Upgrading old Autopilot

[Guest]

I have been told that it is possible to control older autopilot drive gear with modern electronic controllers. I have a Neco 892 Autopilot which has a wonderfully engineered cast geared quadrant and powerful and fully functional drive motor. The electronics, however, have seen better days and I would like to hear if anyone has successfully converted an older drive gear to run with a modern contoller.I really don't want to have to rip it all out and put another drive gear in.

 

[charles_reed]

I doubt you'll find any one who has done this - but if your Neco has a simple reversing motor (check by using a voltmeter on the input feed), the majority of control heads work in exactly that manner.

The reason you're unlikely to find any conversion:
1. Modern electric motors are smaller, lighter and more efficient.
2. It's unlikely that any company will sell you the control head alone
so you'll not save any money and give yourself potential headaches.

 

[duke]

I have a Neco 692 auto pilot.
I agree with Charles.
As far as I know it is not possible to upgrade with more modern electronics.

However, try contacting: D. G. COVENTRY
25 CLOVELLY ROAD
SOUTHBOURNE
NR EMSWORTH
HANTS
PO10 8PD
ENGLAND
TEL. / FAX. (0) 1243 377868

He is a specialist in Neco marine service. In fact I think he is the only person
now offering this service in UK.
He should be in a position to advise you or point you in the right direction.

Duke.


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by duke on 10/08/2002 13:43 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[castaway]

Interestingly I was just thinking about this option myself as I have an ancient "Pinta" auto pilot.

A few months back I was tying to find out if anyone still maintained these units (it had transpired that the gentleman who built and maintained them had passed away).

Anyway I called AW Marine, at I think Haslar ( Gosport ) 02392 501207 and he was vey helpful and suggested doing just what you mention, using the existing drive but fitting modern electronic controls.

Id be quite interested to hear how you get on with this, good luck.

Regards Nick

 

[SteveA]

Yes it is possible to upgrade your autopilot and keep the Neco drive unit - cos I've just done exactly that.

Mine was the Neco 692 but the electronics were giving problems.

The Raymarine ST6001 is a modular system so I purchased the core pack (main electronics, compass and rudder feedback) and the control unit and then had the drive motor modified by Greenham Regis marine for £200 - saving me about £1000 on a new one. - they were very helpful and told me they had done this sort of thing on several occasions.

Since fitting it about 3 months ago I've found it works very well.

Hope this helps.
SteveA

p.s. if anyone wants a Neco compass for the 692 autopilot they can have mine redundant one for the cost of the carriage!

 

[ccscott49]

Yes, it can be done, greenham regis will do iot for you, I intend to have my excellent Sharp autopilot hydraulic drive unit modiofied for modern electronics, so I can link everything together, GPS etc and carry spares for my future cross atlantic plans, sharp oceanpilot stuff is no longer available, unless somebody knows different?

 

[gunnarsilins]

I can easely be done!

I Canadian company, ComNav makes modern control heads and interfaces for old Neco pilots. www.comnavmarine.com
I´m planning to do this myself on my 826 during next winter.

 

[Guest]

Re: I can easely be done!

I have been in touch with them and they suggested I contact their UK distributor who quoted approx £1600 for the conversion.

 

[Guest]

Derek Coventry serviced my Neco last year and it hasn't worked since! I am sure there is a perfectly logical reason but I have come to the conclusion that it is good money after bad trying to keep these old electronics alive.

 

[Guest]

It looks like it is possible by the response here. I have been in touch with Raymarine, Cetrek and Comnav all of whom are willing to supply the control heads. On the question of new motors being more efficient I would think you are right but the old ones are built like battleships and mine never ran the batteries down significantly after the usual channel crossing.

 

[celandine]

I have also been grappling with this problem for over a year now, and this is the third time it has come up on this forum. SteveA's is the most promising post I have read to date. I know that there are many many people who, like you and me, are loath to throw out the superbly engineered and almost indestructable Neco drive unit. I am determined to solve it during the coming winter. Some further means of sharing information on this might be useful to a lot of people.

 

[gunnarsilins]

What!?

I was in touch with their Swedish agent. A new control head, a remote for the cockpit and necessary interfaces would equal about £ 1000.
By the way, I helped a friend of mine to install an entirely new ComNav autopilot system into his 34´ motorboat. I must say I was quite impressed by the quality of the parts, installation guides - and in the end, the performance. The guys at ComNav seems to be knowing what they are doing!

 

[bedouin]

In theory this is feasible - I am looking to do the same with my Autohelm (tiller version), but sticking with Raymarine to ease compatibility issues.

The Autohelm motor is a simple two wire 12V motor. Connect it one way and it turns one way, connect it the other and it turns the other way. I can't imagine yours being any different.

The main obstacle you could face is that the modern equivalent could be smaller and more efficient = less current through the motors. So a modern control unit might not be able to provide sufficient current to drive your unit. In theory that could be rectified by adding external transistors to beef up the current-handling capacity but that is getting a little complicated.

The other, more mundane, issue I found is that you don't actually save much money. Raymarine will sell the control unit on its own, but that is at full "service" prices, and so works out very little cheaper than buying the whole thing from a discount source.

 

[SteveA]

The Neco drive unit isn't a simple reversing motor, apparently, and some internal wiring mods are required to make it suitable to be driven by a modern system - as I mentioned previously Greenham Regis have experience of this, it takes one of their engineers about a day to complete and costs about £200.

I selected the Raymarine ST6001+ control unit and type 400 core pack. This core pack has a continuous drive motor output rating of 30A - far above the maximum requirements of the Neco motor. ( I got quite a good deal from GR - and I have no connnection with them!)

Since fitting this setup about three months ago on my Moody Halberdier( took about half a day for me to fit)it has worked very well and I find that battery power consumption is far less as the motor is being worked less - presumably due to the new, superior control system.

SteveA

 

[Guest]

Steve,
Yours sounds like the best route and at least you have experience of it working. Do you have a contact number for Greenham Regis Marine?