Autopilot which to chose Simrad AP2402 or Raymarine EVO-200

[sunodyssey]

Hello,

In order to have a really good and reliable AP I'm looking at what the different brand has to offer and two interest me very much. There is only 60$ in overall price so the price is not something that will help chose.

All my electronics are Raymarine ST60, Chart Plotter E90W and RLC70+ even my malfunctionning AP that I want to change.

Which one would you suggest me to chose between Simrad or Raymarine? And please tell me why you'd chose this one.

I have no preferences at all so all comments are welcome and I do not want to change my electronics in the future (well not in the near future).

Thanks for you comments

[BocaIII]

Both the Simrad and Raymarine are excellent AP, I think the Raymarine will be a easier install with your current system. I am running the new Raymarine EVO system, it works perfect.
Jack

[rourkeh]

Simrad is the most popular autopilot on the market regardless of type or size of boat. From a recreational standpoint it is the most reliable, robust unit out there. You need to make sure you purchase the right size drive unit for your size and weight of application (bigger is better). The interface should not present any problem with Raymarine as all units are now NMEA 2000. I know that all the Simrad AP units work directly from the plotter displays with their own units like the NSS etc, so you don't even need a control head any more.

[dlockhart]

Regardless of which one you choose fellow Canadian, I would make a real effort to isolate the power through a breaker AND the ground through another breaker or some sort of throw switch.
A month or so ago now, we were up in Canada visiting our new grandson and we returned to the boat getting at around 2 am, there were no lights and and an awful smell. Lightning had struck something, I suspect something to do with the shore power by the looks of the remnants of the onboard battery charger, came through the ground and fried all the Raymarine stuff and pretty much everything else even though the breakers were all off except for the lights, fridge control and freezer all of which were also lost.
I now have to replace everything and was thinking maybe a different brand thus my interest in your post.
Just a suggestion.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by dlockhart

Regardless of which one you choose fellow Canadian, I would make a real effort to isolate the power through a breaker AND the ground through another breaker or some sort of throw switch.

Just a suggestion.

AGREE here: We weee struck 6 weeks ago and lost a lot of stuff. The Simrad NSE8 was not lost. Its breaker was off and all double throw switches for the interconnected radar, NSE8, and depth transponder were also off. I will be adding the extra switches to EVERYTHING.

[a64pilot]

I though a way lightning damaged things was the high voltage simply jumped across the gap of an open switch?
If this is indeed true switching the ground won't help

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

AGREE here: We weee struck 6 weeks ago and lost a lot of stuff. The Simrad NSE8 was not lost. Its breaker was off and all double throw switches for the interconnected radar, NSE8, and depth transponder were also off. I will be adding the extra switches to EVERYTHING.

What type of switch are you suing for the NMEA2000 connections?

[dlockhart]

I would think that the NMEA 2000 wires are only connecting 1 device to another for data with each having +12v and -12v plus the NMEA wires to relay the data. If the 12v+ and 12v- wires were disconnected on all the only way that lightning would travel from one to the other is if the device itself were hit (highly unlikely).
The lightning hits the utility wires or the highest conductive point in the area usually which would be your aluminum mast but more often than not the utility wires. I still think it came in through the neutral side of my battery charger and raced through the ground side of all my 12v devices and appliances. In the future I plan to isolate everything except those that absolutely need to run on both positive and negative sides.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by dlockhart

I would think that the NMEA 2000 wires are only connecting 1 device to another for data with each having +12v and -12v plus the NMEA wires to relay the data. If the 12v+ and 12v- wires were disconnected on all the only way that lightning would travel from one to the other is if the device itself were hit (highly unlikely).
The lightning hits the utility wires or the highest conductive point in the area usually which would be your aluminum mast but more often than not the utility wires. I still think it came in through the neutral side of my battery charger and raced through the ground side of all my 12v deviceccurss and appliances. In the future I plan to isolate everything except those that absolutely need to run on both positive and negative sides.

Much of the electronics damage from lightning occurs from currents induced in long wire runs from the EMP of the hit. The wires do not need to be connected to anything that gets directly hit by the lightning. The magnetic pulse creates currents in the wires and inside the instruments.

[colemj]

The shielding on the NMEA cables should help with mitigating EMP. Things like the radar and chartplotter are not powered through the NMEA cable (or should not be), so a power disconnect for them is needed as well.

Mark

[Blue Stocking]

Investigate ComNav, from BC. Very good gear, talks any language. Look at the 1101 model.