On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:29:07 -0500, Molesworth wrote:

I have an ST4000 autohelm.

I call it 'Marvin' after the character in 'Hitchhikers Guide' as it has
a brain the size of a planet, but doesn't work.

The fluxgate compass is under the steps into the cabin, well away from
metal.

When Control Head is switched on the display reads 331deg, regardless of
which way I am heading.


If this is the case, it's not "hooked up backwards", the problem is the
reading isn't changing (so the control turns more and more, waiting for
the heading to change...)

Might be the gimbals inside the compass (not the "head", the compass) are
stuck, but I had similar problems with mine and it was intermittent
connections of the cable between the compass and the head. Try wriggling
them a bit and see if the heading starts changing.

They use really tiny, non-standard connectors, but they are available if
you need to re-terminate.

druid
http://www.bcboatnet.org