Simrad Tillerpilot postmortem and advice, plus question.

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causeway

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Tillerpilot (Simrad TP-30) broke last week, i decided to have a look for the problem. Simple enough to take it apart, just take the screws out of the bottom, i think there were 9 in all.

AqXyNdz.jpg


There was a major problem and a minor one. I thought i'd post my findings here to help others.

I immediately heard a rattle inside and found these two 'Hall' sensors. Hmmm.

GYtXOm6.jpg


I unscrewed the board behind the cog in the picture so its back to front.

EpROzeL.png


The illustrated pin in the picture (there is another at 180% on the cog) had slid out and smashed off the hall sensors. They were very loose and were easily pushed in and out. I would advide anyone with a simrad to open the unit, clean these pins and loctite them in place with 1mm clearance (as stated in the service manual). This will also help if you are experiencing 'drift'.

ClDp5vY.png


In this picture you can also see the belt is out of alignment. The cog directly attached to the motor has slid forward. The motor lifts up and out which will allow you to push the cog back to where is should be. I will treat this to some loctite too.

The seals for the unit are slightly damaged around the screw holes so i will use a little silicone on these.

I hope this can help someone and can save them the grief which i'm currently experiencing!

Now the question. Does anyone know where i can get a replacement for this board?

3DMBBJn.png


I rang Simrad and they were no help at all. "Ummm, i dont know that part but i think this one at £50 'might' work".

Sorry for the overly large pictures!
 
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Mine did the same (the Hall effect sensor being wiped out by a loose magnet) Must be a design fault My motor was straight.

Farnell/RS do the HE items for pence but they are superseded and equivalents are used. I did try but no luck, either beyond my skill or

I'd glued in the magnet with the pole reversed?

I bought a 'new' one which promptly committed suicide when I was rash enough to use it in the rain..... hey ho.

I was then able to use the two to make one good one, Simrad grey top, Navico black base- no longer inter-face-able but not a problem for my sailing
 
I dont think its so much a design fault as a way of them trying to make them 'adjustable', which er, makes them faulty. Screws would have been better or glued in from the factory.

I cant replace the hall sensors as part of the board has been ripped off :( I'm in search of the whole unit.

Did your newer unit have the same wiring loom and sensor board? I know its probably hard to judge.

I'm considering heat-shrinking mine in white to avoid water problems and to keep the heat off.
 
I thought the magnets were fixed but the grease softened it.

The sub board was the same in both, I had to cut 'n shut one into the other to get good sensors working with a dry processor.

Your board should be usable if you have a steady hand and a fine iron- the HE components come on long leads so you could position them in the original location?
 
NickRobinson said:
I thought the magnets were fixed but the grease softened it.

The sub board was the same in both, I had to cut 'n shut one into the other to get good sensors working with a dry processor.

Your board should be usable if you have a steady hand and a fine iron- the HE components come on long leads so you could position them in the original location?
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I could try that but my soldering skills might not reach that far, also won't the components move eventually if on fine wire? I've sent the manager (according to the old service manual banging about) an email.

I'll maybe go for the replacement part as its not terribly expensive, I just hope that's all that is wrong!

Btw Did you ever remove the flux gate compass? Mine appears to be connected with very fine wires with no shielding, would that be normal? Does it not confuse things if they're crossing over?
 
causeway said:
Hmmm, I could try that but my soldering skills might not reach that far, also won't the components move eventually if on fine wire? I've sent the manager (according to the old service manual banging about) an email.

I'll maybe go for the replacement part as its not terribly expensive, I just hope that's all that is wrong!

Btw Did you ever remove the flux gate compass? Mine appears to be connected with very fine wires with no shielding, would that be normal? Does it not confuse things if they're crossing over?
Click to expand...

Really fine hair like wires- no shielding. IIRC they terminated at a plug/socket on the board?
 
Spyro said:
After the trouble I had with my TP10 I'd never buy another.
Click to expand...

+1 with a TP20

causeway said:
I'll maybe go for the replacement part as its not terribly expensive, I just hope that's all that is wrong!
Click to expand...

The distance selling regs are your friend here - if it doesn't fix the problem you have 7 days to return it for a full refund, minus postage. Good write up, BTW.
 
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Thanks quiddle and nick. I'll give that a go then.

Yes nick exactly as you describe they're massively long for the flexing that they need to do but I'll leave them as is.
 
I think you could make a replacement part easily enough out of an offcut of veroboard using a dremel type thing to cut it into shape. There is nothing on it except a capacitor and the hall sensors that I can see.
 
Thanks, I have a copy already, came in very handy. I'm still miffed that I can't buy that particular part and Simrad won't even sell the one which 'possibly' works direct. I'll have to go to a dealer.

I don't know that my iron or skills will stretch that far Brucey.
 
A simple little board like that would be easy enough to make a new one. A small piece of copper-clad circuit board, a hacksaw, a permanent marker and some ferric chloride etchant. All available on the internet or somewhere like Maplins. Full instruction on web too. Any chance of reducing the size of first two photos?
 
I did try but I couldn't get the option on imgur. They scale for me though, perhaps it's a browser related thing or are they using too much of your bandwidth?

I'll resize them tonight and reup them if I can remember.
 
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