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125Miles · 17-05-2011, 10:50

Well, responding to my own thread. The home brewed gyro works like a charm. After powering up the Autolearn function became available and I went through sea calibration process as needed for 1G version. Upon calibration zigzaging was done I went to catch some swells on open water to see what happens. I did surprisingly well, steering looks more like invisible helmsman caching up as boat rolls over the waves. Response Level menu added some extra sensitivity options, it used to be 1 to 4 now it increased all the way to level 9. Anything after level 4 is pretty much useless unless you have a rocket boat doing 60 knots in a gale force conditions.
The things I didn’t like. It seems like autopilot became more responsive. At cruising speed it does excellent job BUT if the wind drops you slow down to 1 to 2 knots and yawl stability decreases it starts doing unnecessary small adjustments trying keep you on precise course. All that equals to eating battery banks. Also with a sudden gust the boat gets overpowered and start turning in to the wind autopilot would correct that almost instantly creating hill that a little beyond my comfort level.
This is how final setup looks like on the pictures. Wires from the module connected to RATE GYRO taps the following way: +12V=RED TAP, Ground=GRAY TAP, Rate=YELLOW TAP. Note that gyro module has to be positioned upside down in order to provide correct output. I made a small bracket out of 90 degrees plastic angle. It attached with 3M double sticking tape to the circuit board on one side and the gyro module on the other. In order to work correctly the whole computer has to be installed vertically within 10 degrees limit.
There a little 3pin socket on the circuit board specially designed for factory upgrade gyro. I never bothered with it but I suspect it might supply +5.5V skipping the need for soldering voltage regulator.

cwyckham · 17-05-2011, 12:33

This is very cool. If I ever get my S1 to actually work, I'll give it a go for sure. One question. The french website indicates that there is a 30 second "stabilization period" for the gyro. I assume this starts at power-up of the S1(G) unit? So can you power on, wait 30 seconds, and then push "auto" to engage the autopilot? Does this period half to be with the unit at rest? If so, the upgrade wouldn't be practical for some uses where you'd need to power the unit up at sea with it pitching all over the place.

Also, is your autopilot installed on centerline? I noticed the french installation had a remote gyro unit in order to put it on centerline. Not clear to me that that would be important. I don't believe the S1G units with onboard gyros have to be mounted on centerline? Or do they also have a separate gyro pack?

125Miles · 18-05-2011, 08:03

I was confused myself with 30 seconds “stabilization period” written on the website. According to data sheet for gyro chip turn-on time is only 50millisecconds. It worked right up as soon as I turned power on and pushed AUTO. As the installation goes I never found any strict requirements for thing to be on the center line just looked up at the manual for computers with built in gyro. Mine was installed a while ago and sits about 6 feet aft and 3 feet off the center on the 30 feet boat.

cwyckham · 18-05-2011, 23:26

Thank you for your response. I checked the manual as well, and there seems to be no need for a centerline installation.

Just to make sure I understand... You buy the gyro and the regulator, wire them together in a pack that has three wires sticking out, attach the wires to the little gyro inputs, mount the gyro nearby upside down (love your location, by the way), and you're done. Why wouldn't anybody do this! I'm seriously psyched.

I have figured out the problems I had with the S1 and just need to implement the fix. Once it's working for a while and I can establish a bit of a baseline, I'll do this as well and report back.

Please let us know if anything goes a bit pear shaped or if you come up with any more improvements.

Many thanks to you for reporting here and also the creative French sailor who tried this first.

Chris

**s/v Jedi** · 19-05-2011, 09:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwyckham

Just to make sure I understand... You buy the gyro and the regulator, wire them together in a pack that has three wires sticking out, attach the wires to the little gyro inputs, mount the gyro nearby upside down (love your location, by the way), and you're done. Why wouldn't anybody do this! I'm seriously psyched.

One reason somebody wouldn't want to do this is if that person has no experience soldering electronic components and finishing this module in a way that it can cope with the marine environment (corrosive, vibration etc.)

ciao!
Nick.

amarf · 28-05-2011, 00:43

hello 125 miles,

I want to try this by my self but I'm bit confused which gyro to buy. Can you please send a link where and which components you have purchased. Thanks!

arnev · 18-07-2011, 13:32

Can it be that the rate gyro is to sensible compared to the Raymarine original ? Could it help to add a filter on the output to remove small changes at low speed ?

witzgall · 18-07-2011, 13:40

If a raymarine pilot received stabilized heading information from a networked heading sensor, over 0183 or seatalk, would it use that information instead of it's fluxgate compass?

Chris

daddle · 18-07-2011, 13:47

I recall it helps the response if the autopilot is receiving boat speed data on the SeaTalk/NMEA interface.

That said, I find I need to adjust the response quite frequently.

Samantha ann · 22-07-2011, 21:54

Sounds like a interesting idea. Where were the parts order from?

On a another note on my S1, I cannot get my gamin 498 to feed heading to auto helm. VHF receives everything. Any thoughts

rhumbunctious · 23-07-2011, 00:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samantha ann

Sounds like a interesting idea. Where were the parts order from?

On a another note on my S1, I cannot get my gamin 498 to feed heading to auto helm. VHF receives everything. Any thoughts

From my experience, Raymarine has the worst NMEA compatibility of all the brands out there (and I expect it's intentional).

I've tried 4 different GPSs with my S1 (2 Garmins, Standard Horizon, Lowrance) and it has never recognized any of them. Seems Raymarine's flavor of NMEA is essentially proprietary, and you'd probably have to resort to an NMEA to SeaTalk bridge, though even that may not resolve the sentence incompatabilities.

I gave up trying to get NMEA data into my S1, not wanting to switch out all my other gear for Raymarine specific variants. I just rely on the fluxgate compass. Pity.

bazzer · 23-07-2011, 18:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhumbunctious

From my experience, Raymarine has the worst NMEA compatibility of all the brands out there (and I expect it's intentional).

I've tried 4 different GPSs with my S1 (2 Garmins, Standard Horizon, Lowrance) and it has never recognized any of them. Seems Raymarine's flavor of NMEA is essentially proprietary, and you'd probably have to resort to an NMEA to SeaTalk bridge, though even that may not resolve the sentence incompatabilities.

I gave up trying to get NMEA data into my S1, not wanting to switch out all my other gear for Raymarine specific variants. I just rely on the fluxgate compass. Pity.

Did you ever think of using a raymarine gps and one of their chart plotters the S1 was designed to work with?