[CA] [CA11] ST5000+ Control Head malfunction verification

[avalonS211]

Update

I relocated the compass to a spot with little magnetic fields. To move the compass I had to cut the cable and splice. Pulling the cable with messenger line from the pedestal forward was not possible without pulling all the cables in the pedestal out and redoing the entire run, something I'll leave for the next instrument upgrade as the current combo are working at this time.

I made the adjustment to the Rudder Limit and went through the dockside procedures and test. The rudder calibration worked though it was backwards. I swapped the drive leads per manual and calibrated the rudder and it worked properly.

Dockside test hitting auto and +10 showed expected behavior as described in the manual.

Measuring the magnetic field where the compass was it was no wonder it was malfunctioning. Just inches from the compass is the intake pump for the AC system. Previous owner had installed the AC and said the autopilot didn't work after that.

I used a small terminal block for the splice. I cut the compass cable a few feet from the unit and ran the pedestal line through cable routes under the floor to a a bulkhead separating the nav-station from the salon. Location is is just outside of three feet from any magnetic source.

This past weekend I was able to do initial sea trial compass calibration and heading adjustment. The compass calibrated with a 5 degree deviation and I was able to run through most functions with success.

Yay!