Autopilot problem

[Jfrano]

So this morning I’m not getting power to the autopilot display at the helm . Checked Panel fuses looks good . Is there a separate fuse for it or other ideas?

Thanks

 

[BB marine]

The auto pilot display is powered through N2K cable. If you have a fuse for the N2K yellow cable check to make sure it is good and there is power at the cable leads. If you don't see a cable or fuse labeled N2K and have a Fusion Radio, Do a reset of the Radio (hold the power button for 10 seconds and then release. The radio will go through a reset and turn on again. Hit settings, scroll down to NRX, turn NRX on. Now see if the auto pilot screen turns on.During the build Ranger/Cutwater boats are sometimes using the NRX power to power the N2K backbone. If the radio goes through a need to reset the loss of N2K navigation occurs. I spoke with Garmin about this power configuration and they advised me to not power the N2K back bone with the NRX circuit. It will fail eventually and could cause the radio to fail prematurely. I installed a fused yellow power cable to the back bone and have never had the issue again.

 

[Jfrano]

Interesting yesterday I was having issues with the radio , no button did anything , so I googled and found the rest you mentioned which fixed the radio, wonder if that did something to autopilot

 

[Jfrano]

Settings on radio fixed it! Go figure.
Thanks much

 

[BB marine]

Good, I'm Glad that fixed the issue. The problem with that install is if there are issues with the Fusion radio you may loose all communication between your navigation electronics. The Installation requires the Fusion radio and the NXR power to power the N2K back bone. From Garmin service reps, "the NXR was not designed to power the N2K back bone". It is a power supply for a fusion radio remote panel. When I was having issues with autopilot and 7612 chart plotter not communicating with the Volvo EVC, Garmin continually said" no power supply to the N2K back bone." When it was determined that the power supply was coming from the Fusion Radio via the NXR circuit, Garmin told me "do not power the back bone this way. It will make the N2K communication unreliable and could damage the fusion radio." I'm not sure why Fluiid Motion elected to power their N2K this way. I installed a fused power supply based on the Garmin installation manual.

 

[Scuba Too]

Hi all,

I ran into this same problem on my R-29 CB. In my case the radio failed. Fortunately it was still in the 3 year warranty period (1 month remaining!). When Fusion sent the replacement it was a model 755 as opposed to the original 750. After installing it and enabling the power feature the autopilots would shut down after just a few minutes. That’s when I learned about the NMEA system and the radio powering the autopilots. As noted Fusion does state that the power option is only intended for a remote that they sell. I suspect boats with a command bridge are more susceptible since there are 2 autopilots. its actually quite simple to add power to the NMEA. I had an electrician do it cause of questions over balancing the power (turns out not really an issue on a boat our size) and it cost all of $140 (my jaw literally dropped when I got the bill - don’t they know the service fees are always in increments of $1K lol).

For the new model R-29 the NMEA backbone in the cabin is conveniently located below the throttle (being a little sarcastic here). However there’s another portion of the backbone up under the command bridge helm that is really easy to access with a DC fuse block conveniently close by!

The autopilots have been functioning much better and I suspect that they were under powered even with the old 750 model. For example the auto guidance would routinely fall out, such that I finally gave up on using it. However with the added power it now works all the time so I’m a happy camper.

Eric