RAYMARINE 4000+ wp

[maltaboy]

Has anyone had any problems with raymarines 4000+ wp or any other raymarine autopilots? Having purchased one to help bring my new (37years old) boat home and paying a raymarine dealer to fit it, once out at sea we found that it could not steer a course, which left us (me) to helm for the next week, on my return it was deemed to be a fault with the control/display head, so it was returned to raymarine who confirmed this was the case and duly sent out a replacement, which after 40 mins also lost the plot, I am now waiting for another replacement (1 week) plus a fluxgate compass in case that knackered as well.


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[Guest]

I also have an ST4000+ auto pilot but have experienced no difficulties. Once set-up it has been working very well.

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[johna]

If it has been recently fitted has it been calibrated by sea trial. If it the same as the 3000 you have to motor round in circles and allow the unit to calibrate itself and then you can adjust so that it reads similar to your steering compass.

I had an interesting situation in that after buying the boat I decided to re-site the autohelm to make it more accessible. Only moved it 9 inches (225mm) and the heading was out by 86 degrees. I had moved it to the other side of the windscreen wiper motor!! A sea trial and calibration re-set the instrument to give the correct heading.

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[alan]

I have a 4000 wheel pilot which works fine. As previously pointed out you have to go round in circles for a bit to perform the calibration - this is well described in the handbook.
The only problem I have had was a mechanical one whereby one of the little bearing wheels inside the drive unit broke off a couple of times (once it was fixed under warranty). After the second time, I contacted raymarine who told me it could be due to the metal blocking stud (which prevents the unit turning with the wheel) being too long. I took a couple of mm off this and it has been fine since .......... incidently I can only blame the installer for this not the unit itself ........ yes, the installer was me!!!!

Good luck with the replacement.

P.S. My unit has some residual deviation of up 8 degs on certain bearings which I have never tried to cure by resiting the compass.

<hr width=100% size=1>Alan Cloke

 

[quaelgeist2]

Main problems so far with the fluxgate, not the unit itself.

Once cable end loose inside the compass (how on eareth after 6 years...)
Once connection of compass cable at chart table insufficient.

The signals from the fluxgate are very weak and minor corrosion or loosening of the connection results in faulty operation (if any).

That said, the performance with a lot of sail is not ideal, it improves, though, when reefing a bit (further).

chris

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[Guest]

All tiller / Wheel pilots improve with slacking off sheets / reefing in ......... they are not Race Cox's !!!!!

But seems that the posters problems may be more than just WP ..... or the basic set is faulty and just recurring faults.


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[MartinGPerry]

This is off topic but someone may be able to help me.

I have a number of spare drive belts which I believe were for an Autohelm 3000 or 4000 autopilot
If anyone has a spare belt for one of these models could they please measure it for me so i know which model it fits
thanks

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[Gunfleet]

agree about the reefing and they also don't like running. You wouldn't want to cross the Pacific with one!

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[Pelican]

See thread "Tiller Pilot Problem" by Pugwash on the same problem!
Pelican

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[maltaboy]

thanks for all the replies, I have done the calibration thing and got 4deg deviation so that should have been fine, as for reefing in the problem is it can not even hold a steady course in flat calm water.

p.s still waiting for new parts to arrive

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[charles_reed]

I've had a number of Autohelms, starting in 1972 with the original MkII.

They have all, been prey to the weaknesses of electro-mechanical devices, the MkII used to regularly need replacement PCBs (on occasion even bursting into flames).

The penultimate one that I had, an Autohelm 1000 was so unsatisfactory (dying on two occasions within its 1st 12 months) that I negotiated a replacement by the then newly released 4000ST at a price reflecting a full refund on the 1000.

That unit has covered about 38,000 miles and, apart from regular bi-annual rebuilds of the actuators (I carry 2) and a replacement LCD has been outstandingly reliable.

However I once had a very similar problem to the one you describe - it was caused by a steel ring-pull on an aluminium drink-can, in a locker about 100mm from the fluxgate compass.

Search ye, therefore, for the magnet within 1000mm or the non-austentic item within 400mm of the fluxgate compass.

PS do you have a cast-iron keel?

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