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Need help calibrating my st2000

8K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  Faster 
#1 · (Edited)
So I struggled most of today trying to get my tiller pilot functioning properly. This my first autopilot and a fresh installation.

I do have it linked to my garmin chartplotter via nmea and all seems well there. However when sailing the tiller randomly goes WAYYYYY off course. The compass (shown when C shows up?) is miminimum out by 60degs.

I tried doing the slow less than 2kt circles multiple times and it never seems to calibrate. So then I saw you could hit auto and just enter your own value. That also didn't work but I'm wondering if I am misunderstanding it. So when entering my own number into that part of calibration is that the ACTUAL bearing I'm on or is that part for the deviation for my area? I tried entering my current bearing multiple times (which is how I was reading it in the book which is terrible) but the course was never right. Now I'm starting to think that manual number is supposed to be my deviation.

I think even when I set it to 0 it still had my bearing WAY off. I have no idea why I can't seem to do the circle trick either. Any help would be great, literally just leaving my tiller unattended unlashed holds a course better than this thing!

EDIT: I use compasses at work all the time but have always called the magnetic correction "declination", I am assuming raymarine "deviation" is the same thing different word.
 
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#2 ·
It's been my experience that when the tiller pilots go nuts like that on their own, electronic or magnetic interference are creating it. The most noteable of which is usually when you transmit with the VHF. The extra consumed power, and transmit power will sometimes make a pretty impressive EMF that causes the TP to go nuts.

Is why to get a very stable tiller (or auto) pilot, they usually recommend a fluxgate or rate compass, and that it be located on centerline and as low as possible in the boat. That is supposed to compensate for sea state and also be far away from EMF etc. Yeah its a big purchase I get it. I considered doing it on my S2 because I was always calibrating my TP22 as well, but I attributed many of my problems to the stern mounted antenna which I moved to the top of the mast instead.

Anyway, I hope some of that will help you track down the problem.

By the way the ST2000 is a pretty reliable device so if no external source can be identified, before you spend the money on the external fluxgate compass, consider a troubleshooting session with tech support with Raymarine.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Thanks shnool, I was only powering my chartplotter and the st2000 at the time. Batteries are literally a few days old. My outboard was running but I would hope the unit is built to be ok with an engine running as it's hard to sail slow circles on sail alone.

I planned on calling raymarine but assumed they closed up on weekends.
 
#5 ·
Good thoughts, sail #1 when I first bought her I noticed the compass was ouT by 25deg. I went into the galley and found 2 large alpine speakers. I did a speaker-ectomy and voila all was well.

I did run the st2k without the nmea hooked up and it had the same issues. In fact I hooked up the nmea thinking it may source is compass info from the plotter and work right (nope!).
 
#6 ·
Does the raymarine have a full reset feature? I had to do a full reset on my Simrad shortly after I got it - operator error I couldn't figure out how to get back from at that time after playing with the buttons!
 
#7 · (Edited)
IIRC the rate of turn is important too.. more so that boat speed, I expect. Perhaps you were turning the boat too quickly around the full circle? I want to say 2 minutes for each turn but it's been a while.

FWIW, my SH plotter will not play nice with my RM wheel pilot. The 'track' function seems to be about 60 degrees out. I rarely use that function so it's not a big deal. When we switch to 'auto' it holds whatever course we were on at that time.
 
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#8 ·
as I recall both the Simrad AND the Raymarine, beep, or blink for faster, or slower rate of turn boat speed is actually irelevant. so you can go fast, but do a bigger loop, if you catch my drift.

Does sound like interference to me, since its pretty random.

One last thing I'll state... the internal fluxgate compass is suspended in a plastic gimbal. I managed to break one of the 2 arches in my plastic gimbal in my raymarine 1000+ (I am guessing the 2000+ is built the same way). I found a way (Ebay) to purchase the whole internal fluxgate compass, for about $95 shipped, and replace it (mine wasn't under warranty, and I'm also sure that they'd say I was to rough with it causing the break - and they likely would have been right). Anyway, I'd argue it's possible that the gimbal could have been busted by shipping (or even accidental drop or the like). Perhaps a crack in the gimbal and at times it causes the compass to stick.

Mine had tell-tale signs though, it rattled a little when you lifted it.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Thanks everyone for the ideas. I did look for a factory resey in case I buggered the settings but there doesn't appear to be one. I stopped by the boat today on the way home with a clearer head and another go at the (poorly written) manual.

I was still confused on how it words the compass deviation section so I tried two options.

1) As it appears to elude to in the manual, I adjusted the manual calibration with the +1/-1 buttons to my boats current heading. I saved it and nope off by 60 or so degrees.

2) I thought maybe the entry was supposed to be the declination so I entered it as 7deg for my area. Nope, still not even close.

3) As a last thought I assumed the compass in the unit is preset and all the manual entry keys you do is bring it back X Number of degrees it may be out. So I set it to 0 and the digital readout showed a difference of nearly 70 deg from my boats compass. So I took 70 of my boats bearing and took that number (or something like that, 200 and change iirc) and entered it into the calibration deviation. Suddenly now the compass on the st2k reads the right bearing. It's annoying how it flashes the deviation number on and off but the compass is on point now.

I didn't have a chance to try it but it looks alot better now. Seriously though that manual is terrible. The layout is weird with what feels like random placement and no rhyme or reason to the chapters to the wording being very vague. Ah well, crossing my fingers it'll work for my next trip!
 
#10 ·
I have owned a few of these, and every one I have had always shows a bit of deviation on the heading display. However, it never stops them from working correctly and keeping me on course - I simply ignore what the autopilot "says". The easy way to run this is simply get on the heading you desire, connect the pilot to the tiller and press the auto button. It should keep steering the correct course even if the compass heading shows off. However, 70 degrees seems like a lot - the only time I have seem one that off was magnetic interference near the autopilot (speakers in the cockpit). Also, running these simple tiller pilots from a chart plotter makes them overly complicated to use - these are simple devices that work well when used simply: get on the direction you want to go, hook on the pilot and press auto. Then use the buttons as you need to make course corrections or to tack.
 
#11 ·
As a side note I ran into one more issue that may have been complicating things. Sometimes when I plug the unit in and hit auto is like it remembers the laSt auto course I had used and suddenly turns to find it. Now when I plug it in I give it a minute to find its direction on the compass and when I hit auto I watch to see if it's on the current bearing or the old one.
 
#12 ·
Our RM wheel pilot always 'takes over' at whatever heading we are on when switched to auto.

Pretty sure that's what's supposed to happen.
 
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