Autopilot Oscillation

[HopTug]

Hi all - I’m sure this topic has been covered, but my searches have not been fruitful!

We are enjoying our first multi-night trip in our new-to-us 2019 R31CB and I’ve finally had a chance to play with the autopilot a bit. Originally I thought it was only in heading-hold mode, but now I’ve found that in ANY mode, the autopilot induces a wobble. Almost like the sensitivity is too high, so it’s hunting left and right and overcorrecting. Doesn’t make for a pleasant ride!

Any known fixes? Is there a gain adjustment hidden in the menus somewhere? Thanks!

- Jason

 

[Brian B]

I have always found that it’s best to call Garmin support when on the boat for technical issues. They are very responsive and will walk you through the settings/fixes.

 

[Kevin Lamont]

Hi all - I’m sure this topic has been covered, but my searches have not been fruitful!

We are enjoying our first multi-night trip in our new-to-us 2019 R31CB and I’ve finally had a chance to play with the autopilot a bit. Originally I thought it was only in heading-hold mode, but now I’ve found that in ANY mode, the autopilot induces a wobble. Almost like the sensitivity is too high, so it’s hunting left and right and overcorrecting. Doesn’t make for a pleasant ride!

Any known fixes? Is there a gain adjustment hidden in the menus somewhere? Thanks!

- Jason

Hello Jason,

For the description you are giving it sounds like the autopilot needs to be recalibrated. I would reach out to your selling dealer, if you bought from a dealer and see if they can recalibrate it for you. Otherwise best is to call Garmin and have them walk you through the recalibration process, there is two parts. 1. Dockside wizard and 2. Seatrial wizard, best to do it out in open, calm water with little to no traffic. Hope this helps.

Thank you,

 

[Severum88]

Yup. A calibration should fix you back up. I setup an appt with Garmin tech support so I could have calm seas. It’s was easy to do with their guidance.

 

[tlkenyon]

Make double sure that you do not have something that creates a mag field near the autopilot heading sensor...the black round kinda thingy. I found this out the hard way, when a laptop computer was placed on the seat directly above the sensor (within a few inches) and was plugged in for charging. The changing field created by the computer battery and charging process created a variable mag field that affected the heading sensor. I got kinda what you are describing. No amount of re-calibration was effective. Finally figured it out. Moved the laptop. Problem solved.

TK