Ron, I had the same unit in Cat's Paw and a similar thing happened. In my case, the drive motor turning the wheel would only turn one way, so of course the boat ended up in a tight circle. Reversing the leads to the motor showed that the motor would turn in both directions, but the drive circuitry in the control would only get activated for one direction.
Raymarine said they did not repair these older units, and in the end I bought a new controller. For these "newer" units, it is also necessary to buy a Raymarine "computer" to which the controller and the motor (and the fluxgate compass) are connected. All told, it was about a $1000 purchase. Check to see if the motor only turns one way, like mine did. If so, then you will probably need to buy a new system, even though I am sure the drive circuitry could have been repaired by someone who knew how to do it. Eric Frank Cat's Paw C&C 35 Mk II Mattapoisett, MA > Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 11:14:16 -0400 > From: Ron Kaye <ronkaye...@gmail.com> > To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com > Subject: Stus-List Newbie problems with an older autopilot > > On the return trip the Raymarine Autohelm 4000 (PO- used > this for years) decided to freak out and wanted to turn the boat in hard > circles to starboard. We couldn't get it to snap out of it - pushed the > Standby and Auto buttons repeatedly, held them in for longer periods, > turned the unit off and back on, unplugged it - essentially everything > short of "percussive maintenance" - which might actually have been a good > idea. I cant find anything in the user manual that covers this issue > unless some internal mode got somehow switched. > > I'm wondering if this scanario sounds familiar with anyone and hoping there > might be a "Doh!" fix. We know the unit is old and pretty basic by current > standards. There was an upgrade kit by Raymarine that used the same drive > hardware with a next generation control head (at4000 model I think it was) > but even that system is now older and the kit has been discontinued by > Raymarine. Is there some kind of work-around if it comes to that where a > new controller can interface with the existing drive motor? Is there any > inexpensive way out of this? If the system really should just be > completely replaced we'll do that but hopefully we can avoid > that. > Thanks for any help with this. > > -- > Ron & Lisa > To be Renamed > 1986 _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
