Simrad TP22 Tiller Pilot

[Sammy Lou]

Hi,

I'm not very good with all the instrument/NMEA stuff so I'd appreciate some advise.

I want a tiller pilot that will hold a compass course at a minimum & it would be a nice to have if it also followed waypoints/course from my chart plotter.

I have a Garmin GMI10 wind, depth, speed instrument that operates on NMEA 2000 & I have a NMEA 0183 Garmin plotter that talks to the GMI10 display through a actisense 0183 - 2000 converter.

Would a tiller pilot 'talk' to my current set up? Would a TP22 be a good choice or is there something more suitable.

Thanks - Much appreciated.

 

[JimC]

I have a TP22 and it steers my 31 foot boat with no probs. It's interfaced to a Standard Horizon chart plotter using the NMEA 0183 signals from the latter. It will follow the course to a waypoint and bleep as you get there. If the waypoint is one of several comprising a route it will bleep on arrival at the waypoint but not actually change course until you confirm with a press of the Nav button. You can alter the TP22's sensitivity to cope with different sea states or for motoring, where the responsivness is higher than when sailing due to the propwash over the rudder. The TP22 seems a decent piece of equipment, I've used the same make on previous boats with no probs, You'll probably hear equally favourable opinions of the other main make: Raymarine formerly Autohelm.

 

[CPD]

First question should be whether tiller pilot is man enough for your boat. Secondary question is then the NMEA stuff, which I think they all do anyway.

 

[Sammy Lou]

Jim,

Thanks for the reply. It is good to hear that the TP22 does what it's manufacturer describes.
However, Perhaps I was not particularly clear in my opening post. My plotter, although NMEA 0183, talks through a NMEA 2000 converter to my NMEA 2000 system. Therefore, (I think) what I need is a tiller pilot that will talk to a NMEA 2000 system & this is not mentioned in the TP22 manual.

Can anyone confirm if my system will work with a NMEA 0183 tiller pilot?

 

[Sammy Lou]

the TP22 would be more than man enough for my little 26' - the TP10 would do but it is not 'smart'

 

[macd]

Can anyone confirm if my system will work with a NMEA 0183 tiller pilot?

The tiller pilot, of course, won't talk to the plotter (or anything else), but it may listen. But I'd rather doubt that the TP22 can receive NMEA 2000 if that's all that the plotter can put out with your arrangement. Even so, all you'll lose is the ability to go to waypoint. The tiller pilot will steer a heading from it's own compass whether it's connected to the rest of your kit or not.

Is it possible to splice into the plotter's 0183 output before it reaches the 2000 converter?

 

[JimC]

Jim, My plotter, although NMEA 0183, talks through a NMEA 2000 converter to my NMEA 2000 system. Therefore, (I think) what I need is a tiller pilot that will talk to a NMEA 2000 system & this is not mentioned in the TP22 manual.
Can anyone confirm if my system will work with a NMEA 0183 tiller pilot?

The Simrad TP22 can use the SimNet proprietary protocol as well as NMEA 0183. Simnet is compatible with NMEA200 but you need a special connecting cable see here (page 6) http://www.chicagomarineelectronics.com/Simrad Documents/SimNet/Simnet-Install-Man.pdf However you should be able to connect the NMEA 0183 output of you Garmin chartplotter direct to the TP22 since a single NMEA ouput port is able to talk to several inputs.

 

[Sammy Lou]

The tiller pilot, of course, won't talk to the plotter (or anything else), but it may listen.

That is a good point - I did say that I'm a bit baffled by all this NMEA stuff.

So if it cant communicate with the plotter then where to go?
Is there any tiller pilot that can comminicate with a NMEA 2000 network?
Will the TP22 be overkill and would a lesser spec one (compass bearing only) be a better option?

 

[smeaks]

Hi,

I'm not very good with all the instrument/NMEA stuff so I'd appreciate some advise.

I want a tiller pilot that will hold a compass course at a minimum & it would be a nice to have if it also followed waypoints/course from my chart plotter.

I have a Garmin GMI10 wind, depth, speed instrument that operates on NMEA 2000 & I have a NMEA 0183 Garmin plotter that talks to the GMI10 display through a actisense 0183 - 2000 converter.

Would a tiller pilot 'talk' to my current set up? Would a TP22 be a good choice or is there something more suitable.

Thanks - Much appreciated.

on a sailing boat is the ability to follow a plotted multi way point course all that important? I always find that i am down wind of where i need to be most of the time and so need to tack or use an upwind strategy to progress towards my destination.

regards

steve

 

[Sammy Lou]

However you should be able to connect the NMEA 0183 output of you Garmin chartplotter direct to the TP22 since a single NMEA ouput port is able to talk to several inputs.

Do you mean that I should be able to take another feed? of the plotter (where it goes into my actisense converter) and then the plotter will talk to my NMEA instruments and the tiller pilot simultaneously?

 

[Pitterpatter]

All you should need to do is join the inputs to the autopilot to the inputs to the convertor. The 2000 sentences are only being created out the other side of the convertor. Everything before that point is 0183 and there is nothing stopping you joining the single output cable from the plotter to more than one input cable for multiple receiving devices.

Hope that helps!

 

[Sammy Lou]

All you should need to do is join the inputs to the autopilot to the inputs to the convertor. The 2000 sentences are only being created out the other side of the convertor. Everything before that point is 0183 and there is nothing stopping you joining the single output cable from the plotter to more than one input cable for multiple receiving devices.

Hope that helps!

That is what I love about this site. I would never have thought of that but now I know it it make perfect sense!

Now - that's the plotter solved. Would it be too much to ask to get a signal from the Garmin GMI10 wind instrument to the tiller pilot as well?

 

[JimC]

Do you mean that I should be able to take another feed? of the plotter (where it goes into my actisense converter) and then the plotter will talk to my NMEA instruments and the tiller pilot simultaneously?

Yes, precisely that.

 

[Pitterpatter]

That is what I love about this site. I would never have thought of that but now I know it it make perfect sense!

Now - that's the plotter solved. Would it be too much to ask to get a signal from the Garmin GMI10 wind instrument to the tiller pilot as well?

I don't know how the converter is working, but if you have the wind already talking to the plotter, you may find that tapping in to the message from the plotter to the converter as described above will already get the wind messages to the tillerpilot. If the plotter and the wind are on a common data connection, then messages from wind to plotter will also arrive at the pilot.

I am not an MNEA expert by any stretch, but as far as I can see it is a broadcast type protocol with devices sending messages and any/all devices connected to the correct wire can read those messages and extract what they want. I stand to be corrected on that though.

 

[Ruffles]

Don't forget that the tiller pilot will use cross track error (XTE) to navigate to the waypoint.
In other words, if you disconnect it and go off course for a bit it will steer directly back to the wayline when you turn it back on rather than heading straight for the waypoint. Which can involve lots of sail trimming! So I tend not to use it.

 

[earlybird]

Don't forget that the tiller pilot will use cross track error (XTE) to navigate to the waypoint.
In other words, if you disconnect it and go off course for a bit it will steer directly back to the wayline when you turn it back on rather than heading straight for the waypoint. Which can involve lots of sail trimming! So I tend not to use it.

That's not correct. It will steer for the waypoint starting with zero xte from the new position.

 

[Fire99]

I run a TP22 on a fairly heavy (by modern standards) 23ft yacht and it runs like a charm. If your boat is anything within 10-20% of the maximum rating of the specific tiller-pilot, I'd pump for the next model up. The TP22 also has enough features to keep my happy when sailing solo.