Raymarine Autopilot dropping to standby

[sy_gilana]

A new little bug. The AP is working fine everything appears normal, then we notice the sails losing trim, and we find were off course. Look at the ST6002 and its in standby mode.

I am going to make a little alarm buzzer connected to the clutch so that it will beep when power is cut, but this is a temporary patch.

Anybody else experienced this?

[dlymn]

our AH 6000 works fine motoring but cuts out when we are sailing. Maybe corrosion in a joint. we will replace primary power lines

[edmundsteele]

We too experienced this during a six year circumnavigation. The autopilot would get bored every week or so and switch itself to “Standby”. We never did locate the problem – we were using a “watch timer” set for around 18 minutes and added “check to see if the autopilot is on line” to the list of other checks. If you are under sail, the slamming of the sails back and forth are a dead giveaway but if motoring, you might be heading for North Korea.
Ed

[ErikFinn]

I want to follow this thread but also wanted to ask if you have had a lightning strike recently affecting your other electrical equipment?

[Snore]

When I first got my boat I had the same problem. It was the result of a voltage drop when the AP had to work hard. It seems that the PO used *%%#! lamp wire to supply the AP the wire was inadequate.

Rewiring with the right size wire solved the problem. If the boat is new-to-you check wire size. If you have had the boat for a few years, check the connections.




You do not mention the type of drive you have. Wheel drives can be overwhelmed by unbalanced rigs. Make sure that too much effort is not needed ad the helm before engaging the AP.

[hoppy]

I've had that problem with my St6002.

For me it started after I upgraded the software on my e7 MFD and the problem has not occurred since there was a newer release which I installed


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[Mithril Bham]

I've had the same problem which was aggravating. Voltage drop makes perfect sense. Electrical system maintenance is often overlooked.

[islandfeverJim]

I have a Simrad autopilot with the same problem that is driving me crazy!

[meirriba]

most probably electric supply issue.
check for corrosion on batteries outputs and the whole path leading to a/p

[skipgundlach]

We've had frequent, without any apparent causes, fall-off-to-standby in our ST6000.

Unfortunately, the only noise is three small beeps from below at the Nav, where the head end was originally installed on our hydraulic system; I usually don't hear it if I'm the one driving. And, our remote RP65 wheel-steerer/info repeater has no means to repeat that alarm.

So, we configured our chartplotter to a very narrow XTE; it alarms if we get off course if I don't notice a wind-direction change before that and re-engage it...

[sailorboy1]

When my old Raymarine AP did this is was part of its' death march even though it took over a year for it to finally give up.

[Rapanui]

I have noticed this problem occasionally over several years with our ST6002. Maybe once a day at most. Nearly always when sailing.
Since we fitted solar, the problem has reduced markedly to once in 4 weeks, so as others have said it seems almost certainly due to a momentary voltage drop. My view is that it occurs when the fridge kicks in requiring a large inrush current in coinciding with the pilot actuating, but have not conclusively verified that. Fortunately, I get a loud audible alarm from the chartplotter, so it is a nuisance rather than a danger.
I have contemplated fitting a large ~1 farad capacitor like the tw*ts fit for their mega power car boom boxes. Fitted to the DC switcboard 12V input which is remote from the batteries. That way, the feed to the instruments and other consumers should remain steady and allow large short term current draws without voltage dips. They are readily and cheaply available and easily fitted .

[Redline452]

It may well be a low-voltage dropout when the drive works hard, but I had a similar problem which turned out to be the 'Autopilot Integration' feature of our E80 MFD... our toddler would pull herself up on the cockpit MFD and her left thumb would hit the power switch, bringing up the softkey menu for
RadarTX/Stby ... ScannerOn/OFF ... Autopilot STBY - and her right hand would hit STBY. Turned off AP Integration feature until she outgrew that behaviour.

[Sailorman Ed]

I also have had this as a frequent issue. Two weeks ago we had guests at the helm after dark and he adjusted the lighting - suddenly it was dropping off every few minutes, drop the lighting and it worked better so I need to look at electrical connections (likely some corrosion) and how the lighting is wired in.

[Paul L]

Having the AP take a random flyer to standby mode is just unacceptable. Picture yourself flying down the face of a wave and the AP decides to turn itself to standby for a little break.. The boat now the boat rounds up and is beam onto the waves.
This is why I quit having Raymarine APs. I went through 3 Ray AP computers in 7 years and they all occasionally would take a flyer.