B&G Hydra autopilot malfunctioning

[janhein.dejong]

HI all,
I recently had the pleasure of acquiring a new 49 ft sailing yacht and am planning to make an Atlantic crossing in fall. The yacht is outfitted with a B&G Hydra instrument and auto-pilot system. However, the system shows some erratic behavior:

• When enabling the auto-pilot in COMPS mode (steer to compass heading), the ship starts a stable oscillation of about +/- 15 degrees around the set-point. When moving to a new set-point, this oscillating motion remains present during the course change.
• When enabling the auto-pilot in WIND mode (steer to AWA), the auto-pilot initially refures to engage, and when it finally does, it switches to COMPS mode immediately.
• When making several large course changes in COMPS mode (>100 deg, as described in commissioning manual), the auto-pilot sometimes suddenly disengages halfway through the turn.
• When enabling the auto-pilot in POWER mode (control rudder position), it initially works, but sometimes is unable to control the rudder.

Does anyone (A) have an idea what I can do to fix this, and (B) know whether it is possible to export logs from the pilot for trouble shooting? I’ve already tried:

• Going through the described commissioning procedure. Performed everything, except gain calibration (auto-pilot disengages during course corrections); and DIP, speed calibration and swing as these are not applicable to my setup.
• Manually altering the gain and lag settings, to little avail.

My system setup:

• A Type 2 auto-pilot, connected to a hydraulic linear ram, rudder reference unit, and instrument unit
• An instrument unit, with connections to a wind sensor (speed, angle, speed is malfunctioning); a speed sensor; and a Halcyon 3 compass
• Several displays (Hydra 2 instrument display, Hydra 2 pilot display,
  Halcyon 3 display, B&G 20/20 CD display, B&G plotter). The pilot display LCD has a few “blank” spots, but the buttons work fine, and I can make do.
  

My system settings:
- BTYPE: SAIL
- BLEN: 15
- BLAG: 0.3
- RGAIN: 20
- RTIRM: 1.9
- H SRC: 5
- H OFF: -1
- DIP: 0
- DRIVE: A S CAL 6.25

[Time2Go]

Don’t know if it’s relevant to your issues
but I would check what software version your B&G is running.
Years ago had AP randomly disengaging and it was traced to a
“Timeout Error” in the software.
Brand New Boat to boot.
I’m sure the thread could be found by searching
I quest it was around 2013
Cheers
Neil

Originally Posted by janhein.dejong

HI all,
I recently had the pleasure of acquiring a new 49 ft sailing yacht and am planning to make an Atlantic crossing in fall. The yacht is outfitted with a B&G Hydra instrument and auto-pilot system. However, the system shows some erratic behavior:

• When enabling the auto-pilot in COMPS mode (steer to compass heading), the ship starts a stable oscillation of about +/- 15 degrees around the set-point. When moving to a new set-point, this oscillating motion remains present during the course change.
• When enabling the auto-pilot in WIND mode (steer to AWA), the auto-pilot initially refures to engage, and when it finally does, it switches to COMPS mode immediately.
• When making several large course changes in COMPS mode (>100 deg, as described in commissioning manual), the auto-pilot sometimes suddenly disengages halfway through the turn.
• When enabling the auto-pilot in POWER mode (control rudder position), it initially works, but sometimes is unable to control the rudder.

Does anyone (A) have an idea what I can do to fix this, and (B) know whether it is possible to export logs from the pilot for trouble shooting? I’ve already tried:

• Going through the described commissioning procedure. Performed everything, except gain calibration (auto-pilot disengages during course corrections); and DIP, speed calibration and swing as these are not applicable to my setup.
• Manually altering the gain and lag settings, to little avail.

My system setup:

• A Type 2 auto-pilot, connected to a hydraulic linear ram, rudder reference unit, and instrument unit
• An instrument unit, with connections to a wind sensor (speed, angle, speed is malfunctioning); a speed sensor; and a Halcyon 3 compass
• Several displays (Hydra 2 instrument display, Hydra 2 pilot display,
  Halcyon 3 display, B&G 20/20 CD display, B&G plotter). The pilot display LCD has a few “blank” spots, but the buttons work fine, and I can make do.
  

My system settings:
- BTYPE: SAIL
- BLEN: 15
- BLAG: 0.3
- RGAIN: 20
- RTIRM: 1.9
- H SRC: 5
- H OFF: -1
- DIP: 0
- DRIVE: A S CAL 6.25

[SailingHarmonie]

First, be sure that there is no air in the hydraulic system. That sounds like good possibility, especially since you say it has issues with the power steer mode. If the autopilot can not put, and hold, the rudder in a commanded position, then nothing else is going to work.

If that is KNOWN good, then go back and do a full original installation procedure from the software, both the dockside and underway parts.