Raymarine Ng and seatalk issue

[MikeFergie]

Hi there

Til last weekend I ran 2 independent Raymarine systems.
Old seatalk wind, depth and autopilot st6003 head with a raymarine 125 gps direct to the autopilot
New 2 x a series 7 inch Mdf’s. The newer A series runs radar and sonar and the older a series I run only detailed maps. They are next to each other and the new one is the master.

So my plan was to integrate the 2 systems so I could link in the MDF to work with the autopilot.

I fitted the seatalk to ng converter and networked this into the network system.

To stop conflicts I turned off the gps units on both a series mdf’s.

The good news is that all of the nmea info seems to be passing through the system and the master a series now controls the autopilot.

My single problem is that on the mdf my boat my seems to crab at about 40 degrees off the centre. This only started doing this when I connected the 2 systems together. If I separate them and turn on the internal gps the boat tracks straight.

Both gps’s are running on true and not magnetic north. When I select a waypoint to go and turn the autopilot on I notice that the ST6003 controller gives a true bearing of say 240 degrees and the course over ground is almost 40 degrees off also in true north mode. Why is this such a difference and it’s not water or tide related it’s somehow in between the instruments and I’m not sure how to fix it.

Any comments ? Anyone had this before and found a way to “set it right”

Rgards
MikeF

[Snore]

What latitude do you operate in???

[KeelMe]

Best thing for you to do in this situation is...

1. Setup a minimal system that will allow the autopilot to work properly.
2. Add one additional piece to the network.
3. Confirm AP works properly.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 until the AP does not work right. You now know what is causing the problem.
5. Dig through that pieces config and you will likely see something wrong.
6. Once that problem is corrected repeat 2 thru 4 until everything is connected and working properly.

OR

Call a professional they can diagnose and repair the problem in a few hours. Costing you only a couple hundred bucks.

One last note. If this is a sailboat you should not be using COG as your heading. You should have a compass. If it's a power boat a compass is a lot better but COG is acceptable unless your putting around under 10 knots.

[MikeFergie]

Lat is 25 55 00 S

I will check to see if COG is set somewhere in the settings

[smac999]

your auto pilot heading is wrong. and needs to be calibrated. your chart plotter will now use heading from pilot to point the boat. instead of GPS.

read the heading degrees off the pilot display and compare it to a mag compass. and to your COG while moving. it's proably off by ~40 degrees.

COG and pilot heading should be pretty close while moving

[sailcrazy]

Had a similar issue with our chartplotter vs Raymarine AP. Raymarine tech said to resynch the AP compass.....you know, the 2 circles of at least 2 min each. According to Raymarine that should be redone every couple of years?? But it fixed our heading and chart orientation problem!

[MikeFergie]

Thanks for the replies guys. I will spend some time this weekend doing a recalibration. Let’s hope I can sort it

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by MikeFergie

Thanks for the replies guys. I will spend some time this weekend doing a recalibration. Let’s hope I can sort it

First Question...

Did you ever plate the software of all devices connected to the network? If not, do that before anything else. (It could be an issue that has already been resolved with software updates.

[MikeFergie]

So my plan the weekend was to check all the updates on the raymarine goodies were done then do a recalibration of the autopilot via the St 6003.

The updates of the a series mdf’s are current as was the ng converter box. The autopilot does not even show itself on my units in the maintenance section of the a series.

Next I did the recalibration of the compass of the autopilot (deviation of 4 degrees) and then I recalibrated the heading setting and everything is now 100%