Powering PG-500 directly from FAP-7002

[bporter51317]

I've recently been forced to upgrade from my 511 to a 711C due to additional FAP6011 control heads no longer being available to replace my second station.

I am attempting to re-use the old PG-500 with the FAP-7002.

With the FAP-5002 the PG-500 was required to be powered from the main autopilot unit to work correctly, and there were pins on the HDG/TB8 block to provide the power to the compass.

With the 7002, I see the NMEA 0183 blocks but they have no power like the old TB8 did since the new PG-700 presumably has it's own power source (on N2K maybe).

I don't have a ready source of power available near the compass except the autopilot, as that's how it had to be installed with the 5002. I want the PG-500 to be on when the autopilot is on, and off when the autopilot is off, just like it was with the 5002.

So I'm not sure where to power the PG-500 from in the new installation. I see several things that look like they could work from the 7002.

The rest of my boat is N2K, and I plan to connect it to the AP at the CANbus connection, it's just another drop in the network and does not need to provide power to the bus. So TB12 is unused.

So I'm thinking I could just send the power and ground cables from the PB-500 bundle to the TB12 net power block.

Would that work?

There also look to be a couple of 12V+ / GND connections on TB5. Could any of those work instead? It's not clear if those are always on with the autopilot or are intermittent.

 

[Johnny Electron]

With the 7002, I see the NMEA 0183 blocks but they have no power like the old TB8 did since the new PG-700 presumably has it's own power source (on N2K maybe).

Yes, you will need to power the compass direct if you use it. Because the Navpilot 700 series (in the USA) comes with the PG700; I recommend you use that instead. You can not and should NOT power the PG500 from your NMEA 2000 bus. The NMEA 2000 bus is not a power supply for anything other then certified NMEA 2000 items.

I don't have a ready source of power available near the compass except the autopilot, as that's how it had to be installed with the 5002. I want the PG-500 to be on when the autopilot is on, and off when the autopilot is off, just like it was with the 5002.

You could always use the power feeding the pilot (12 or 12v) to feed the compass. Although the compass is a low power consumer, if you wish to kill power to it you would have to switch the pilot breaker (in that case). Another possible option if you need it switched would be to wire up a relay to the Universal Output (TB5) to turn on and off the power to the compass. Most people like to keep the compass working so that the radar can overlay on the plotter without the pilot being On.

So I'm thinking I could just send the power and ground cables from the PB-500 bundle to the TB12 net power block.
Would that work?

Not the way you expect or want.

There also look to be a couple of 12V+ / GND connections on TB5. Could any of those work instead? It's not clear if those are always on with the autopilot or are intermittent.

They are On with the pilot but I don't think they don't have enough current to drive you compass. I am looking into that out of curiosity but until we know for sure; don't burn up your pilot trying. You can safely use it to drive a small relay to switch your power (for sure).

 

[bporter51317]

Thanks. I though about doing that with the A/P power sources. Seems like a cheesy workaround, but it may be simplest. The relay is a little more elegant, I've got some around that can work for this.

I bought the original Navpilot 511 in the US, it came with the PG-500. I've since sailed the boat to New Zealand (still American and I still buy a lot of my gear through the U.S., I'm a full time cruiser), and had to buy the new 711C here.

The only thing wrong with my current autopilot is that the FAP5011 at my binnacle admitted water and can not be replaced. I'm trying to contain costs on this upgrade so I want to re-use the functional PGP-500 instead of buying another compass.

I also have a Maretron SSC300 on my N2K network that the old FAP-5002 could not talk to. Perhaps that's a better alternative?

It would be pretty easy to take the only NMEA 0183 that went from the MFD8 to the FAP5002 is circumvent the FAP7002 entirely, but that doesn't solve my power problem.

 

[Johnny Electron]

I also have a Maretron SSC300 on my N2K network that the old FAP-5002 could not talk to. Perhaps that's a better alternative?

I don't have any experience with it but you can always connect both and then try each by changing your data source selection, staying with the one that works best for you. The heart of any autopilot is good heading and hydraulics.