Raymarine S2g Upgrade E35-III

[lgwiener]

I have owned my 1989 E35-III for a 3 years now and am thoroughly enjoying the boat.
Recently the Autohelm 6000 died.
I found a new Raymarine S2G with warranty on the internet at a great price point and installed it along with a ST6002 plus.
After finishing the install and doing the required calibrations a couple of issues remained. Whenever I push the auto button, I get a Rudder Reference error for about 5 secs and then the autopilot engages and seems to work just fine.
Also doing autolearn when I push auto as the last step before the autolearn process actually starts I get a "calibrate" message. The boat makes some turns back and forth and then goes into a hard right hand turn. So much for autolearn.
I decided to call the Raymarine Tech support and to my surprise was told I needed to install the rudder reference sensor even though previous models didn't require one..... The tech assured me the two problems would go away.
Has anyone had this experience and ened up installing the rudder reference sensor? If so where did you find room to install the sensor?
By the way, I still have the original Yacht Speciaties wheel steering, rudder quadrant, etc..

Thanks

 

[Lucky Dog]

I know the person who posted this has a better photo than the one i achieved for my own files. Hopefully they are sailing and not surfing. You can see the sensor in the back. Hope this is some help.

ml

 

[Lucky Dog]

I found this thread too. At least you could email some of them and get more information.

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=4280&highlight=wheel+pilot


ml

 

[Maine Sail]

I have owned my 1989 E35-III for a 3 years now and am thoroughly enjoying the boat.
Recently the Autohelm 6000 died.
I found a new Raymarine S2G with warranty on the internet at a great price point and installed it along with a ST6002 plus.
After finishing the install and doing the required calibrations a couple of issues remained. Whenever I push the auto button, I get a Rudder Reference error for about 5 secs and then the autopilot engages and seems to work just fine.
Also doing autolearn when I push auto as the last step before the autolearn process actually starts I get a "calibrate" message. The boat makes some turns back and forth and then goes into a hard right hand turn. So much for autolearn.
I decided to call the Raymarine Tech support and to my surprise was told I needed to install the rudder reference sensor even though previous models didn't require one..... The tech assured me the two problems would go away.
Has anyone had this experience and ened up installing the rudder reference sensor? If so where did you find room to install the sensor?
By the way, I still have the original Yacht Speciaties wheel steering, rudder quadrant, etc..

Thanks

Yes the S1 and S2 do require an RPS. Install one and your issues will be gone. I was just at Raymarine last week speaking with one of the techs and grumbling that I could not find an X5 anywhere in stock. He stated he'd much rather have an S1 with rate gyro and RPS than the new X5 minus the RPS..

The old units did not have a RPS but also performed like crap comparitively speaking. The S1 I have performs amazingly compared to my old ST4000+ MKII and I just had it upgraded to rate gyro last week for my radar overlay to perform better.

Add the RPS and you'll be glad you did.. Tim R. has some photos somewhere about how he installed it on his 35 MK III..

 

[treilley]

Hi Larry, I highly recommend the RPS for your AP. Here are some photos of how I installed mine. Feel free to send me a private message and we can talk about how I did mine. I spent about 2 hours lying on my back under the cockpit trying to get the best solution.

http://www.treilley.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album39