Simrad WP32 Autopilot Problems

[ted_reshetiloff]

My autopilot on the E-38 does not seem to work. It has not worked since I have owned the boat. (4 months) It has power coming to it. All of the buttons seem to work. It will turn the boat when engaged by pushing the turn bottons. What it will not do is hold the boat on course when in the auto mode. It never makes any adjustments to course and the boat just goes off course. I have tried to calibrate the fluxgate compass in it per the instructions but the calibration never seems to be accepted by the unit. The manual says to make a slow right turn with the unit in calibration mode. If the strbd led lights you need to increase speed of rate of turn. If the port led lights speed it too high or turn too sharp. Idea is to keep both lights happy during the procedure. I have tried this several times and the strbd lights stay on telling me to speed up or turn sharper which I do but it never seems to be enough to trip the port led and after 4 minutes I get the alarm telling me that the calibration has failed. I have calibrated the unit for the number of turns from lock to lock. Anyone have any experience here? Everything appears hooked up correctly and I assume the unit worked for the PO it does not look very old or worn. It is a very simple unit only requiring power and ground. I guess I can uninstall the unit and send it back but what a PITA.

 

[Howard Keiper]

Hi, Ted...

You say that your boat will steer according to your button pushing but not according to the fluxgate? I would suspect either the fluxgate itself or the wiring between it and the control unit. Most autocompasses have a digital readout of the supposed heading. If yours does, does it agree with the boats compass...at any time, even at rest? Does it vary as the boat is turned? If your system responds to you but not your compass, I think you might only have to replace the compass part. They're not expensive anyway.
hk

 

[ted_reshetiloff]

Fluxgate is internal on this model. That was my first thought was that it was not good, but upon reading about the unit I discovered that it is a self contained unit... Guess i will need to pull the whole unit and send it in for service.

 

[rwpajak]

Fluxgate Problem

One thing you should check is that there is no iron (magnetic material) nearby which could throw off the compass. Chech with a small hand held compass.

 

[ted_reshetiloff]

Yeah I have been through that already. The unit came with the boat and I assuming it worked properly at some point, just not now.

 

[lbertran]

I have a WP32

Ted-
We have the same unit and haven't had any fluxgate problems. But last season we had a problem with the unit locking up the wheel even when we disengaged it. We had to send it back to Simrad but they were very quick to repair it and get it back to us. I also found their customer support person very helpful on the phone.

Laura Bertran

 

[ted_reshetiloff]

Thanks. I will give them a call.

 

[rwpajak]

Autopilot Installation

Ted,
Don't ever assume the previous owner did anything right. The Ericson 26 I bought last year had a 3-gang cam clamp for the main sheet and 2 reefing line installed BACKWARDS! The compass installed on the bulkhead never worked unless thwe boat was motoring (and vibrating) because the bulkhead had a 15 degree tilt and the compass instructions said "mount to a vertical surface".