Autohelm-5000 Analogic

[Briboon]

Dear all,

First of all let me introduce myself given that this is my first time in the forum. I'm a Spanish lover of sailing and after some years owning a 19 feet Hunter Europa, I've just bought a 37 feet Spanish sailboat (Furia) built in 1984.

So, as you can imagine, I'm working a lot trying to renew almost everything

The boat is fitted out with an Autohelm 5000 autopilot and a RayNav 575 GPS. The autopilot is not working at all. The drive unit lacks the circuit board and I don't know where to get it. Any advise about it?

The second question is: Could the RayNav be linked to the autopilot system? I mean, does the RayNav give the instructions to the autohelm pilot to follow the course? And additionally, do anyone know where can I find the RayNav 575 owner's manual?

Thanks in advance

[colemj]

I don't have any real knowledge for you on these, only to point out that those are very old units and you probably won't find OEM replacement parts for them. Maybe ebay, etc for used units that you can piece together.

If the drive unit on the AP is bad and a below-deck drive, you can probably buy another drive unit - they tend to be pretty generic. If it is one of the wheel drives with belts, then you probably cannot buy a new one.

And I think that RayNav is a Loran unit and not GPS? If so, Loran no longer exists, so it isn't very useful.

Good luck and welcome to CF!

Mark

[Briboon]

Thanks a lot Mark for so useful information.


The control unit seems to be ok and the drive unit woks properly when it's plugged to a 12v source, but it lacks of the circuit board to translate the signal from the control unit. I'm trying on the Internet to find one used or repaired, up to know with no success...

The Raynav is a GPS. I own one portable Lowrance plotter GPS but I wonder whether I could use the Raynav to give possitions to the VHF and the autopilot and take out the Lowrance to the cockpit avoiding complex installation.

One question more (I'm sorry but as you can see I'm new in these matters) with respect to the GPS antenna. Does any GPS work with any GPS antenna or it should be brand specific?

Once again many thanks

Jose

[applefritter]

Hello:
Not sure if you are still looking for information on your analog Autohelm 5000 autopilot, but if you are I might be able to help out a bit - have just spent a couple of very frustrating weeks repairing/rebuilding mine (electrical and mechanical issues). There is currently on ebay a 'motor board' available in the US - have no idea if it is working or not, but it could be a starting point. The electronics on these units are not that complicated so even if some components are no good they are fairly easy to replace. In fact, the only parts I have not been able to locate replacements for so far are the fluxgate compass and the small motor that drives it, but these are located in the control unit and you advise that it seems to be okay. I can advise that these autopilots are 'self contained' and were never designed to connect with your other instruments, so hooking it up to the GPS is a no-go (unless you are an electronics genius!). I have not been able to get my hands on a service manual for this AP, but one of the other members of the forum was able to provide me with schematics and PCB layouts which I can forward on to you if you need them.

[Briboon]

Hello applefritter,

Your reply is very appreciated.

Unfortunately. after a thorough review of the control unit by an expert, the conclusion is that neither it works at all nor it is repairable.

Now I'm thinking of buying a new autopilot (the new Raymarine Evolution looks pretty good) but I'm not sure whether my drive unit (old but in good condition) could be connected (what would suppose saving a considerable ammount of money) Do you have any advice about that?

Many thanks in advance

[applefritter]

Hello Briboon:With respect to the drive unit - I assume you have the old combi5000 linear drive that was supposed to have a circuit board (based on your earlier comments). If that is the case, and you are certain that both the motor and the clutch are good ( they are both really easy to check - the motor should turn in both directions based on which way you hook up the power supply, and the clutch should lockup when you apply 12 volts (assuming your unit is a 12 volt one!). You can quite easily hook this linear drive unit up to a new brain box. The newer versions of the Raymarine autopilot computers have effectively located what was the motor circuit board (basically a power amplifier) into the core computer so in your case you would no longer need the motor circuit board (a big plus for you) and would simply connect the two motor wires to the motor output terminals of the core computer, and the two clutch wires to the clutch output terminals. The old linear drive units were effectively what is now referred to as a type 1 drive, so all you have to make certain is that your new course computer is able to power a type 1 linear drive. The new evolution autopilots appear to be very good, but if you want to save a few dollars you could consider one of the older Raymarine units, your drive will work with any of them.
Regards,
Rob