Raymarine Fluxgate Compass

[Panamajames]

I have a Raymarine ST 7001 autopilot that is a 2004 model. It appears the fluxgate compass is no longer working. Does this part normally go out. There are many sellers for them on the internet so it appears they do. Any thoughts?

Also I am ordering one and do not know where the old one is located, any ideas where it might be.

Thanks to all.

[Lancerbye]

The biggest source of electrical problems on any boat is connections. Check all connections that are part of the fluxgate compass circuit. Is it a hard wired Nema connection or a network connection?

[Panamajames]

It is a nema connection and those are clean. Where I had problems is where the actual motor for the autopilot is. The terminal strip was badly corroded and unusable so in lieu of a terminal strip I wired directly as a temp fix. Of course the problem occurred before I removed the wires from the terminal strip and wired directly to each other. The very thin blue and red wires are there as well as the smartpilot computer s2. It has its own connection there for fluxgate.
I am not an electric genius but I can sort of figure stuff out. My ohm reading is nothing not reading 0 or anything. on the blue wire so the tech says it must be the compass. Maybe these fluxgate compass is bad or the wire somehow is not right. I have a new terminal strip coming to me in a week or so but in the mean time I have wired from the linear drive direct instead of connecting with a terminal bar (I call it a busbar). I just need some ohm reading out of the blue wire. All other of the thin wires (5 total give me an ohm reading) Tech say no reading on blue means no connection or no good fluxgate compass.

By the way do you know where this fluxgate would be located the actually compass unit. I will search again but a small mystery now.

Any other advise you can give me would be appreciated. Thanks Jim

[donradcliffe]

Look for a little box all by itself, away from everything metal. Typically you can find them under the bed in the back cabin.

If you don't know where the compass is, it may have stopped working because you put a magnet next to it, like a fan or something with a loudspeaker.

[edsailing]

If you go on the Raymarine website you should be able to find the resistance readings for the fluxgate - I did this last year when i had problems - but you may need to hunt around. Alternately, email or phone them.

[Panamajames]

I have the resistance readings. I just dont know for sure if it is the fluxgate compass or a wire with a bad connection... thanks for your thoughts

[Lancerbye]

The fluxgate compass can be hidden in unusual places far away from the rest of the electronics to avoid interference. Mine is at the foot of the centerline bed in the forward master's cabin, in a compartment.

[JD-Odyssey]

I'm in the process of troubleshooting my compass. My autopilot would drop out when changed to a range of courses. I tried to recalibrate using the sea-trial calibration instructions but could not get it within spec. I seem to recall there are two perpendicular electromagnets in the compass and believe one of them to be defective or marginally working. I downloaded the ohm readings from Raymarine to check the circuits but just haven't gotten off my butt to look at it. For me, the worst case scenario is not a defective compass but a defective computer... the unit I have is no longer serviced.

Our compass is on the centerline of our boat (Hunter 41) and is mounted on a bulkhead in the bilge area directly under a sole panel. Ours was pretty easy to find from day one because a sticker was placed near it.