[CA] [CA11] Upgrading from SL70 to ev200 and E127’s

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Mark,

Q1. The heading sensor core is aligned with the centre line of the boat and deviation has run out to be 17 degrees on 2 separate calibrations and as the deviation around the lake area is about 14 degrees anyway I guess its not far off but have to experiment a little with this.
A1. The most important thing to verify with Evolution autopilots is that all components have been updated with the latest software and that a Pilot Factory Reset operation is performed after having performed software update(s) to the autopilot. Regarding deviation, you may be confusing magnetic deviation with magnetic variation. Deviation is defined as deflection right or left of the magnetic meridian caused by magnetic properties of the vessel. The angular difference between the true meridian (great circle connecting the geographic poles) and the magnetic meridian (direction of the lines of magnetic flux) is called variation. This variation has different values at different locations on the Earth. When comparing heading values with a fluid filled compass, be certain that the MFD's settings have been configured to report magnetic bearings rather than true bearings, as a vessel's fluid filled compass reports magnetic bearings.

Upon completion of the Detecting Magnetics portion of autopilot sea trialing, a maximum deviation value will be reported. It is recommended that the chosen site for the EV-1 CCU not produce magnetic deviation greater than 9.9 degrees. If so, then another site for the EV-1 CCU should be selected or that objects producing a magnetic field be removed from the area of the EV-1 CCU. After achieving the above, it may be necessary to align the compass to correct the reported value. Up to 9.9 degrees of compass error may be corrected via the autopilot's control head (MENU->SET-UP->AUTOPILOT CALIBRATION->VESSEL SETTINGS->COMPASS OFFSET). To view more on this subject, please click here.

As a calm day on lakes present very little leeway effect, displaying the COG and Heading Vectors within the MFD's Chart application, setting their length to Infinite, and then operating the vessel on a constant heading can be an easy way to check whether the compass is properly aligned. Most of the time when operating my system, the COG and Heading Vectors will either overlay one another or be with a degree or so.

Q2. I wanted you to know that the autopilot deals with transitioning to run on one engine only and holds a heading perfectly. Very impressive because it deals with gradually alternating the drives at 8 knots then steers perfectly up on the plane using both engines at 18 knots. Amazing!
A2. Fantastic

Q3. I am presently connecting existing analogue cameras and have a question. I have two E127 mfds and there is one bnc video connection on each of the power leads. I also have R70003 video leads connected to each mfd and they too have a bnc connector. Does this mean two cameras per mfd can be connected? One onto the power cable bnc and one onto the R70003 bnc?
A3. Yes.

Q4. I need 4 camera connections and trying to get by without a switch or network.
A4. Noted. Please be aware that video from an analog camera will only be visible on MFD running LightHouse II software to which it has been interfaced ... unless the camera video is instead encoded and connected to the system's Ethernet network. The latter has been incorporated on my own boat and provides the flexibility to view video from any camera on any of the system's MFDs.