Lowrance Autopilot Messed up

[Captain PartyMarty]

Hey Guy's

So I brought my boat up to WH this weekend. Everything seems to be working fine except the Autopilot just drives in circles when its engaged. End of the season last year the autopilot was awesome and was working 100%.

Any Ideas on what might have gone wrong?

I have already tried downloading and installing the latest software on my head units but didn't help

 

[tannerc]

Are your head units still reading your point 1 in your network?
I’d try and full re calibrate.
Navico on the phone was really helpful when I had a commissioning issue. Might be worth a phone call.

 

[Rain City]

A speaker threw off my heading sensor once. Don't have AP but thought it could be the same issue

 

[zurk]

you might need an HS75 DGPS heading sensor. its not affected by magnetics.

 

[Brando]

you might need an HS75 DGPS heading sensor. its not affected by magnetics.

at only $2500usd that’s an easy fix!

re calibrate as tannerc suggests

 

[Rain City]

at only $2500usd that’s an easy fix!

re calibrate as tannerc suggests

I've done this a few times and no matter what, my heading and course never end up perfect. It's frustrating because it affects the radar overlay.

 

[Brando]

I've done this a few times and no matter what, my heading and course never end up perfect. It's frustrating because it affects the radar overlay.

I have had a similar experience but I found I never use the overlay. One screen for gps one for radar so it hasn’t been an issue.

 

[Aces]

I've done this a few times and no matter what, my heading and course never end up perfect. It's frustrating because it affects the radar overlay.

You don’t want it too easy

 

[Rain City]

You don’t want it too easy

Just spice things up a little eh? Lol

 

[Aces]

Just spice things up a little eh? Lol

Bwahaha!

 

[zurk]

at only $2500usd that’s an easy fix!

its only money. just YOLO it. the lack of needing calibration and being affected by magnets is well worth it.

mine is on the right. mounts flat, sits under the halo 24 out of the way. small bump, hardly visible from a distance. painted it black with krylon rattle can paint. wired direct into the nmea2k powered bus.

 

[Captain PartyMarty]

So spent the week screwing around with the auto pilot, did full calibration, newest software and its kind of working now. Trolling speed seems to work ok at faster speeds it swings back and forth. Pretty sure it’s not the heading sensor as the radar over lay is dead on. After reading on the web I think I might have an air bubble in the hydraulics causing the pump to over compensate. Going to try and Re bleed the system next time I am at the boat

 

[tannerc]

If you had an airlock I think you’d find it won’t work at all. You’ll also see the bubble in the clear line from helm to pump. If you use power steer you’ll be able to hear the pump cavitating if an air bubble is present. Saying that it’s easy enough to do a bleed, and an incorrect setting doesn’t seem likely since it worked when you parked the boat last season.
Did you try adjusting sensitivity level ( can’t remember what lowrance calls it) when you recommissioned it? ( the power it takes the pump to turn the motor ). I played with that on mine and it helped its responsiveness.
Mine wanders a bit at speed, over corrects itself and takes a bit to get back, never enough I’d consider it a problem though.

Good luck

 

[Captain PartyMarty]

Ya I played with the sensitivity and it doesn’t resolve the issue. Like I said last year it ran perfectly. Air bubble seem like the only thing left to check for and the only thing that could be diffrent. One thing I noticed when trolling is last year when in autopilot if somebody started to turn the wheel the autopilot would not change course. But now if I turn the wheel I can force the course to change.

 

[tannerc]

Ya I played with the sensitivity and it doesn’t resolve the issue. Like I said last year it ran perfectly. Air bubble seem like the only thing left to check for and the only thing that could be diffrent. One thing I noticed when trolling is last year when in autopilot if somebody started to turn the wheel the autopilot would not change course. But now if I turn the wheel I can force the course to change.

Roger that, mine does not turn direction when someone turns the wheel while engaged.

I took a little 250 ml 2 stroke oil bottle cut the bottom off it and used that with the bleeder hose. Made a lot less mess when I Re bled mine

 

[Unreel]

Ya I played with the sensitivity and it doesn’t resolve the issue. Like I said last year it ran perfectly. Air bubble seem like the only thing left to check for and the only thing that could be diffrent. One thing I noticed when trolling is last year when in autopilot if somebody started to turn the wheel the autopilot would not change course. But now if I turn the wheel I can force the course to change.

If you have the provided clear hose installed on the pump its pretty easy to tell if you have air in the system. Just use the power steer and press till at full lock while watching the hose. Then press and hold the other direction until full lock and watch the hose. If you dont see a bunch of bubbles going through then you shouldn't have any air in the system.