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Old 14-08-2012, 06:21   #1
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Thinking About a Mixed Marriage ...

My old Autohelm 6000 quit. Looking at a new Simrad unit. Has anyone used their existing Raymarine Linear Actuator and Rudder Position Feedback with another manufacturer's autopilot?

Aside from saving $1K, accessing the hardware in the laz is beyond a PITA which I'd like to avoid.
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Old 14-08-2012, 06:34   #2
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Re: Thinking About a Mixed Marriage.......

The drive unit should be no problem. I have seen a lot of installations where different makes of drive units are used without any problems.
The course computer simply provides 12v (usually) the polarity is reversed to drive the unit the other way. The drive unit will usually happily spin when connected directly to battery. It just does not know when to stop, or drive the oppisite way.
Check the course computer can supply enough current and that the voltage is the same.

The rudder reference units are normally specific to the computer, so generally these cannot be mixed.

What specifically is the model drive unit you have and what Simrad unit would you get?
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Old 14-08-2012, 07:08   #3
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Re: Thinking About a Mixed Marriage.......

I've just installed a Simrad AC12, AP24, RC42,RF300, but kept the Raymarine Type 1 linear drive, and as Noelex wrote the drive works fine with the Simrad controls.
Note that I replaced the rudder feedback. The Simrad RF300 has quite different dimensions from the Autohelm 6000, necessitating another hole to be drilled in the quadrant.
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Old 14-08-2012, 07:09   #4
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Re: Thinking About a Mixed Marriage.......

I tried Simrad / Ray combo the other day and most things did not work. (Ray brains, Simrad electric motor/arm).

The things that do work is hydraulic arms / various brains as long as the pumps/arms are sized adequately.

If you can test before you commit then go ahead and test your vision. But buy nothing before you are bang sure the combo works.

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Old 14-08-2012, 07:30   #5
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Re: Thinking About a Mixed Marriage.......

Quote:
Originally Posted by seadrift View Post
I've just installed a Simrad AC12, AP24, RC42,RF300, but kept the Raymarine Type 1 linear drive, and as Noelex wrote the drive works fine with the Simrad controls.
Note that I replaced the rudder feedback. The Simrad RF300 has quite different dimensions from the Autohelm 6000, necessitating another hole to be drilled in the quadrant.
We installed similar gear - Simrad AC42, AP24, RC42 and Raymarine Type 2 linear drive. We used a Simrad linear rudder reference unit due to mounting issues. All works just fine together. If your Raymarine rudder reference unit output is NMEA2000 (or maybe even 0183), you should be able to use it.

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Old 14-08-2012, 07:39   #6
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Re: Thinking About a Mixed Marriage.......

I just recently installed a Geonav control system and a Raymarine Type1 rotary drive unit.

The drive motor could care less what supplies power to it!! Realistically you could use the drive unit with a couple of pushbuttons wired to a battery for power steering!!
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