[DG] [DG11] New X-5 Wheel Pilot showing Error "No Pilot"

[Oday32CC]

Hey Team,

Just bought/installed the X-5 Wheel Pilot for my Oday 32 and have trouble getting it running. The P70 Display shows an error "No Pilot".

According to the manual this error means:
The Pilot Controller is not receiving data from the SPX-5 Wheel system
computer. Check connections and check the Course Computer is
switched on.

How can I troubleshoot all units best to understand what the problem is?
- Is the compass working?
- Is the computer working?
- How can I even switch on the Course Computer? I don't see any on/off buttons or LEDs indicating the status of the computer

I attached two pictures to show the connections, I am sure they are right... but maybe I messed something up there?

Thank you for your help with this - really wanna get this up and running.

[Derek - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hi Oday32CC

Thankyou for your enquiry and the pictures,

The first point to note is that the STng connection to the SPX5 computer shows the screen/ shield not connected, this will be a problem and you should remake the Spur cable connection to the SPX computer STng terminals and there should be 5 connections, Screen/Shield - a bare wire, then Red, Black, White and Blue.

The SPX course computer will power up as soon as power is applied to the main power connection - shown as red and black in the photograph. I would also point out the red and black wires used appear to be quite thin and we would usually recommend a minimum of 2.5 sqmm for a cable run of less than 4m to the main distribution panel.

check the voltage at the power connection to make sure a minimum of 13.5v - note that a battery will still show 12v when almost fully discharged - a well charged battery should show 13.5 volts or thereabouts.

Next check the connections and configuration of the backbone to make sure the STng network is correctly set up and terminated, a powered and properly terminated SeaTalkng backbone must be installed onboard having sufficient SeaTalkng T-Pieces (SeaTalkng 5-way connectors may be substituted where NMEA 2000 devices are closely located) for each SeaTalkng/NMEA 2000 device which will be interfaced as a spur to the SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 network backbone. A simple backbone may be constructed from the following components:

- A06064 SeaTalkng 5-Way Connector
- A06031 SeaTalkng Termination Plugs x 2
- A06049 SeaTalkng Power Cable
- a pair of SeaTalkng Spur Cables to connect to STng displays

More information concerning SeaTalkng/NMEA 2000 networking and SeaTalkng/NMEA 2000 networking components may be found here.

regards

Derek

[Oday32CC]

Thank you for your fast response Derek, I really appreciate that.

1) You mentioned that "STng connection to the SPX5 computer shows the screen/ shield not connected". I did connect it now, however the manual highlights to not connect the screen / shield and yellow cable. This said, connecting it didn't change anything. The same error is still displayed.

2) I also exchanged the power cables to some bigger ones. Unfortunately this didn't resolve the error either.
2a) checking the voltage at the power connection I surely have 13.5V. This
said, I also checked the power on both fuses and realized that the
SeaTalk fuse is only getting very little voltage <1V - is this normal?

3) The connections and configuration of the backbone: I only have the autopilot installed and therefore connected everything directly to the computer, as outlined in the manual. Is this creating any problems?

4) When working on it today I realized some orange/green blinking LEDs on the computer. Here a video: https://youtu.be/2TZnBK99sLE - I couldn't find any information on what does might mean, maybe you can help here?

Setting this system up doesn't seem too hard, but somehow I must be doing something wrong...

Than you again,
Sascha

[Derek - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hi Sascha,
Thankyou for your feedback.

I note the point about the connections, however, please just make sure the blue, white red, black and shield are connected for STng.

The input voltage looks good - so no worries there, if nothing is connected to the SeaTalk, ( I presume that you mean SeaTalk rather than STng?) then the low voltage is expected since it detects nothing is connected.

The LEDs you can see flashing are not really any help in diagnostics, they just tell us the Microprocessor is running and receiving and sending data around the PCB.

Just check the small network you have created for the pilot, can you send a schematic or picture maybe? The control unit and SPX5 should be connected via an STng spur cable to a backbone connector block, this will need to be powered by 12v through the red and black spur cable and there should be two blue terminators, one in each of the blue sockets at each end of the 5 way block.
I hope this helps?
Thanks
Derek

[Oday32CC]

Diagram attached. I simply connected everything to the computer directly as shown in the diagram from the manual (Pic1) .

I however did not use the connector thingy(Pic2).

[Louise - Raymarine - Moderator]

Dear Oday32CC,

Thank you for the query.

Have you connected the P70 directly to the STng port on the autopilot?

This configuration would work for an old Seatalk 1 control head but not for the P70, this requires a STng backbone for operation.

The diagram you have sent in is for a seatalk 1 network, this is why your P70 is alarming no pilot.

You have to use the 5 way block to create a small STng backbone as previously explained by Derek in this thread, once you have created the backbone. The SPX-5 and the P70 will then connect via spur cables to the 5 way block in the white ports.

I hope this helps.

Many Thanks
Louise