[CA] [CA11] ST1000 plus restarting unexpectedly

[wildernessdave]

I have two ST1000 plus tiller pilots, a main one as well as a back up. About a week ago on a passage from the Bahamas to Florida our main tiller pilot was in auto pilot mode and then beeped, and over the course of a couple seconds flashed 1000 on the screen and then switched to standby mode. Initially this happened a couple times in a few hours, but this started occurring more frequently to the point there the tiller pilot would only work for a couple minutes before beep, blank screen, 1000 on screen, then in standby mode.

I then tried our back up tiller pilot and found that it was behaving in the same way. With both units I tried unplugging and then replugging the units and the problem persisted.

Because it is happening with both units I am wondering if I may have a wiring issue between the 6 pin connector and the battery? All other electronics on the boat appear to be working properly.

The only change that has been made to the boat since I last used the tiller pilot extensively is I installed a solar panel along the rail of the cockpit, which at its closest point is about 10 inches from the tiller pilot. I don’t know if having the solar panel near the tiller pilot could be causing some sort of interference?

Thanks for any information you can provide to help me trouble shoot this issue.

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum wildernessdave,

The reported message will be displayed when insufficient power (voltage x current) is being supplied to the autopilot. You may want to consider having the vessel's batteries load tested and if found to be alright, then you may want to consider adding additional battery capacity. When the current spikes up due to changes in power demand from the autopilot's electric motor, the resulting voltage drops & it drop low enough to shut off the unit and below that which will permit the autopilot to operate, causing it to restart. When this occurs, 1000 will be seen on the screen of the autopilot.