SIMRAD Auto Pilot Novice Question

[IOLANI]

Ok so my boat has an older model SIMRAD auto pilot on board. I have never had a need to use it and don't foresee a need to use it anytime soon but was curious to know if it's in operating condition.

I powered up the control but didn't realize it was on because the display is toast and very faint. I toggled the left and right arrows and heard a solenoid of some sort clacking in the starboard engine room. Then with a flashlight I was able to see the screen read "Rudder" with a bar graph at the bottom. Toggling the solenoid moved the digital readout to 04, 05, 06 and back again. I then powered it off.

I know the smart thing to do would have been to find the manual and familiarize myself with its operation but that's hindsight. Like I said my curiosity got the best of me.

My question is once the unit is turned off is there any residual effects from the adjustment I made or does it completely relegate control back to the operator with no effect ?

Curiosity killed the cat but I don't want it to kill this cat....

 

[bostonhatteras]

I had the same system, but with the AP 22 head which is simply a smaller version of that AP 25. The hydraulic pump would operate by pressing the Dodge arrows, even without navigation or automatic engaged. I can’t recall how many degrees of helm those dodge buttons would produce with each press, but it wasn’t much.
That’s only one aspect of that system, though you have either a digital compass or a rate compass someplace in the boat you have a control module you got a rudder feedback at the rudders. That said without seeing the display almost anything can be wrong with that system. It was a great reliable system. I’ll say that, but I can’t vouch for whoever installed yours. What ended up ending the use of mine was the rate compass died and it was impossible to replace so I just switched the system for a newer simrad.

 

[bostonhatteras]

By the way, I should tell you how it behaved with a bad rate compass. The boat would get on the heading that you would set by pressing automatic and the rate compass would work, and then it may attempt to make the boat take an abrupt 90° turn or something. it was completely spontaneous and quite disturbing. I don’t know if the GPS coordinates provided by the chart plotter would’ve overcome the rate compasses problem with the nav mode but I never tried. We stopped using the system pretty quickly once that started.

 

[IOLANI]

By the way, I should tell you how it behaved with a bad rate compass. The boat would get on the heading that you would set by pressing automatic and the rate compass would work, and then it may attempt to make the boat take an abrupt 90° turn or something. it was completely spontaneous and quite disturbing. I don’t know if the GPS coordinates provided by the chart plotter would’ve overcome the rate compasses problem with the nav mode but I never tried. We stopped using the system pretty quickly once that started.

Yeah that's the kind of story that keeps me up at night......I think I'll just turn the breaker off to it.

(Actually I think the breaker is off which is why I was surprised to hear the solenoid clacking when I pressed the keypad.

 

[Pascal]

When you press auto, the AP goes in heading mode maintaining the current heading until you use the rotary button to change the heading. You can also press the red or green arrow which will change the heading 1 degree per press.

The display will show you the rudder angle as the rudder moves. After a few seconds when the AP detects boat isn’t turning and the heading remains constant, the AP will thrown rudder failure alarm.

 

[krush]

$1500-2400 will get you a sweet Furuno Navpilot 300 with remote you can point!

 

[Yachtsmyth]

still a great unit. Guy in south florida can fix that screen call Carlos at Quikflip 305.331.4980 or
Max Marine Electronics Inc
Phone: 754-220-6565
even if you dont want to use the autopilot the rudder indicator is great

 

[IOLANI]

still a great unit. Guy in south florida can fix that screen call Carlos at Quikflip 305.331.4980 or Max Marine Electronics Inc Phone: 754-220-6565even if you dont want to use the autopilot the rudder indicator is great

Thanks I think I’ll do that .

 

[CGHOST4]

Gauge Saver has done work for me with great results.
Call first to make sure they can work on you unit.
https://gaugesaver.com/


Caesars Ghost
1980 58YF #472

 

[cww]

There are a variety of vendors who fix bad LCD displays for less than a new display and certainly a whole lot less than an entirely new autopilot system costs. I just had my Raymarine chartplotter fixed by an outfit in South Florida for a few hundred dollars and they did a bang up job, it works great now.

It was this place:

Seawire Marine