Tillerpilot gone bonkers

[Fascadale]

My Navico tiller pilot seems to have gone bonkers.

It looks OK: all its lights flash at the appropriate times, it sounds OK: it beeps at the expected times, mechanically it seems OK, the arm goes in and out, the manual controls work.

But it if it were allowed to, it would steer the boat in circles. It runs along for a few minutes in the right direction and then it starts steering the boat to port and then keeps steering to port. All a bit alarming.

The tillerpilot came with the boat: I think it is the most basic model and it does not look very new, 5 to 10 years old I would think, maybe more. Unfortunately, there are no instructions for it.

What should I do? Does this sound terminal or might there be a cure? And what might that cure be?

I like to sail by myself so the tillerpilot is a fairly important bit of kit.

Thanks

 

[MrCramp]

What you describe is was happens to tiller pilots when the electronics/electrics/printed circuit boards go west. Often the cause is salt water ingress.

I would buy a new one, and make sure it is plenty big enough for the boat. You will know what a god-send they are to a single handed sailor. You need to be able to rely on it.

I have watched blokes fiddle about for a season or two trying to fix this sort of problem, never with any success.

 

[mormargh]

Snap, my TP300CX is doing the same.

 

[highandry]

I'm not familiar with the Navico, but I had a Simrad TP20 which developed the same disease. If you are going to bin the Navico anyway it might be worth just seeing if you can get it apart. The Simrad came apart easily and I found it worked on a sort of rack and pinion arragement, where a small nylon gear wheel ran on a stainless shaft. The nylon gear had come adrift and was wandering up and down the shaft causing the boat to steer hard over to port all the time.
I 'de-oiled' the shaft and Araldited the gear wheel back in position, leaving it for 24 hours before reassembly. It worked fine for 4 years afterwards. May be a different set up in the Navico but no harm in looking.

 

[Dipper]

Be brave and open it up to have a look inside. Mine suddenly behaved very erratically last year and the 'string' had broken. This is just one (less likely) possibility but at least you can mend this fault yourself. I used whipping twine which is what I also used on it 10 years earlier!

 

[highandry]

Skinflint Dipper.. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Dipper]

Thank you sir. I am honoured.

In my defence I did have to use some new whipping twine. The old bit was too frayed.

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[VicS]

It could be that its sense has been swapped to operate from the other side of the boat. That would make it do that!

Instructions can be downloded from Raymarine customer support

Check that out as a possibility before ripping it apart.

 

[webcraft]

As others have said, take it apart. Our TP10 stopped workingin the Azores and it was because the gearwheel had come loose on the shaft. It was fixed with liquid metal and is still working.

- W

 

[webcraft]

As others have said, take it apart. Our TP10 stopped working in the Azores and it was because the gearwheel had come loose on the shaft. It was fixed with liquid metal and is still working.

- W

 

[Fascadale]

Thanks for the speedy replies.

I think my next move will be to open up the unit, leave it in the airing cupboard for a week or so and then see if there is anything obviously wrong.

But I suspect I'm going to be looking at a new tillerpilot before long: only hope a new one uses the same mountings as the old one.

Cheers

 

[mormargh]

Thanks for the tip VicS but these are Navico/Simrad rather than Autohelm. I'll check it out tomorrow.

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
these are Navico/Simrad rather than Autohelm

[/ QUOTE ] Sorry posted too quickly. There are navico instructions available to down load as well. Difficult to find though.

IIRC they are on the American site. If I find them again Ill post the url

Dont dismantle it until you've checked it out. Especially if it seems to behave properly on the controls.

 

[VicS]

Manuals are here if the link works. It's along list but you can narrow it down.

CLICKY

 

[Dipper]

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry posted too quickly.

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too. Mine's an early Autohelm.

/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[MarkGrubb]

If you're opening it up then give the circuit boards and components a wipe down with a damp cloth to try and remove any salt crystals. As long as there's no power you'll be ok. I doubt there will be any capacitors big enough to need time to discharge.

You could also get an alcohol spray, or some sort of solvent remover, and give it a squirt if that, it'll leave everything nice and clean and shiney. If you have a look in Maplin they will have stuff used for cleaning circuit boards: removing flux residue after soldering. Then leave it in the airing cupboard.

If you know a local repair shop, or someone in the electronics business, they may have an ultrasonic cleaner. It's a bath filled with water (I think) that uses ultrasonics to clean the boards. Don't know much about them, but the technicians where I used to work used them to clean PCBs after assembly. Anyway, they may give it a quick clean in one of those for you.

 

[doug748]

When I changed from an old Autohelm to a TP 30 I found the mountings more or less the same; the arm needed a good firm push to engage properly on the tiller. After getting water into the brand new unit I made a twee little cover for it, to my mind this is essential on all of these types of helm. When you have the instructions crank the sesitivity (is it called gain? can't remember) up to the max. Without this it can seem to wander to an inordinate degree in confined waters.

 

[jerryat]

Do check the obvious - have you moved anything ferrous nearer the autopilot - especially underneath it? I suggest this because of the panic experieinced by a friend of mine some years ago who had exactly the same problem as you.

I went aboard his boat to check the electrics, cable connections etc but was baffled. After a cup of tea and a think, I suggested we'd have to check there was no cable damage that was allowing an intermittent power supply. Then we found the Seagull outboard. 'When did you put this here' I asked.

'Oh, a couple of days ago .................. oh S**T!!! Yep, we moved it back to where it was normally stowed and bingo, an operating pilot!

Worth a thorough check IMHO just in case a 'helpful' crew has moved something!

 

[Athene V30]

I have two TP10s on board as they each seem to have a mini fit from time to time and I swap over.

Latest thing is they refuse to tack. They will put the boat about but then go into hibernation and want to keep going round in circles!