Raymarine Autopilot Insallation

[ctva]

I am about to install a Raymarine auto pilot with an EV-100. The instructions say to mount at least 1m away from magnets or power / transition cables. This will be very difficult without getting an unsightly pole and a long expensive cable.

Has anyone experience or advice as to mounting the EV-100 sensor within about 40cm of the power supply to the helm or similar?

Many thanks

 

[jiris]

I am about to install a Raymarine auto pilot with an EV-100. The instructions say to mount at least 1m away from magnets or power / transition cables. This will be very difficult without getting an unsightly pole and a long expensive cable.

Has anyone experience or advice as to mounting the EV-100 sensor within about 40cm of the power supply to the helm or similar?

Many thanks

The magnetic field around conductor depends on the magnitude of the current it is carrying, If the wire is supplying power for, let's say, instrument illumination, I wouldn't worry about a few centimetres. If it is power supply is for something larger, I'd suggest to stick to the manufacturer's specification especially when the current is frequently changing or even changing polarity (the helm motor).

 

[prv]

I don’t understand the relevance of a pole. What sort of boat are we talking about? I can’t think of many that don’t have anywhere on board that’s more than a metre from power cables or magnets. In my case I mounted it under the saloon table since that’s surrounded by free space in which it’s not really possible to hide big lumps of metal, but most people put autopilot sensors in an ordinary locker and just take care what they stow there.

The cable costs were fairly insignificant against the rest of the install for me, but if you really need to save pennies then there’s nothing stopping you extending Raymarine’s cables with generic DeviceNet via any good-quality splicing method.

Pete

 

[duncan99210]

Is the OP perhaps talking about a GPS antenna? That's the only component of an autopilot set up that I can think of that might need a pole to mount it on. If that's the case, then the commonest place to mount it is on the pushpit rail.
Edit: just looked at the Raymarine website. I think the op is asking about the location of the EV sensor core, which the blurb says can be mounted above or below deck. Surely it should be possible to mount the sensor somewhere below decks and away from major power cables? No need for a pole.

 

[knuterikt]

One way to check for magnetic disturbances is to test with a small handheld compass in the location you want to use. The needle will start turning if there is a magnetic field close to the location.
You are talking about this item?

 

[Concerto]

The EV-100 sensor can be mounted almost anywhere as it is waterproof. When I fitted mine, I mounted it in the forward of the sail locker. This location was clear of almost all potential magnetic items by the 1m required.

Items to be avoided include the engine, gas bottles, cooker, compass, power cables for the engine, etc. If mounting in a locker within the cabin be aware that steel tin cans may have a magnetic field.

Just as an aside, on Sunday the magnetic course display finally adjusted to give a correct reading rather than 50 degrees out. It only took 2 years!

The EV-100 certainly works far better than the old Autohelm 2000 it replaced. It is about 50% more powerful and far more sensitive. In rough weather, the course control is excellent under compass. I know some have wind instrument control for close hauled use, unfortunately my instruments are too old to connect for this feature.

 

[lpdsn]

As Knuterikt says, use a handheld compass to check around the mounting location. IIRC you get a 5m STNG backbone and 1m spur cable with it, so it doesn't need to be anywhere near the helm. You can also get more cables if 6m ain't enough.

Best place for minimising motion is a bit aft of amidships. No problem below deck of course.

Try to get it straight as it outputs pitch and roll. Mine leans about 2 degrees to starboard. Doesn't affect the autopilot function as far as I'm aware but I have in mind to use the data itself so I'll have to see one day if I can adjust it.

The EV-1 is very good. It outputs the pitch and roll and rate of turn data ten times every second so the autopilot can't say it doesn't know what's going on.

 

[lpdsn]

I know some have wind instrument control for close hauled use, unfortunately my instruments are too old to connect for this feature.

You can convert NMEA0183 to N2K to integrate it. I'm even messing around trying to integrate Stowe Dataline with N2K.

 

[Pete7]

The EV-100 certainly works far better than the old Autohelm 2000 it replaced. It is about 50% more powerful and far more sensitive. In rough weather, the course control is excellent under compass. I know some have wind instrument control for close hauled use, unfortunately my instruments are too old to connect for this feature.

Indeed, great bit of kit. Our sensor is mounted under the cockpit coming near a winch. The only downside is if someone sits down in the cockpit with a mobile in their pocket, been there and got the t shirt with the previous ST2000.

Pete

 

[Poey50]

Mine's mounted half-way down the quarter berth of our Sadler 32 near the ceiling. Probably a bit less than 1 metre from the power cable to the tiller pilot but seems unaffected.

So far the EV-1 tiller pilot has been a revelation compared with the ST2000+ (or before that on a 22 footer our Simrad TP10) and amazing to hold course by wind direction. The EV100 sensor also gives us MARPA function with our Radar so plenty of new stuff to play with this season.

 

[ctva]

Many thanks for all the ideas, suggestions and comments. I have a space next to the stainless holding tank which I will investigate (assuming ss will not affect it).

The pole was never really an option though I have seen some where it is mounted that way.

 

[prv]

The pole was never really an option though I have seen some where it is mounted that way.

How was it mounted on a pole? Just screwed to the side of it using the bulkhead mount? Seems a bit inelegant.

I still can’t fathom why anyone would think to put an attitude and heading sensor on top of a pole. The longer lever arm will increase the motion and probably give worse results; the advice in the manual is the opposite, put it as close to the centre of motion as possible.

I suppose on a steel boat it could be advantageous to mount it clear of the hull and accept the extra motion. Is your boat steel? Were the ones you saw with poles steel?

Pete

 

[ex-Gladys]

The EV-1 goes through "compass linearisation" to set up variation and deviation. Mine is under the quarter berth in the aft cabin, and the power cable runs within half a meter, seems absolutely fine, deviation is a max of 2 degrees

 

[lpdsn]

The EV-1 goes through "compass linearisation" to set up variation and deviation. Mine is under the quarter berth in the aft cabin, and the power cable runs within half a meter, seems absolutely fine, deviation is a max of 2 degrees

And there is also an option to synchronise it with the GPS. I haven't tried it yet, but have been told by other boat owners than it isn't difficult to do.