Cetrek 701 AP Problem

[Ian Streten]

Thank you for your welcome Pblais. It's good to be onboard.
My wife and I have just purchased our first, and hopefully our last Motor Yacht. She is a Trader 39, first registered in 1980, is called 'Carlina' and we are so pleased to have her. She is in exceptional condition with her previous owner spending a lot of money on her. Now obviously a boat of this age is going to have some problems, and one that I am hoping that members of this forum may be able to help is with the problem I am having with the Cetrek 701 autopilot. The problem is that when you have set the AP and switched it on all that happens is that rudders go hard to port and turning the boat in circles. I know that some old AP asked the boat to do a 360 degree circle to establish a set up, but this is certainly not the case with our AP. So with that in mind is there anybody on the forum who has had any experiences with the Cetrek 701 and experienced similar.
Any help and input would be very much appreciated.
Thank you

[SkiprJohn]

I don't have the answer but welcome aboard! I'm certain someone here can help and you might want to post your specific question in a different thread.
regards,

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Ian.

Some old Cetrek Manuals are available here
➥ http://www.dockyardelectrics.com/Cet...rekmanuals.htm

The “Service Centre:” folks are reputed (I cannot personaly vouch for them) to be Cetrec experts:

The Service Centre ➥ The Service Centre, Marine Electronic Service, repair and service of equipment
Maritime House,
Ryan Business Centre, Sandford Lane,
Wareham, Dorset, BH20 4DY England
Tel: +44 1929 554503
Fax: +44 1929 554559

For others in North America:

Weeks Marine
48 North Water Street
New Bedford, MA, 02740-6335
Tel: (1) 508 997 7183
Fax: (1) 508 997 8896

Cay Electronics
PO Box Wickhams Cay II
Road Town, Virgin Islands
Tel: (1) 284 494 2400
Fax: (1) 284 494 5389

Dean Electronics
2010B King Circle
Neptune Beach, Florida, 32266
Tel: (1) 904 249 3458
Fax: (1) 904 249 3460

[Ian Streten]

Thank you Gordmay for your help and information.

The contact you gave me in the UK was most helpful and we think that between us we can come up with a suitable solution.

Thanks again

Ian Streten

[Tournesol]

Hello Ian,

May be my own AP is the same as yours.

If one of the relays or transitors of the output circuit to the pump is
in short-cuicuit, the helm will be propulsed at the maximum angle to
port ... if you have the same box as me, I will explain how to repair
your own.

See this photo

And send me an answer at amgsr@aol.com
If no matching, I will known than mine is not a 701
Thank you in advance

Pardon my english ...
Have a nice day

Tryphon
Niort France

[Ian Streten]

Hello Tryphon

Thank you for taking the trouble to try to help with my Cetrek 701 AP problem.


I must say, that what you have described with regard to your own AP seems very much like the problem I am experiencing with mine.


However I will not be able to send you any pictures of my system until I return from my boat on the 19th. January 2010. You see I actually live in England, and my yacht is moored in Benalmadena Spain and I will not be visiting again until the 1st. January.

I will have a look at the control box of my AP to compare with the picture you have sent me. I will also take several pictures of what my control box actually looks like and send them to you on my return from Spain.

Again, I thank you very much for your help and assistance.

Kind regards.

Ian Streten.

[Tournesol]

Ok Ian,

At the time I will receive your pictures, I will be happy to help you to 'tele-repair' your AP ...

This is a so old that it can be repaired with just a multimeter and a soldering-iron ...
All news AP are unable to be repaired but just changed for a new one ...

Kind regards

Alain-Marc Goyat

Niort

France

amgsr79@aol.com

[Wight Mistress]

Hi All,
My Fisher 34 Wight Mistresshas a Cetrek 701 auto pilot and I have now had the same problem a second time.
The first time one of the little 'pea' lamps in the rudder repeater unit had failed and it gave a permanent turn one way. Replacing the lamp is a tad fiddly but it did fix the problem that time. On the way back across the English Channel from Alderney last week, the problem came up again. We hand-steered the last 60 miles and on getting home, the first thing I check for was a duff lamp. This time, no dice. I am just getting into the problem and have the luxury of 100% spares AND the tech manual. If anyone here would like a copy in PDF I will gladly scan it in and email it for you. Sadly the Cetrek factory burned down a few years ago, taking (it seems) all their documentation and spares in the process. Happy to help if I can. By the way I just noticed how old this string is, so I hope all actions were taken at the time, but I am still happy to help

[Padre Juan]

Hi I also have a Trader 39 late 70s, my Cetrec 701 wont power up. Itraced the cable from the back of the control panel, and it disappears. its not in the wiring compartment in the forward hanging locker. Where does power connect, or hasit an internal fuse. Can anyone please help. I am at a loss. Thank you.

[Wight Mistress]

Hi,
Couple of things for you:

1. Looking at my manual (and the system I re-installed a few years back) the fuse protection is external and it feeds the main (601 in Wight Mistress's case) unit. According to the book the fuse should be 25 amps but I have been running on a 15 amp fuse (it protects the supply cable, not the kit) and it has worked fine for years.

I note on the forum that the manual is available online, but if you have a problem finding it, I have attached a copy of it here for you. It is a quartz filtered reduced file size but it should be ok.
Hope this helps
Regards
Steve

[Padre Juan]

Thanks Mistress for the info, all I need now is wheres the box with all the cables going into it and the inline fuse located, does anyone know. theres so many cables that do nothing and I cant see a fuse. Thanks in advance

[Wight Mistress]

I know this might sound trite, but there could be as many variations of where the kit is fitted as there are boats fitted with it.

For sake of stating the obvious (I have found occasionally what might be obvious to me will not be for others
Start at the 701 control head and trace the thick cable from it. There is a picture of the 600 unit in the manual I sent to you (that takes all the cables etc and is fed with the fuse. My boat has a 601 unit which is quite a bit smaller, black and rectangular. Just a case of hunting for it. I don't know what your fuse panel looks like, but if the boat is a Trader I would have thought it to be quite well built.

Sorry I cannot help further.
Regards
Steve