crew put his knee through the Nasa master unit, we have replaced the master unit, wired it in as the old one. We have the big round fluxgate compass, sadly all we have on the master unit after half an hour is "On". The round unit fluxgate bit makes a quite whining sound.
Help.
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
The 'cheap' fluxgate compasses are nowhere near as sophisticated as people seem to think. I had a pretty similar issue with a new NASA one I bought about 5 years ago (postie must've dropped it). I sent it back for repair and they put the internal sensor back on its gimble under warranty. It is not a great deal more than a bit of electronics on top of a gimbled weight.
If it is not under warranty, take the screws out carefully and you should be able to fix it. If you want to be correct wear an anti-static wrist strap just so you don't risk blowing any components.
If it is under warranty, send it back.
If it is absolutely kaput, mine is now redundant and I've been meaning to put it in the for sale section for a while. I now use an Raymarine EV1 and convert the messages into NMEA0183 for the NASA display.
PS oops - didn't notice the age of the original post. Presumably it is sorted by now. Or in the bin.
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lpdsn
Well-Known Member
Re: Fluxgate
I went through that stage too. I now feed the heading to the compass from a convertor that outputs the differential NMEA0183 (e.g A & B outputs). The NASA display wouldn't work until I connected the B output to the supply -ve. In the meantime it just said 'on'
I went through that stage too. I now feed the heading to the compass from a convertor that outputs the differential NMEA0183 (e.g A & B outputs). The NASA display wouldn't work until I connected the B output to the supply -ve. In the meantime it just said 'on'
kosciuskokids
New Member
Re: Fluxgate
Thanks for the reply, I am fairly new to boat wiring but have a basic understanding, this falls short of knowing what a converter is?
Thanks for the reply, I am fairly new to boat wiring but have a basic understanding, this falls short of knowing what a converter is?
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
Re: Fluxgate
Apologies for the delayed reply, I'm not logging in that much at the moment.
Convertor isn't really a industry standard term.
Anyway, there are products out there that convert NMEA0183 to NMEA2000 and v.v. Actisense are one manufacturer (I've no problems with their kit, but they do expect you to buy one per NMEA0183 instrument). I've also recently bought a ShipModul Miniplexer which is a NMEA0183 multiplexer that also has an NMEA2000 interface - I wish I'd seen that first.
Apologies for the delayed reply, I'm not logging in that much at the moment.
Convertor isn't really a industry standard term.
Anyway, there are products out there that convert NMEA0183 to NMEA2000 and v.v. Actisense are one manufacturer (I've no problems with their kit, but they do expect you to buy one per NMEA0183 instrument). I've also recently bought a ShipModul Miniplexer which is a NMEA0183 multiplexer that also has an NMEA2000 interface - I wish I'd seen that first.
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
Re: Fluxgate
PS. If you do look to buy a 'convertor' make sure you check out which Sentences and PGNs it converts and what they are converted into. You need to trace the path from beginning to end to make sure that the data you're expecting will turn up at its destination.
PS. If you do look to buy a 'convertor' make sure you check out which Sentences and PGNs it converts and what they are converted into. You need to trace the path from beginning to end to make sure that the data you're expecting will turn up at its destination.
