Tiller pilots

[wooslehunter]

I have a Centaur with an old Autohelm ST1000.

As the boat rolls it tries to change course as expected. The auto-pilot tries to correct but is too slow. In any kind of sea off the wind or under power, you have to be ready to jump in and correct. It seems that the auto-pilot over corrects.

Is the newer ST1000+ any better? I see from tha manual that there are lots of settings you can play with to adjust response time etc. There's nothing in my ST1000 manual about this. I don't have a problem playing with the settings since I understand control loops.

Anyone got any experience / thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Dave

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[Davy_S]

I have the same old autohelm ST 1000. Presumably the same as yours ie no external compass, nor is mine connected to gps. I use it on a Vega and have never had a problem in the way you describe. Yes in big following seas the boat will yaw a little but never so much I feel I have to take over. Could there be any chance that the set up, is not at right angle to the tiller, or not the correct measurement along its length. Its the only thing I can think of that may affect its performance, other than carrying to much main when running.

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[mhouse]

If its the same as my st2000 the instruction book was wrong. an extra sheet was supplied. its worth down loading the latest sheet from their web site.
The instructions are the same as the + series and you can alter the calibration.

If you hold the standby fo 5 seconds cal appears .
~press and hold standby for another 5 seconds and item 1 shows the rudder gain this gan be increased to provide more response. useing the +1 or -1 keys
Pressing the auto toggles through the menu to save the changes hold the standby for >1 second .
I have found that its well worth experimenting .
good luck

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[Guest]

Two areas that appear to be cock-ahoop here !

Damping ....... this reduces the tendency to over-react too quickly
Sea-state ..... this allows the helm to go with sea conditions without swinging the boat all over the place as the AP tries to correct.

Even on the AP 800 and AP1000 seris before yours you could press combinations of buttons to alter it.

But main thing is to let the AP settle on course and LEARN before Skipper jumps on it !!!! I used to be terrible when I first had mine ........ clicking it on and off trying to get it to steer a straight course. Then I thought sod it ........ and bingo after a few minutes it had settled and all's fine.


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

Thanks for the info. Looks as though there are some adjustments I can make. I looked at the manuals for the later versions but there's nothing in the manual for my unit about adjustments. I'll contact Raymarine.

Thanks,

Dave

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