"No Pilot"Error on ST6002 Autopilot

[yynhymr]

Looking for help troubleshooting issues arising during an upgrade from a Raytheon type 100 course computer to an Raymarine S3G AST Smart Pilot and ST6002 Autopilot. I can't get past or make sense of the "No Pilot". Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I suspect that the course computer is not communicating with the control head but i don't know why or how to confirm that. I've had this boat for 12 years but do not have a wiring diagram for the nav system.

Equipment:
• RL80C Chartplotter
• RL70C Pathfinder repeater/radar
• ST6002 Autopilot Control Head
• ST50 WSD
• S3G AST Smart pilot Course Computer (upgrading from a type 100 that was giving a seatalk failure error message I THOUGHT was coming from a bad computer)
• Raystar 112LP GPS Tansducer
• Raytheon flux gate compass of the same era

What I have Tested
1. Disconnected seatalk yellow and gray wires at course computer – all instrument remain on
2. Voltage at chart plotter, st6002, seatalk junction box, and course computer
a. Gray (shield) to yellow - varies between 9.5-12.3v
b. Gray to red 13.34v
c. Red to yellow – varies between 1.5-3.5v
d. Main power cables into course computer - 13.34v
3. Tried seatalk connection in both seatalk ports of course computer

Other Data
• Chartplotter shows “no fix’
• Repeater shows vessel position, depth, wind, SOG, COG, distance to waypoint, date, time.
o Shows this even with seatalk disconnected at course computer
• Repeater shows dashes for heading, pilot, heading, TTG, XTE
• GPS wires splice to chartplotter wires and attach to course computer seatalk port
o Red wires are spliced but NOT connected to course computer
• 5 sets of seatalk wires come together in a junction box but only 2 are marked (chartplotter and repeater)

Thank you!

Jim

[Darksyde]

I had a similar problem. Have you checked the connection between
the ST 50 and the AutoPilot.
In my System the out port from the ST50 had a malfunction.

you can try to go go directly in your Autopilot Display without the ST 50 to check it

M

[yynhymr]

Thanks Darksyde. I believe the connection from the ST50 WSD instruments to the autopilot is made at the junction box and I have full voltage at both sides so I assume that run of wire is OK, but perhaps voltage is not the correct test. The only thing connected to my ST6002 is a single seatalk cable that seems to run to the junction box. I'll try to buy a long seatalk cable tomorrow to start isolating instruments.

[Darksyde]

Hi Jim,

for sure you have full voltage. You autopilot shows "no pilot"
So there must be power

Try to get a sea talk cable to test it out

Marcus

[yynhymr]

Thanks Marcus. I'm obviously weak in this knowledge sphere and am flailing through the trouble shooting process. Hoping to borrow a long Seatalk cord to test. Once I get one I'll add what I find.

[sailon46]

Sailing yesterday back to st Croix from St. John my 6002 was giving me the same issues fixed it by removing my jeans and the belt buckle electromagnetic interference [i surmise] from the fluxgate.
For what it's worth
Ernie on the Mary Jane

[Redline452]

"No Pilot" means that the control head is not communicating with the course computer. Best thing would be to try connecting ONLY the control head to the course computer via Seatalk. I had that when one of the other instruments had a failure jamming the SeaTalk bus. In your case the varying voltage on the yellow implies that something is still talking... but not that the data is clean. The chartplotter's "No Fix" message also means that it is not seeing the GPS receiver, which could be a symptom of the same (jammed SeaTalk) problem.

If the control head and course computer communicate when they are the only things on the bus, start adding back Seatalk devices one at a time until it breaks again.

BTW, the 400G course computer installation instructions recommend a dedicated SeaTalk connection to the control head, with its second SeaTalk port used for everything else. Naturally the dealer hadn't bothered, but one of my many upgrades was to run a dedicated AP Seatalk bus, leaving the other 8 instruments and 2 chart plotters on the other. Naturally, nothing else has failed (yet), but at least I know the AP is independent of them.

[Mojadito]

With Seatalk 1, the Yellow, Red, and shield (gray, black, or bare) needs to be connected at all appliances. You mentioned that the red is not connected at the Course Computer. It may be as simple as connecting it.

[sailorboy1]

It's GPS antenna

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by Mojadito

With Seatalk 1, the Yellow, Red, and shield (gray, black, or bare) needs to be connected at all appliances. You mentioned that the red is not connected at the Course Computer. It may be as simple as connecting it.

Normally the red Seatalk wire is NOT connected at the course computer. The course computer requires more current than the Seatalk bus can supply.

The "no pilot" message means the control head and course computer are not taking to each other. The course computer may not be powered on which is the most common cause of the "no pilot" message.

[jstevens]

Jim,
+1 on what TransmitterDan said about not connecting the red SeaTalk cable to the course computer it there is any other power source on the SeaTalk network. I assume your T100 was wired that way and you connected the S3 in the same manner, and I assume your SeaTalk network gets power from one of the other devices (e.g., chartplotter) or has its own power source.

Couple of things come to mind.

1. You have power to the Course Computer so it should be running. The one thing that might cause it to not come up is that a fuse in the computer has blown. I believe there are two fuses on the S3, one for power the other for SeaTalk. Either could cause the No Pilot display.

2. You have 5 sets of SeaTalk cables in a junction box. The cables to the chartplotter and radar are labeled. The other cables might be for...
ST50
S3 course computer
ST6002 Control Head
You state that the GPS wired by a split cable directly to both the chartplotter and radar, so I'm guessing it is not connected to the junction box. Is the GPS in fact a SeaTalk device?

3. Have you tried to display the ST50 data on the ST6002. That would at least show that the ST6002 SeaTalk interface is working and the SeaTalk network is intact.

So assuming the S3 fuses are good and the SeaTalk network is functioning, I would at least try to connect the ST6002 directly to the unused SeaTalk port on the S3. In this case you would connect the Red cable to the S3 terminal so the ST6002 will power up when the S3 has power. If that works then there may be a problem with how the S3 is connected to the junction box.

Anyway, those are intial troubleshooting checks I would perform.

John

[Mojadito]

I am sticking by my earlier post. The Seatalk red wire is NORMALLY hooked to the Course Computer. Granted, the Course Computer does need its own power supply, heavier gauge wires, but it also SUPPLIES power to the Seatalk Network, There is even a seperate fuse in the Course Computer for that purpose (which should be checked). The Seatalk network may have a seperate power supply, but this is rare. It is easy enough to check, just check the voltage from the Seatalk Red & Shield. It should be system (12v) voltage. If it is not, hook up the red wire to the Course Computer to supply it. This will also solve the position problem, as the GPS gets it power from the Seatalk Network as well.

[transmitterdan]

Most installations power the Seatalk instruments from a dedicated power source. That allows the autopilot to be powered off without killing all the other instruments. This saves some battery power when the AP is not needed.

In this case we know the AP control head has 12V because it says "no pilot". It requires power for it to say anything.

[yynhymr]

Mystery Solved! Thanks all for your time and input. The problem was a missing fuse. I checked fuses to ensure they were not compromised and checked power at the wire terminals to ensure the course computer was receiving power, but I never checked for missing fuses. Apparently the previous owner of the unit shipped it without the main 10A power fuse installed. So of course connecting the control head directly to the course computer didn't help either. I'm a bit embarrassed but happy it is solved. And thanks for the education!

Per the install instructions, the red wires are not connected to the seatalk port. My seatalk devices are powered independently of he course computer. And apparently I had a concurrent seatalk cable failure to the chart plotter, which accounted for seatalk device data showing on the repeater (through the junction box connections to the other devices), but not on the chart plotter.

Thanks again to all for the quick and helpful advice.

Jim