RayMarine EV-100 Autopilot Installation

"With the autopilot struggling to keep a heading at 3 mph while trolling, do you believe that a larger pump motor would have helped?"

No. The pump was having no problem moving the outboard. That being said, would a larger pump turn the outboard any faster? Perhaps. However, I don't remember the a/p actually turning the outboard full throw, although it is capable of doing that.

"Have you swung the compass? How much off, is the EV-I sensor from your GPS magnetic heading? Were the courses you were taking, such that there was a significant deviation from the GPS calculated course?"

GPS magnetic heading and EV-1 sensor are within 2 degrees of each other. The compass does not really come into play, other than to be a manual backup. It's close enough for C-dory work! :D My course was actually a straight line route, that was previously set up in my GPS. AP was having a hard time staying on that course, so I simply disconnected the AP from the GPS, and used it in the manual mode of following a heading only. This allowed the AP to work a bit better, but it would still end up turning off heading from the quartering seas at the slow speed. I suspect this was from slow reaction by the autopilot, and it failing to correct in a timely fashion. Also, it's almost like it just gave up and alerted that it was off course. (Us humans preempt that bow swing immediately when it starts to happen.) If I wasn't worried about tangled lines, I would have let it gone to see how long it would take to finally correct itself. (I did reset the autopilot to a more sensitive tracking mode, but that did not help.)


"Three MPH is a speed where an auto pilot should work OK--it is down in the 1.5 or so MPH that they begin to really struggle more. The EV-i heading sensor is a 9 axis sensor, so it should handle the slow speed, and the difficult circumstances of quartering seas."

One would think so, but it does not. My trolling speed was between 2-3 mph. Even on very calm water, at no-wake speeds, the EV-100 seems to have a hard time staying on course. Speeds above that, then it seems to do ok.
Colby
 
Colby,

Do you change the gain/sensitivity on the autopilot between high speed and trolling? I my older Raymarine AP, I had 3 gain settings 1,2 and 3. The highest gain (3) was much better for trolling while (1) was better at high speed. With some newer AP's the AP is connected to the chart plotter (usually via NMEA 2k) to get the speed and the gain is auto adjusted based on speed. On others it's a manual setting.
 
Roger, the EV100 also has 3 sensitivity settings. I forget the name they give each; but yes I change it to the most sensitive when at slower speeds. You have to manually set it in settings; it does not automatically change when hooked up to the chart plotter. Colby
 
One issue you would have been dealing with was the GPS refresh time on the older Garmin 541, vs (If could have used it) the 10X faster refresh time on the 840x. However, when going slowly, with the slow GPS, the 9 axis sensor should have been better than the GPS.

The size of the pump set would relate to the speed of reaction, not if the pilot went hard over. So, I suspect with a bigger pump, it would have handled the rough water better. I did some reading on theEDVxxx system and it suggests that if the ram is at the upper range of the pump, that you go with the larger pump....

If the auto pilot is struggling at 3 mph in calm water, and especially at no wake (4 to 5 knots in the C Dory22), then there is something else wrong.
It might be interesting to see what Ray Marine says about this, since much of the trolling is at these lower speeds. In my limited reading on THT, for the most part folks are happy at the slow speeds. But..apparently the calibration is set for 3 to 15 mph. Most of these new pilots have virtual rudder feedback. The computer simulates what the feedback would be. If it is different than what the software predicts, then that would cause issues.

Even if they have a soft ware upgrade, you are still stuck without a RayMarine MDF for upgrades, and dependent on tech support to do any further upgrades.
 
I don't know that I have used mine at less than 3kph water speed, but I have used it at the 3 - 5 KPH over the ground, (GPS) speed, which may have been under 3 in water speed at times. It seemed to work ok then. I usually use it in the "point the boat and go that way" mode instead of placing a waypoint an d going to that.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Anyway....it works ok at cruise speeds... I may still entertain the idea of just spending the money and purchase the Garmin Autopilot which comes with the bigger pump anyway, as I'm not changing out my chart plotters! (I'd have to get a good offer to purchase the EV-100 from me first. ;-) However, I don't use the AP at troll speeds very often, and not sure after having this for the season I really need one. The C-Dory tracks fairly straight anyway, without touching the wheel. (Of course except in wavy water.... Colby
 
colbysmith":2nllrmmi said:
Stuff clipped .... However, I don't use the AP at troll speeds very often, and not sure after having this for the season I really need one. The C-Dory tracks fairly straight anyway, without touching the wheel. (Of course except in wavy water.... Colby
Click to expand...

Except in fog, or dark or distraction :shock: :wink:

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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IMHO an AP for salmon trolling Lk. Michigan has to have a Rudder Position Sensor. When the waves are 2 to 3s each wave weighs so much nore than our little boats. The stern or bow can be moved several feet (many degrees) off intended course. This happens most going uphill but it happens when quartering and even going downhill also. Now if you have a probe with temp and speed at the cannonball and you want to troll into a 2 mph undersurface current and you are only going 1/2 mph at the surface and you are being moved around by waves in lots of directions, the unit just has no idea which way to go without the rps. Check the charter boats and talk to other GL skippers, even with their much heavier boats (which helps), they favor a rps on the autopilot. So although a larger pump and faster updates may help, for this specialized application, I think a rps would help more.

Hoping for a mild winter but enough snow to keep the lakes up.

Regards,
Mark
 
Mark, I doubt even a rudder sensor would allow the auto pilot to keep the boat straight at very slow speeds on quartering seas. There have been times addition of power has been required as well.
It's been great having the water levels back up. Let's hope El Nina this year doesn't push them back down! Colby
 
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