Re: {Beneteau Owners} Connecting gps to autopilot.
davidcfletcher
-------- Original message --------
From: Bill <wewag...@gmail.com>
Date: 2015-09-22 11:37 AM (GMT-05:00)
To: Benetea...@googlegroups.com
Subject: {Beneteau Owners} Connecting gps to autopilot.
I have a Raymarine C80 and a Raymarine st6000 auto pilot.
Can they be connected so the autopilot follows the gps course.
Bill
Sent from my iPad
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Bill
Sent from my iPad
Captain Guy
Mohammad Bayegan
Bill
Sent from my iPad
davidcfletcher
Bill
Bill
Sent from my iPad
wewag...@gmail.com
Sent from my iPhone
Captain Guy
Alvis
Joker460
Looks like you can get the used cable here. Someone has already spliced it. Don't know if you need a female or male type connector.
Joker460
Mark J Wilme
I may have a cable. Let me check this weekend
Dan Barac
The usual factory installed setup is to use Seatalk 1 to connect the A/P control head to the core pack and this is where the extent of the Seatalk 1 network ends. That was the situation on my boat with ST7000 A/P. What I did later was to connect the rest of the Seatalk 1 system (GPS, instruments, NMEA interface, MOB system and chart plotters) to the core pack and everything works just fine. You may find that the core pack has two Seatalk 1 sets of connectors. One is used for the control head, you can use the other for connecting the rest of the system to the core pack. This will provide full connectivity among all your devices, including the ability to read the navigation data on the A/P, thereby allowing the ‘Track’ A/P mode. If you have a wind instrument, you will also be able to set the A/P to the wind vane mode, to follow apparent wind.
There are two important considerations in this situation:
1. You will most likely need to separately inject 12V DC into the Seatalk 1 system. In the A/P standalone situation (just the core pack + the control head), the power to Seatalk 1 is provided by the A/P. Once you add more ‘stuff’ to the network, it is helpful to add more power in order to avoid low battery warnings. It is very simple: just connect +12V DC to the red wire and DC ground to the black wire (leave the yellow wire unconnected) at any point in the Seatalk 1 network. Somewhere physically in the middle is preferred, but in my situation I did it at one end and all is well. If you have a large network with many instruments utilising a long backbone, you can even do it on both ends.
2. When connecting a Raymarine chart plotter to the Seatalk 1 network, it is important not to connect the red Seatalk 1 wire (only connect the yellow and the black ones, insulate the red one). The red one (+12V DC) is connected only in situations where just a GPS antenna is connected to the chart plotter and you need to provide power to this mini Seatalk 1 network from the chart plotter. The Seatalk 1 circuitry in the chart plotters is not designed to provide enough power for a larger Seatalk 1 network and can be overloaded and damaged. For larger networks, the power is provided by the A/P and/or a separate power supplies.
Good luck,
Dan
From: benetea...@googlegroups.com [mailto:benetea...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Joker460
Sent: Tuesday, 29 September 2015 7:36
To: Beneteau Owners <benetea...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: {Beneteau Owners} Connecting gps to autopilot.
Bill
Sent from my iPad
Dan Barac
Hi Bill,
I have a similar situation and have learnt how to overcome the problem.
Firstly and most importantly, make sure that the heading information on your ST1 network is correct. This will probably come from the heading sensor (fluxgate compass) connected to the ST6000 core pack. The sensor should be installed according to the guidelines provided by Raymarine, i.e. not close to any metallic objects (including small ones) and as close as possible to the boat’s centre of gravity. Even when properly installed, it needs to be calibrated by following the procedures listed by Raymarine. If I remember well, the procedure includes pressing a certain key combination on your A/P control head and then performing three slow 360 degree circles in calm seas, until the instrument beeps and finalises the process. Having a small residual deviation error of up to 5-10 degrees is not uncommon and can be considered normal. You may also notice that this error varies somewhat with your heading.
Secondly, I think I’ve realised by observation that the ST6/7000 generation A/P software in track mode works off the cross track error, or XTE, not the bearing to waypoint (BTW) or course over ground (COG). It will ‘evaluate’ the current XTE ( as supplied by the chart plotter) and remain on the current course to ‘see’ if the XTE gets larger or smaller, then take appropriate action to correct. Needless to say, this is a relatively slow process, which is why the track mode can not and should not be used to follow a tight course with short legs and sharp turns (I’ve tried to my detriment). So, if you configure a route and then engage the track mode, the A/P will try to get you to the rhumb line between the active waypoint and the one before. The first thing to check is that the active waypoint is really the one that you think it is. If you’re trying to follow a route from an intermediary waypoint and you have not ‘advanced’ the route waypoints to the one you want, you may be in for a nasty surprise when the boat turns towards a waypoint behind you. Don’t ask how I know. What happens next is that if you’re off the rhumb line, the A/P will try to go back to it and this may result in a sharp turn towards it. What I do in situations like that (after ascertaining that there are no obstacles between my current position and the active waypoint) is to use the chart plotter function to ‘reset XTE’ to zero first, then engage the track mode. This will ensure that the A/P will not try to re-join your exact route. Instead, it will go straight to the next way point from your current position, avoiding unnecessary turns towards the rhumb line. Btw, I believe that in order to be able to control the A/P from the chart plotter, you need to enable this function in the chart plotter setup menu.
Lastly, I only ever engage the A/P track mode when the boat is on a stable course in the ‘auto’ mode and my COG and BTW are identical or within a few degrees off each other. As mentioned above, I then first look at the XTE and if significant (more than ~0.05 nm) and the navigational situation allows it, I reset XTE to zero on the chart plotter. While in the chart plotter A/P control screen, I usually hit the ‘track’ button from there. Providing your heading info supplied to the A/P by the fluxgate compass is not too much off, there should be no sharp turns or other surprises.
I believe the new generation of Raymarine A/P’s are a lot smarter than the ST6/7000 series and they probably work better. I’ve been tempted to upgrade my ST7000, but touch wood it has been so reliable and precise in its operation that I can’t really justify the expense at the moment.
Hope this helps.
Best regards,
Dan
Captain Guy
Bill
Sent from my iPad
Dan Barac
Bill,
The XTE is the shortest distance from your current position to your route. The value is calculated by the chart plotter when in navigation mode (following a route or navigating to a waypoint) and supplied to the autopilot via ST1 network. You can reset the XTE value to zero on the chart plotter (typically in the ‘GOTO’ menu). By doing so, you will have instructed the chart plotter that you don’t want to follow the previously declared route (to the next waypoint). Instead, you want to go straight from your current position to the next waypoint. You will see on the screen of your chart plotter that a new dotted black line is drawn from your current position to the next waypoint. Don’t do this unless you’re sure that there are no obstacles between your current position and the next waypoint. Once done, you will avoid turning towards the theoretical route line and instead go straight to the next way point.