Nav Pilot 300

[Taniwani]

Hi trapper, I would work in the following order of priority:

(1) Distance from magnetic disturbances, specially those that may change like wires carrying high currents that switch on and off as they cannot be covered by compensation.

(2) Distance from bigger magnetic iron, like engine blocks.

(3) Distance from center of motion because of acceleration forces.

Good sensors, and the PG 700 is one, are quite good in smoothing out the acceleration forces (swinging of gimballed flux gate coils) while still rapidly and correctly updating heading with the help of a gyroscope. So the problem of being off the center line or above the center of motion isn't very big.

Problems caused by proximity of iron or wires with stronger currents are most imminent when very close to the sensor and their effect diminishes with the share of distance.

Use a hand-bearing compass and moved it around the area where you plan to mount the PG 700 and if it stays steady you should be ok with respect to (2).

In any case, you should try to align it parallel to the midships line so that you do not have to apply to much of a heading offset after installation. A bulkhead often helps as a reference.

As you don't have a steel boat, you shouldn't have too much of a problem.

 

[trapper]

Taniwani, once more I thank you for your expertise!!!, Cheers trapper :furuno

 

[Drstressor]

Trapper and I have very similar boats and we are both in the process of installing a NP300 and trying to figure out the best location to install the heading sensor. He has a Grady White 208 (20') and I have a GW 226 (22'). Both are narrow beam (8') walk-around cuddy cabin boats.

Here are a few options that I'm considering and I'd like some expert opinion on the best location.


Option #1: On the bulkhead inside the cabin on the starboard helm side. This is makes connecting to the NMEA 2000 backbone at the helm station easy, but the location is only a little more than 1' away from the NP300 computer and pump, which are mounted on the other side of the bulkhead.


Option #2: Inside of the port bulkhead. It would not be too difficult to run the cable. The sensor would be 4' away from the electronics near a stainless steel sink that should not be magnetic.


Option #3: Under the port seat. I would need to make a starboard shelf that would just fit through the access port and would allow the sensor to be mounted facing toward the bow. This a more difficult installation that would require drilling holes to allow the cable to be routed through the cabin to the helm position.


Option #4: Under the deck on a bulkhead forward of the freshwater tank. This would require removing and resealing the floor panel in addition to building a small shelf. While this location (about 4' forward of the engine) would be at the waterline and on the centerline, access to the sensor would be difficult since it would require R and R'ing the deck panel.

Opinions, please.

 

[Taniwani]

The pump has quite strong permanent magnets and the power wires to an NP300 and from there to the pump will obviously carry a changing current. Still a foot distance from all that is probably enough by my experience. I'd check with a hand compass how close you can get to the pump before you notice a serious a serious move of the needle. And don't use a smartphone compass for that, they overcompensate using the accelerometer and gyro to give you a false sense of a steady reading.

While the stainless steel sink is not magnetic, it can disturb (deflect) the earth magnetic field, again some distance helps.

I wouldn't go for the bow sections, as you would have to expect stronger acceleration forces banging in the waves.

I had my spare sensor under the floor boards, well below the waterline and it worked fine there. My main sensor is on a bulkhead where you would think its far from any sources of disturbtion and it worked fine until somebody stowed some tins in the cupboard in the cabin on the other side of the bulkhead. So this about that possibility.

The calibration process will handle smaller static deviations quite well and the PG-700 also has a feature to check out the mounting place. But you will find it hard to slowly and steadily turn it 360 degrees, especially if it is in an awkward location.

My experience is that on a fibre glass boat it isn't really hard to find a reasonable location inside. The influence of magnets and hot wires goes down with the square of the distance, so that in most cases you are fine when you are more than a foot away.

 

[trapper]

Hi guys, well my nav 300 is installed. Have not done the set up yet but have a question regarding the shut down breaker (20 amp)I have put at the helm. I put it in the hot wire from the processor to the power. This will close down the processor immediately on activating. Is there a better way to wire this as it appears the processor needs some shut down time. Will it damaged the processor? Is a 3 amp fuse correct for the power to the backbone. I have got the green light for the compass position. I have a master battery switch for all electronics. When turned off it will shut down the compass, will it have to be reconfigured at startup? Still learning but enjoying the process. Thanks trapper :furuno

 

[Taniwani]

Hello trapper,

a 20A breaker should be fine. I don't think your pump will draw more and the Autopilot spec doesn't say much about maximum current draw, so 20A seems reasonable. Don't worry about cutting power to the processor, it should not have a problem with that.

3A for the NEMA2000 bus should also be fine in your case with just the control unit and the heading sensor being powered via the bus. That is less than 1A. Max on a NMEA2000 segment is 8A.

The compass will remember is compensation data and and offsets when powered off.

So all looks fine for now. Looking forward to hear how you come along.

harald

 

[trapper]

Apologies for taking so long to report back. Having a great time with the new AP300. Love the point and shoot steering with the remote. Back trolling with the Sabiki mode takes some practise but works great. Cheers and thanks, trapper

 

[trapper]

Hi guys, having problem with my hydraulic steering locking up when full over in Sabiki mode. It steers over to port or starboard tight , then cannot release and return to centre without help from the steering wheel. I have purged the system of air but it seems it still cannot return after reaching full hard over. Any suggestions to help with this issue. Much thanks trapper

 

[Johnny Electron]

It sounds like some type of check valve locking up.

 

[trapper]

Thanks for that, I guess I should pursue seastar with with the problem. It does not appear to be an AP issue at this point.

 

[trapper]

Seastar says it is the AP. It appears to be most obvious on Sabiki mode, where on the outboard reaching hard over to port or starboard, the AP pump keeps going until you manually change the pilot to the opposite side, then sometimes need the steering wheel to unstick to change direction. Is there a setting I am missing? Should I reset the rudder hard over limits?

 

[trapper]

Hi can someone answer the above question? Resetting rudder hard over limits. Thanks trapper

 

[Johnny Electron]

Yes I would recommend you redo the setup and pay close attention to the instructions because if not using an RRU the unit relies heavily on what you tell it during the configuration. After doing the dockside setup, you should rerun the rudder test (while boat is in the water)

 

[trapper]

Thanks JE for your quick responce. I will pursue your suggestions and hope that clears up the issue. Cheers trapper

 

[trapper]

Furuno AP 300. How do I access the dockside menu once it has been set on initial install? Cannot seem to find anything in the mauls about returning to it once it is set up. Would like to redo the steering. Thanks trapper

 

[Johnny Electron]

Installation Menu can be accessed from the STBY mode, by pressing the STBY key three times quickly while holding down the MENU key.

 

[trapper]

Thanks ,will redo the initial set up and see if changing the hard over by backing off the hard over limit, so not quite right over on port and starboard. Cheers, trapper

 

[Downrigger Al]

I know this is late but I'm new here. I have the Intellisteer on my boat. I also install them. The control box has an input for the autopilot pump wires. All you do is attach the autopilot to tbat location. If you turn on the Intellisteer ar the remote it will automatically disconnect theinput from the autopilot. The clutch wires are not used in your application.

 

[trapper]

Thanks for your responce Al, Since I could not seem to get a positive answer to connecting the Intellisteer to the AP I removed it and just run with the AP. Nav 300 has the remote controller for steering 'changing modes and point and shoot steering, which has made the Intellisteer rather redundant. So I am looking to sell the remote and the control box. Again thanks for your responce to my questions... all is very well with the new Furuno AP 300