No Power GCH-10

[Martin610]

Hi Guys,

The auto pilot on my Cutwater 28 won't power up. This is my first auto pilot so I don't have a lot of experience with it. I did find the 40 amp fuse on the rear bulk head. Checked good. There is power at the lead on the fuse block. I'm thinking there might be additional fuses somewhere, but I didn't find them. Connections at screen display and ECU seem good. Is there something I should check on the CCU? Don't see any corrosion anywhere.

I did see a reference to a 'master reset' but I'm not sure if that's the correct next step or not?

Any help appreciated.

-martin

 

[Navigator's Son]

Assuming all your fuses are good, was your radio on or off?

If you have a Fusion radio, and it was off, chances are the autopilot gets its power through the radio.

Check your radio settings, and I want to say it's something like NSX? It's almost at the bottom of the list. If that option is not checked, autopilot won't power up unless radio is on.

 

[TBates]

Hello Martin610, I've seen the brightness on the autopilot screen get accidently turned all the way down which would look similar to the screen not receiving power. If you tap the lower right (brightness button) it will turn the brightness back up. If this doesn't appear to be the issue, please feel free to give me a call in the office at (253)839-5213 and we can go through a few more easy checks.

Thank you,

-Tim

 

[Martin610]

It was the Fusion radio. Once I turned it back on, all was well with the auto pilot. Thanks Robert.

That is a strange setup, I have to say.

-martin

 

[Navigator's Son]

Martin,

Make sure you find that one setting in the Radio - it allows power to be supplied to the auto pilot without having to turn on the radio. It's handy to know about this because at some point your autopilot will freeze up, you won't be able to Follow Route anymore. The fix is to remove power from autopilot and then turn it back on.

 

[sierracierra]

Hi Martin/Robert,

I don't have an Autopilot issue, but I am interested in learning how the radio affects the autopilot. If you have a minute to clarify the settings on the radio, that affect the autopilot, and pass that along, that would be great!

I have the older, Fusion MP-IP700 not the MP-IP700i. In case your Fusion radio isn't the same as mine.

Thanks for sharing!
Glenn

 

[ixlr8]

Glenn,
On a lot of the older boats the NMEA2000 backbone got it's power from the radio. If the radio was off, there was no power to the NMEA2000 network, so no communication between the chartplotter and the autopilot.

 

[Martin610]

I'm going down to the boat tomorrow and I will check the Fusion settings for the NSX value Robert was telling us about.

Right now I'm thinking this occurred when I replaced the fuse holder for the solar array. It was so corroded I could feel the wire getting hot. I shut down all the battery switches for safety before I replaced the fuse holder. That would likely shut off the memory feed for the Fusion.

Keep you posted.

-martin

 

[BB marine]

I had this issue the first year of owning the C26. The Fusion radio doesn't have to be on it just has to have power to it.The issue is from time to time the Fusion radio will "freeze up and need to be reset. When it does this it turns the NSX off. The NSX is to power remotes not N2K backbones. Fluid motion did use the NSX to power the back bone which according to Garmin technical service is not correct. Any time the Radio looses power or needs to be reset the N2K back bone has no power and there is a loss of communication throughout the system. The Auto pilot would not power up. Technical Assistance from Garmin told me I need to find the power source for the N2K. I could not find the yellow power cord which is part of the Garmin installation. I spoke with Andrew confirming the N2K is powered up through the Fusion and most likely resetting the Fusion and turning the NSX on would fix the issue. I called Garmin back and explained the N2K power supply. Garmin told me that the NSX should not be used for powering the N2K. The NSX is not made to output the demands of the N2K and could cause the Fusion radio to fail.I then installed a yellow N2K power cord and wired it to the fuse panel in the head. I have never had an issue again. I had to replace the Fusion radio when the boat was a month out of warranty. It worked but about every 30 minutes of using it It would shut off. I would reset it and get another 30 minutes of use. Replaced with a Fusion MS-RA55 from West Marine works good now.

To reset the radio hold the power button for approx 10 seconds it will go through a reset mode and then power up. Go to menu and scroll down to NSX and turn it on. This will power N2K up. Once reset the radio can be off and there will still be power to the NSX. NSX is to turn the radio on in other locations of the boat using a Fusion remote. It is not intended to power N2K.

 

[Martin610]

Really appreciate all the feedback I got.

All is well now. I am going to re-wire the N2K so it has an independent power source without the Fusion in the loop.

-martin