Auto pilot's display dark and at times unreadable

[baz]

Subject: Auto pilot's display dark and at times unreadable

Yesterday I 'fired' up my boat's electronics only to find that the Auto pilot's display at first lit up, showed a few text messages and then promptly went dark and completely unreadable. At first I thought the Auto pilot's controller wasn't ON or operating correctly. I messed about for around 30 mins trying to figure out what was up. No success.

I placed a call to RT but being the weekend and most being on the Desolation Sound factory cruise, I didn't expect a response, so left voice mail.

I continued to mess with the Auto pilot, checking fuses, ensuring all the cable connection to the controller were secure, but all was as it should be.

I now looked very carefully at the Auto pilot's display and could actually make out some readings, numbers. The display was very dim.... A penny dropped. Was the display set to max dim ? Very carefully I was able to navigate the Auto pilot's display MENU and came across the "Display" setting and sure enough the slider was at the MIN point. I slid it all the way up and presto... the display was gloriously lit up.

Later in the day, Andrew Custis texted me back and said one quick way to resolve this issue when the display is blank is to press the power button 3 times in succession to reset the "Display" to max setting. Has anyone tried this '3 button press' technique ?

My question here is: How on earth did the Auto pilot's display setting get changed to 'min' ? I sure did not do it!

 

[Admiral S]

Busy children hands strike again?

 

[NorthernFocus]

... My question here is: How on earth did the Auto pilot's display setting get changed to 'min' ? I sure did not do it!

Didn't you just take a cruise with children on the boat? Just sayin...

I always have an issue with sunglasses. Specifically for use on the boat I recently purchased a pair of progressive lens glasses with polarized lenses. Head has to be turned in just the right angle to read LCDs.

 

[zekeandboone]

Barry...
Happened to me last Thursday! I texted the RT gang. The three tap method works great, as does using a flashlight to illuminate the dim screen and help you navigate back to a bright screen.
RT customer service is the best!!

 

[baz]

Just for the record.... the last time I used the Auto pilot the display was lit up nicely and children were not on my boat.

The question/issue about sunglasses causing screens to appear black or vastly dimmed out..... Yes, this can be an issue for sure and I don't know if the issue is caused by the sunglasses exclusively, or the type of screen technology, or a combination of both. The other day I had a friend onboard who wore prescription glasses that darken down in bright sunlight. He complained the only windshield he could see through clearly was the center one whereas the other two side windows were very obscured with weird striping lines. He could see the Garmin displays clearly though. I wear prescription Maui Jim sun glasses and when I purchased them I did so on the condition I could clearly see my auto dashboard dials and entertainment screen, all my boat displays and see through the boat's windshield windows. They worked perfectly for me for all these things so I did not have to return them for a refund.

zekeandboone wrote: "...as does using a flashlight to illuminate the dim screen and help you navigate back to a bright screen.". Thanks for the flashlight technique. 🙂 Will use that as well in future if the 3-button trick doesn't work. Thank you. 🙂

 

[Mr. Ed]

Sometimes polarization in sunglasses will obscure screens and show irregularities in window glass. Non-polarized glasses usually don't exhibit this phenomenon.

 

[Matty]

Happened to me this weekend as well. Was able to get around it by having auto pilot up on chart plotter. Later in the evening was able to read screen enough to follow instructions found online. Will try 3 power button hits next time.