Garmin VHF 315 and GHP Reactor 40 Hydraulic Autopilot Corepack - Reviews

rlynch03 said:
That's funny my wife made me get rid of the gold chain when we got married... I think I will hang on to the Gold Shift knobs...
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Auto pilot installation update:

It's been a while. Finally went to the boat to begin the installation process last Wednesday with my buddy. We also changed out my hydraulic cylinder as the first part of the project. I want to thank all of you who offered advice, tips, and words of encouragement. I'll come clean right off of the bat and say that I did not install the quick disconnects. I was just trying to keep the system "simple" which in the end both worked and bit me in the a$$!

Everything was going so smoothly that it was almost scary as we didn't want to jinx anything. The pump install was smooth. The Shadow Drive install was easy. Heck, the most "difficult" part was the Rudder Indication Feedback as we had to get a little creative to get the alignment with the Port Rudder tiller proper. We used a block of PVC board that we mounted to the tiller arm to give a foundation to afix the connector rod. I'll try to get pictures after I clean up the wiring.

As we approached the bleeding and purging process, I first filled the helm pump with steering fluid and then set up the fill tube apparatus. Man, is that a janky setup! There is a fortune to be made for the person that builds a better mouse trap for that! Have LOTS of oil pads around. LOTS. Something is going to drip and it is at your helm. From then on the filling process and getting the air out with all of the by-passes open is easy, just a bit time consuming. But do it! Be thorough. When we got to the point where we began closing the bleeders on the cylinder and closing the bypass valve at the new smart pump, that's when my problem began. As the system began to pressure up, the leaks showed up!

I bought some special 90 Degree fitting that came off the front two ports on the pump. These fittings will swivel 360 Degrees, which I thought would be helpful when connecting that stiff SeaStar Steering tubing. Well, the swivels leaked. The guy at the hydraulic shop was kind enough to give me my money back. A quick run to the Marina parts department, and I had 2 90 Degree "fixed" elbows. Well, being late in the day and wanting to finish, we compounded our problems by not thinking clearing and working methodically and before you know it, we had been through the bleed/purge process two more times and we still had leaks!

The fix was to slow down, do things correctly. We made up the fittings with Loctite 567, and then left for three days to allow the Loctite to cure properly! Yes, it's the simple things. This morning we returned to the boat, double checked all of the fittings for tightness and then began, for the 4th time, the bleeding/purging process. SUCCESS. No leaks!

At this point it is easy to just follow the steps in the book. It sure was nice to see the words "Hydraulic Pump Stall" in both the Port and Starboard directions, which means we had done everything correctly. We then entered the Dock Side Wizard and just followed the prompts. During these steps, the pump is learning your cylinder. And at the end, for the Lock-to-Lock test, man that thing flies! I'm sure that there will be some more "fine tuning" to do, and of course the Sea Trial portion in April when we take the boat out. The only thing that I did not install was the "buzzer". I can always do that but I want to hear what my 8612 xsv alarm will tell me first. The Shadow Drive is all ready to go and I'm really looking forward to trying that out.

So, in summary, not following @ttmott advice on the QDs, cost me about 1.5 Qts of Sea Star Hydraulic Fluid due to the leaks, and extra bleeding/purging, and general spillage! Lesson learned. Asside from that, the install is not that difficult. Take your time and enjoy it, don't rush it.

Question: I have a perfectly good Raymarine hydraulic pump from the original auto-pilot system. Does anyone have a need for one? Also, what should I do with my old hydraulic cylinder? It has a small leak in one of the seals. The seal kits are about $400.

Fire away with questions. Pictures to follow.

Jaybeaux
 
While commissioning the autopilot and smart pump today I noticed the autopilot pump is a little noisy.

In fact, I never recall hearing my Raymarine autopilot pump very much at all.

Anyone else notice the same?

Won’t matter once the engine is running just curious if others have experienced the same.
 
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When the Lock-to-Lock test was performed, the pump was a bit "loud", but it racked it over in just a second.
 
I believe @ttmott mentioned in a previous post the challenge of fully commissioning the Reactor 40 Smart Pump V2 Autopilot system. I went through it today. The instructions do not recommend manually setting the High and Low Speed Gain settings but after running through the AutoTune Setup (twice) the boat would not hold a straight line, tracked back and forth and would overshoot the path. Actually seemed to be worse in Autopilot mode versus Heading Hold.

It was a process to adjust each of the high and low speed gain settings as well as adjusting the acceleration limiter but I think I have it pretty well dialed in now...

Was a fun shake down...in early March

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Well done! I gave my Marina a revised splash date: at their earliest convenience. I finished up all of the out of water work today. My sea trial will probably be towards the beginning of April....insurance thing. I have until then to tidy up all of the wires.

Congratulations on a great install project. And thank for your help, too.

Jaybeaux
 
rlynch03 said:
I believe ttmott mentioned in a previous post the challenge of fully commissioning the Reactor 40 Smart Pump V2 Autopilot system. I went through it today. The instructions do not recommend manually setting the High and Low Speed Gain settings but after running through the AutoTune Setup (twice) the boat would not hold a straight line, tracked back and forth and would overshoot the path. Actually seemed to be worse in Autopilot mode versus Heading Hold.

It was a process to adjust each of the high and low speed gain settings as well as adjusting the acceleration limiter but I think I have it pretty well dialed in now...

Was a fun shake down...in early March

View attachment 100581 View attachment 100582
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Did the Autotune get the compass cal'd in one circle?
 
ttmott said:
Did the Autotune get the compass cal'd in one circle?
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The first 1.5 circle I got to 56 rating so I ran it again and improved that number to 76. I have the new Garmin GPS 24XD antenna (using this for the heading sensor) on the roof so not sure why it wasn’t better than that, 100 being the best.

I did do this with the Autotune the first time and manually the second pass.

What numbers were you able to achieve?
 
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Looks good. Great job!
 
rlynch03 said:
The first 1.5 circle I got to 56 rating so I ran it again and improved that number to 76. I have the new Garmin GPS 24XD antenna (using this for the heading sensor) on the roof so not sure why it wasn’t better than that, 100 being the best.

I did do this with the Autotune the first time and manually the second pass.

What numbers were you able to achieve?
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Mid 90's with first circle in Florida. I was curious as this process is based upon the earth's magnetic flux / declination and I suspected the further North the more challenging. Regardless, might want to look again at the CCU location as I don't think the GPS antenna does the magnetic flux sensing.
 
rlynch03 said:
I believe @ttmott mentioned in a previous post the challenge of fully commissioning the Reactor 40 Smart Pump V2 Autopilot system. I went through it today. The instructions do not recommend manually setting the High and Low Speed Gain settings but after running through the AutoTune Setup (twice) the boat would not hold a straight line, tracked back and forth and would overshoot the path. Actually seemed to be worse in Autopilot mode versus Heading Hold.

It was a process to adjust each of the high and low speed gain settings as well as adjusting the acceleration limiter but I think I have it pretty well dialed in now...

Was a fun shake down...in early March
Click to expand...
ttmott said:
Mid 90's with first circle in Florida. I was curious as this process is based upon the earth's magnetic flux / declination and I suspected the further North the more challenging. Regardless, might want to look again at the CCU location as I don't think the GPS antenna does the magnetic flux sensing.
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The picture at least makes it look like it was somewhat choppy. I think an absolute flat calm is best, I wonder if sea conditions had something to do with the problems encountered.
 
alnav said:
The picture at least makes it look like it was somewhat choppy. I think an absolute flat calm is best, I wonder if sea conditions had something to do with the problems encountered.
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You're right but the picture was taken on the way back. Testing was performed further up in the river where it was more protected and flat.
 
ttmott said:
Mid 90's with first circle in Florida. I was curious as this process is based upon the earth's magnetic flux / declination and I suspected the further North the more challenging. Regardless, might want to look again at the CCU location as I don't think the GPS antenna does the magnetic flux sensing.
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The 24XD does have the below... Is that what you mean?

MAGNETIC HEADING
The magnetic heading sensor provides accuracy to within 3 degrees, stabilizing charts, radar overlay and MARPA even at slow speeds
Heading Calibration

After installation is complete, you must calibrate the heading and perform the auto heading alignment to receive magnetic heading data.
 
SKybolt said:
@rlynch03 I also have the 24XD and it does have a heading sensor in it, that said it also has a separate calibration to it that needs calibrating before it shows up as a heading sensor.

EDIT: page 4 of this manual.
https://static.garmin.com/pumac/GPS_24xd_HVS_NMEA_0183_Install_Instructions_EN-US.pdf
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Yep I did go through that set up as well. I still may try again though as mentioned above I commissioned 24xd trying to do a fast circle. Not realizing that the boat is not supposed to list during this process.
 
rlynch03 said:
Yep I did go through that set up as well. I still may try again though as mentioned above I commissioned 24xd trying to do a fast circle. Not realizing that the boat is not supposed to list during this process.
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Yeah, I read something about doing one (circle) a little above idle then a bit faster. I will look for the Garmin article that said that. I still haven't cal'd mine as that was a winter project and still needs to be mounted correctly.

EDIT: That procedure looks like a real PITA with having to power the antenna down and back up while in the right screen. But anyway, here is what it said about the circles:

"Within three minutes, complete two full, slow, tight circles, taking care to keep the boat as steady and level as possible. The boat should not list during calibration."

The above was from step 6.
 
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Still having a bit too much Rudder wag... I get the settings dialed in Heading Hold but then Autopilot is wagging too much at the same speed. I am going to start the entire commissioning process over again.

@ttmott I mounted my CCU low in the hull, centered in front of the engines. I wondered if that was part of the issue but my hand held compass didn't show any magnetic pull down there.
 
@rlynch03 I installed my CCU where the old Raymarine Flux Gate Compass was installed behind the glove box at the helm. At the centerline of the boat but not down low, but free of magnetic interference. I am not in the water yet so have not done the sea trial, but I will let you know.

Jaybeaux
 
rlynch03 said:
Still having a bit too much Rudder wag... I get the settings dialed in Heading Hold but then Autopilot is wagging too much at the same speed. I am going to start the entire commissioning process over again.

@ttmott I mounted my CCU low in the hull, centered in front of the engines. I wondered if that was part of the issue but my hand held compass didn't show any magnetic pull down there.
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These are my settings. I still get a small bit of rudder oscillation at idle speed but not bad.
First I selected all of my sensor sources then calibrated rudder center and North.
Assuming you have the Garmin Rudder position sensor connected to the Smartpump.
Compass Quality 87
Accel limit 62
Plaining Speed 17
Max Speed 32
Low Speed Gain 67
Low Speed counter 67
High Speed Gain 72
High Speed Counter 55
 
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