Rate / Flux compass

Javelin

Javelin

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Looking for recommendations for a rate / flux compass.
Want it to integrate with my Zeus2 on nk2.

Looking to upgrade autohelm at some stage and will do it in bits.
Currently using ST2000+ and frankly it isn't up to it.
Was looking at an American system but the trail has gone cold so now looking at a mix and match system.
 
Javelin said:
Looking to upgrade autohelm at some stage and will do it in bits.
Currently using ST2000+ and frankly it isn't up to it.
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I may have misunderstood (I often do :-) but if you're looking to upgrade your autopilot to something which works considerably better than your st2000, you'd be looking for something with a fancy gyro compass in which case upgrading bit by bit doesn't really make sense: you want to buy the gyro compass and the course computer which can make use of it together. The only reason I'd buy a fancy compass first would be if I'd just bought radar, needed 10Hz output for MARPA and couldn't quite stretch to the course computer too. I'm assuming "nk2"is "n2k" not "nke" as the latter is way beyond my pocket's experience :-).
 
Javelin said:
Looking for recommendations for a rate / flux compass.
Want it to integrate with my Zeus2 on nk2.

Looking to upgrade autohelm at some stage and will do it in bits.
Currently using ST2000+ and frankly it isn't up to it.
Was looking at an American system but the trail has gone cold so now looking at a mix and match system.
Click to expand...

I'd be wary of trying to build an autopilot bit by bit. I've got a Raymarine Evolution autopilot (with an old Autohelm Type 1 arm, but that's just an older version of the current raymarine arm).

The EV-1 at the heart of it is very good. It's extortionately expensive. I'm reliably informed that you can get the chip that is at the heart of it for a tenner if you but direct from the manufacturer - it is basically the motion sensing functionality you find in modern smartphones - but turning that into something useful would be many months or years of work.

I can also testify that is is quite rugged - it fell about four feet when I was installing it and has shown no ill effects.

However, as far as I can work out in the secretative world of N2K, a lot of the communication between the bits of the Raymarine autopilot are done using PGN 126208. Although N2K defines the contents of messages much more precisely than NMEA0183, this particular one can be used as a wrapper for what is effectively proprietary information. So I'd have doubts whether any vendors 126208 could be understood by another's kit.

So even if you build up the rest of the N2K system using stuff from different vendors, I'd say get the bits of your autopilot from one.
 
Javelin said:
Looking for recommendations for a rate / flux compass.
Want it to integrate with my Zeus2 on nk2.
Click to expand...

I think that if you truly want to integrate it with your Zeus2, you'll have to ask B&G for their recommendations. The Zeus2 manual mentions "autopilot functionality" with various Navico autopilot systems, but I'd be cautious about expecting other makers' systems to interface. The fact that NMEA2000 is involved is pretty meaningless.
 
Thanks all, kind of confirmed my gut feeling, just was hoping for a magic bullet I'd not come across.

Looks like I'll have to get the AC12 computer, the RC42 rate compass and a tiller drive of some description.

Wont have much change out of £1600 :(
 
Pretty much in the same situation. I am replacing an old Neco system. I have the Zeus2, Tritons, RC42 compass already, and am looking at the AC12, but not sure which drive unit. FWIW, the compass puts out regular heading and rate of turn packets, so my guess is that any rate compass which does this will do.
 
Just had a good look at the Jefa. Don't know if it is coincidence but their direct drive type I looks an awful lot like the Simrad DD15 drive which I have been looking at. What is of interest is that it has an integrated rudder feedback module. Don't know the merits of this type of "direct" drive versus a linear drive though.
 
adwuk said:
Just had a good look at the Jefa. Don't know if it is coincidence but their direct drive type I looks an awful lot like the Simrad DD15 drive which I have been looking at. What is of interest is that it has an integrated rudder feedback module. Don't know the merits of this type of "direct" drive versus a linear drive though.
Click to expand...

It looks like the DD15 because it's the same unit! Simrad just buy it in from Jefa (in the same way that the Garmin linear drive is the Jefa product). The direct drive is 50% more powerful than the linear drive.
 
adwuk said:
Just had a good look at the Jefa. Don't know if it is coincidence but their direct drive type I looks an awful lot like the Simrad DD15 drive which I have been looking at. What is of interest is that it has an integrated rudder feedback module. Don't know the merits of this type of "direct" drive versus a linear drive though.
Click to expand...

The Jefa linear is also badged and sold as Garmin....
 
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