Tiller Pilot Control

[misty]

what is the least expensive tiller pilot that responds to MacENC or 0183
to steer my aries?
anyone!

s/v Misty

[misty]

Let me expand in hopes that someone knows more than I do on this subject. The Simrad and Raymarine units do not accept input from a control unit until you get to- in Raymarine's case- the x5 unit. Simrad seems to be the same deal. Well, I am going to hook a unit up to an Aries windvane and don't need or want to pay for that much power so I am trying to find a system that will work for the least that I have to pay. Any ideas? Aneyone?

[prof_mariner]

I used an older version of the Simrad TP22 (back when it was Navico) to drive my Sailomat windvane. It accepts NMEA 0183 so can be set up to be driven by your charting program (assuming your charting app sends out NMEA autopilot control). The TP10 looks to be the same unit except without NMEA 0183 control.

To be honest, I found using my charting app to control my tiller pilot a bit unreliable so I just did course changes manually.

[Rakuflames]

I have a Wheel Pilot (bought used from a member right here, thank you very much!) It works VERY well. A friend wired it to "talk" to my Garmin 441, but I haven't found it necessary. I'm not a fan of "mindless" sailing anyway, and putting it on the needed compass heading the 441 gives me works extremely well without turning everything over to non-humans.

Every once in a while it goes WAAAY off course and my boat is suddenly doing donuts but I really like it for single-handing. 99.9% of the time if I go forward or below, the boat will stay on course extremely well.

No one has suggested they would use such technology stupidly, but we plot our coordinates every half hour in case the thing (or the GPS) stops working. Using it along with those coordinates is very helpful if a current is pushing us off course. I don't have the experience of many here, so it's actually all been a great teaching tool, but you have to have your brain engaged along with the pilot and the GPS, with chart OUT.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by misty

Let me expand in hopes that someone knows more than I do on this subject. The Simrad and Raymarine units do not accept input from a control unit until you get to- in Raymarine's case- the x5 unit. Simrad seems to be the same deal. Well, I am going to hook a unit up to an Aries windvane and don't need or want to pay for that much power so I am trying to find a system that will work for the least that I have to pay. Any ideas? Aneyone?

Here is the page out of the Raymarine ST1000/ST2000 tiller pilot install guide.

It sounds to me like either unit will do the trick. I am assuming a "NMEA navigator" is RayMarine speak for "0183 autopilot."

I just put an ST2000 on my Aries but have only tried it at the dock and have not tried tying it to my autopilot. I don't much see the point.

NMEA cabling
If required, you can connect a NMEA navigator or wind instrument to the tiller pilot. It can then use this information for Track and WindTrim modes.
Recognized NMEA data

The following table lists the recognized NMEA sentences.
Information NMEA 0183 data
Cross Track Error APB, APA,RMB, XTE, XTR
Bearing to Waypoint APB, BPI, BWR, BWC, BER, BEC, RMB
Distance to Waypoint WDR, WDC, BPI, BWR, BWC, BER, BEC, RMB
Waypoint Number APA, APB,BPI, BWR, WDR, BWC, WDC, RMB, BOD, WCV, BER, BEC
Speed Through Water VHW
Apparent Wind Angle and Speed VWR

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Here is the page out of the Raymarine ST1000/ST2000 tiller pilot install guide.

It sounds to me like either unit will do the trick. I am assuming a "NMEA navigator" is RayMarine speak for "0183 autopilot."

I just put an ST2000 on my Aries but have only tried it at the dock and have not tried tying it to my autopilot. I don't much see the point.

I wired up the seatalk circuit for my ST1000. I have used it to track GPS route with an old Garmin 295. It was more of an experiment than an actual need but I can attest it works.

The hardest part was detemining pin outs from the garmin cable to the seatalk circuit but actually was in the Garmin operator manual.

I do not have wind information but the ST1000/2000 state they will accept wind input as well.

I run the tiller pilot in hdg mode 100% of the time.

PS - If I get what you are trying to do it is to run the tiller pilot to drive the vane (trim tab) which will then turn the rudder. If that is the case the only other twist to the plot is I think you have to set up the tiller pilot as "reverse" sensing. I seem to recall reading this in the tillerpilot manual as well. Should not be a drama.

<Edit> PPS - just so you are aware, and I am not the worlds best sparky, the 0183 is an older spec and a lot of the "words" used by modern gps wont be recognized. This would be morre of a concern mounting older nmea0183 stuff to chartplotters, integrating ais, etc, etc. However, driving the simple commands to steer the autopilot shouldnt be a problem. Make sure your gps speaks 0183...

[misty]

thanks all. I guess I will just go with directional and not use interface. I also single
hand. I have to hand steer out of the bay here in Mobile because of all the turns in the channel. It takes about 5 hours to reach the open gulf where I sail. again thanks to all for the info.