[LW] [LW11] Failure detection for autopilot Autohelm 6000

[edouardleveau]

Good morning Raymarine team,

I have an old Autohelm 6000 autopilot which just crossed the Atlantic Ocean properly, but in the last hours, we had inappropriate behavior of the pilot, steering +/-30° port or starboard of the compass heading.

I have tested properly the fluxgate compass with ohm meter according to your topic. All is OK.
Now, I don't know how to test computer course or indicating control head. Our control head is old and display is already out of order from a while, and it does not beep anymore. For this, which more recent model works with Autohelm computer course type 1? Computer course is supposed to be Z024 or Z049.


Beside this, is there any way to test computer course?

Thank you for your answer,
Édouard

[Louise - Raymarine - Moderator]

Dear edouardleveau,

Thank you for your post.

Do a full 360' turn in standby and look at the heading data, does it run smoothly with no jumps or sticking. If it does not run smoothly this could indicate a source of deviation or the compass is sticking inside.

Is your rudder reference operating as expected, turn the rudder slowly to port and perform the same turning to starboard. Does the indicator display as expected? If not this could indicate a faulty rudder reference unit.

Complete the seatrial calibration, this can be found in the manual.

If you continue to experience issues with the pilot you can send it back to us for testing, however we do not have any spares to repair this pilot.

Where are you located?

Many Thanks
Louise