[TG] EV-1 Dilemma

[mprestero]

When I chose the location for my new EV-1 on my Alerion 26, I had two candidates - one on the forward side of the thin plywood bulkhead, with the battery combiner on the other side of that bulkhead, and the batteries and cables nearby; the other was five feet forward of that location, about a foot from the stem of the boat. I decided upon the location near the battery.

This past weekend I connected the EV-1 to the STNG network before I had the rest of the autopilot in place, and very quickly notices that the data out of the EV-1 didn't match reality. Now that I've read your post about heading sensors and magnetic interference, and recognize that I haven't done any linearization step with the sensor, it brings me to my question.

Except for when the engine is starting and running, there isn't much current in or out of the battery. The wonky heading info came with only the chart plotter, an iTC-5 and transducers, and an i70 running. That may be enough to make the series of almost random numbers out of the EV-1 appear. I chose the location because it is very near the center of the pitch and roll axes of the boat.

Should I move the EV-1 forward to the other more forward location awar from the batteries and battery cables even though it will see far more pitch motion?

Thanks.

Mark