tiller autopilot with electric hydraulic pump

[rapanui 2]

hello i am flabergasted at the view of autopilot price for my catamaran and I get this idea/project to use a cheap but reliable tiller pilot to control my 15 amp electric hydraulic pump for my 2 rams,the idea is to open the pilot,remove the motor wires put them on diodes(reverse polarity) 25 amps static relay to power the pump, is anybody has ever do this ?the 4 diodes and 2 relays are less than 10 $....thank you for reply and advices

[Bill O]

Look at a pypilot, fairly inexpensive controller and works well.


Bill O

[rapanui 2]

thank you bill O but I am better in electrics than in computer

[Bill O]

Will say we were in the land of the inexperienced as far as new computer items go when we started w/our project not too long ago. Not too bad now, but not going to write programs like Sean does (creator of pypilot).
You'll probably like his stuff he has on his forum. Sean has made an electric drive from a windshield wiper motor. Had it working on both a tiller and wheel.

Here are links to how we assembled our nav computer and then the pypilot if you are interested.


Bill O.

[CarinaPDX]

Take a look at Pelagic autopilot. You can buy just the control and drive electronics package for $900, and wire it into your existing hydraulic drive. No need for DIY unless you just like doing that.


Greg

[olaf hart]

Check our Simple H bridge, the HD version runs 12v.

IIRC max continuous power is 25 amps with the cooling kit.

You can also make up your own H bridge pretty simply as well.

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by olaf hart

Check our Simple H bridge, the HD version runs 12v.

Who is "our"?


Greg

[olaf hart]

Typo, I blame autocorrect.
It’s on line, Google it, no proprietary interest here...