Advanced Autopilot

[labsrus]

I did a search on the forum regarding this and found some answers but still have a question

When trolling I will engage the autopilot, advanced. Did not realize that I could go with legacy autopilot, will try that next time out

What happens is the trolling line will correct and head a little to the right, I keep constantly turn left on the remote to keep going in the direction that I want.

I tried to recalibrate the GPS puck to the motor and that did not help.

Is this normal for the advanced autopilot?

Thanks

[1900Tyee]

Labsurus,

I have the same unit and have experienced the same issue. From what I can tell, the issue develops when the trolling motor does not have enough authority to keep it on the line you set. You can confirm this by turning the prop way up and you can see that the Green course heading line will lay on top of the Purple line you have set with the remote.

Except here is a problem I still haven’t figured out.

I figured I would use Cruise Control...figuring it would adopt whatever prop speed it needed to run the Purple line. However, when I do that I get the speed, but course direction still wanders. The only thing I can think is that the Cruise Control can’t react quick enough and so it just gets off track and resets.

Please try the manual prop selection and let me know if you experience the same thing.

I’m glad you posted this because it has been bugging me too!

1900yee

[Ozark Bob]

Cruise control goes the speed you set it at. It does not care orcompesate for the elements pushing you off course. Legacy autopilot tries to maintain a compass heading but does not adjust to course deviation due to the elements. Advanced autopilot on the other hand plots a line of GPS plot points and will react to deviations and even make a sharp turn to get back to that line of points even adjusting speed to do it. Cruise is an independent factor. It depends what you want it to do or not do. Bob

[1900Tyee]

Originally Posted by Ozark Bob

Cruise control goes the speed you set it at. It does not care orcompesate for the elements pushing you off course. Legacy autopilot tries to maintain a compass heading but does not adjust to course deviation due to the elements. Advanced autopilot on the other hand plots a line of GPS plot points and will react to deviations and even make a sharp turn to get back to that line of points even adjusting speed to do it. Cruise is an independent factor. It depends what you want it to do or not do. Bob

Just to be clear Bob, I was talking about Advanced AutoPilot and Cruise Control used together (I don’t use the Legacy AutoPilot).

If there is a steady and fairly light wind or current...cruise control works fine. But when there are lots of variations, it doesn’t react quickly enough to the external forces. I do find though that my Helix is able to sense direction when on AutoPilot even though there may not be enough motion for GPS to pick up the speed.

Anyway...the whole system sure beats the way I used to do it in my Dad’s 12 foot aluminum tiller...

1900Tyee

[Plunker]

I think you'll be happier with how legacy performs.

[WallyWarrior]

Advanced sux. Use legacy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Diesel Pro]

I've always used legacy on inland waters, but recently tried advanced on an open water troll on Lake Michigan. I found that the advanced worked better, but was a bit quirky.


When making course corrections it goes by the direction that the control head is facing and not the plot on the graph. This means if the boat rocks and the motor is making a hard correction to port you may well change course to a heading significantly to starboard even though you want to go slightly further to port. Once course was set it was decent though.