Jerry wrote in news:d6fcf7e0-a58c-4d5f-ab33-4896b8dd1024
@56g2000hsm.googlegroups.com:

My autopilot switched from AUTO to STANDBY while out at sea. There was
an alrm sound but in the past when there was a problem, I would get a
message that said NO LINK or MOTOR STOPPED. There was no response to
pushing the AUTO button. After turning the power on and off a few
times, I was able to get it to go back into AUTO but only for about 5
minutes when it returned to STANDBY.

After anchoring for a night with the power to the autopilot off, it
went into AUTO with no problem after turning on the power.

I did all the obvious checks for bad or loose connections but found
nothing wrong.

I am reluctant to take it out to sea on a long cruise for fear that I
might end up stearing by hand for a few days if it happens again.

I am curious to know if anyone has had a similar problem.

I've had similar problems twice. Both times it's been power related. Be
careful to check both the + and - connections. One time the - connection
appeared to be fine, but wasn't fully in the grasp of the jaws and when
we'd hit the right seas, it would lose connection enough to drop the
autopilot off-line for a second or two.

This was particularly nasty one night on our way from Isla Mujares
(Cancun), Mexico to Key West. We were as close hauled as we could get and
there were cruise ships passing by. When the auto pilot would drop off-
line, we'd round-up and I'm sure that our course looked like we were drunk.
I hailed the closest cruise ship and told them that we were having auto-
pilot problems and that despite our erratic course changes, we saw them and
would keep out of their way. I then got to empty the lazarette where the
autopilot was housed, squeeze my petite 6'4" body into it while we were
getting bounced around, and diagnose the problem. Fun!

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org