Navpilot 711

[Berwick]

New to me boat, having some steering issues with the 711C and was going through the dockside setup menu to check everything. Do I need to do an
air-bleed? The linear drive is a Robertson HLD350 and what little I can find on it I can't figure out where to bleed the air out as per the Furuno manual and can't find any videos of it either,

thanks for any input

Richard

 

[rslifkin]

A quick search indicates that the HLD350 is a hydraulic linear drive, so it may have a way to bleed the internal hydraulics. The Furuno air bleeding mode lets you run the drive continuously in either direction which is often needed to bleed air out of the system with a hydraulic reversing pump. You may or may not need to use that mode to bleed your drive. Try to find a manual for the HLD350 and that should hopefully contain information about whether any bleeding procedure is necessary, etc.

When you say "steering issues", what are you experiencing?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

The dockside setup requires that you do each step from start to finish in order, since each step in the process builds upon the previous step.

 

[TheReaper]

New to me boat, having some steering issues with the 711C and was going through the dockside setup menu to check everything. Do I need to do an
air-bleed? The linear drive is a Robertson HLD350 and what little I can find on it I can't figure out where to bleed the air out as per the Furuno manual and can't find any videos of it either,

thanks for any input

Richard

Check the manufacturer's procedures on how to bleed/check hydraulic fluid properly for their linear drive. If you're having steering problems, it may be caused by air in the hydraulics. You can also check to ensure that the hard-over to hard-over time is 9-14 seconds by turning the wheel hard-over to one side and pressing & holding the opposite side's dodge key to measure how long it takes to get to the other side.

 

[Berwick]

Today I did the air bleed but didn't open anything up as there is no info in the Roberston guide I have. It works great on wind mode and tracks very well, but when I put it on Auto while motoring or sailing and I turn the control to starboard it moves quickly and goes too far but will come back to where it is supposed to be. When I adjust the control to Port a few degrees it will actually turn to starboard first before then slowly corrected to it's new set position.
So I was guessing maybe one of the directions in the drive unit had some air in it? But sitting still and moving the control it is just as quick in one direction or the other and it steering perfect today in big seas between Martinique and St Lucia with no slowdown in either direction. Also there is no binding in the steering system either. The other weird thing it does sometimes (in Auto mode - maybe every 20 to 60 min?) is to jump to port about 10 degrees but then it corrects fairly quick so was thinking maybe the fluxgate compass but again it did the wind steer for 3-4 hours with no issue so I'm stumped.

 

[jp498]

If it passes dockside but won't work right in auto, also check the rudder vertical shaft! I was on a boat that lost 3/4 of the screws holding the bottom of the rudder in place. It was a bit loose and caused the top of the rudder where the rudder sensor was to move a little bit, as if the stuffing box was fulcrum of the lever. The water motion forces were not present for simple dockside.

 

[Berwick]

If it passes dockside but won't work right in auto, also check the rudder vertical shaft! I was on a boat that lost 3/4 of the screws holding the bottom of the rudder in place. It was a bit loose and caused the top of the rudder where the rudder sensor was to move a little bit, as if the stuffing box was fulcrum of the lever. The water motion forces were not present for simple dockside.

Ok I"ll check that out, but in hard sailing conditions it worked quite well

 

[TheReaper]

Auto is using the compass only, so it is possible that there is an intermittent heading problem. Are you using the PG700 heading sensor or something else? If the PG700, maybe something is interfering with it magnetically or RF interference. Also, make sure that the software in your autopilot is current. Go into the Installation Mode, then down to System-Diagnostics and select processor first to get that number and then controller second to get that number.

 

[Berwick]

Auto is using the compass only, so it is possible that there is an intermittent heading problem. Are you using the PG700 heading sensor or something else? If the PG700, maybe something is interfering with it magnetically or RF interference. Also, make sure that the software in your autopilot is current. Go into the Installation Mode, then down to System-Diagnostics and select processor first to get that number and then controller second to get that number.

Well that make sense why the wind part works fine then and the auto doesn't. Yes I am using the PG700 and it is well over the 20" away from anything magnetic as required by the manual but there is something I can move to double check. The processor ID number is 86764 and the control unit ID is 95168 but not sure how I could upgrade the software as I don't see any USB jack in the processor unless I missed it. thanks, Richard

 

[TheReaper]

Another thing to consider is that fluxgate compasses can handle 35-45 degrees of pitch and roll before losing ability to put out heading. The numbers I was looking for in the processor and controller diagnostic tests are the ones on the top line off to the right and after the dash. The processor should be 01.30 and the controller should be 01.11 (if color) and 01.19 (if monochrome).

 

[Berwick]

Another thing to consider is that fluxgate compasses can handle 35-45 degrees of pitch and roll before losing ability to put out heading. The numbers I was looking for in the processor and controller diagnostic tests are the ones on the top line off to the right and after the dash. The processor should be 01.30 and the controller should be 01.11 (if color) and 01.19 (if monochrome).

Good to know about the roll but even in flat water on Auto it does the same thing. The processor is 6454007-01.27 and 6454009-01.05
The Control unit is 6464021-01.08 and 6454020-01.01 the control unit is color

 

[TheReaper]

First, I would recommend updating software on the NAVpilot 711C. It's possible that the new software may fix the problem you are experiencing. Once that's done, if the problem persists, we can investigate further. The software and update procedure can be found here: https://www.furunousa.com/en/support/NAVPILOT 711C. There is also a video on how to update the software if you choose to view it.

 

[Berwick]

First, I would recommend updating software on the NAVpilot 711C. It's possible that the new software may fix the problem you are experiencing. Once that's done, if the problem persists, we can investigate further. The software and update procedure can be found here: https://www.furunousa.com/en/support/NAVPILOT 711C. There is also a video on how to update the software if you choose to view it.

Ok will do that thanks

 

[Berwick]

Ok will do that thanks

Meant to ask, after I update will I have to do a compass swing?