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OHi,
I have an motorboat at 37ft and about 12 t,
The steering is hydraulic but the old autopilot was linear drive (autohelm 5000).
Issue is that I have to activate the clutch on both the autohelm and the hydraulic pump when when activating the pilot / motor controller.
So if linear drive tries to push/pull the rudder and the hydraulic pump is not deactivated the autohelm will automatically “de-clutch” so the rod will run freely.
Is there a way to configure the time from activating the clutch to the time the controller tries to push/pull the linear drive. ?
Another thing I noticed the hydraulic clutch draws about 6amps while activated, isn’t that a bit high ?
Best regards
Dennis.
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Another case of something strange required.
yes, 6 amps is very high for the clutch. The latest hardware/software supports clutch pwm so after 300 milliseconds, the clutch output power can be greatly reduced (adjusted from 0-100%) to save power since it usually takes a lot less current to hold the clutch once it is engaged.
Are you saying you have a hydraulic pump for manual control (wheel?) and linear drive for pilot? How does the automatic de-clutch happen?
There is no way to configure the time currently, but it would not be impossible to add with a small software change. Often when activating the pilot no correction is immediately made. The clutch output applies power when engaged. Do you want to do the opposite for the hydraulic? It seems you may need a relay since the clutch output is really only made for 2-3 amps.
More details needed, I do not really understand your setup.
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so applying power to the clutch of the pump bypasses it? So it takes power, and then allows the linear actuator to override?
I am unsure about the time delay needed. Do you mean it will trigger over current event because the hydraulic clutch takes time?
Well.. This is an interesting arrangement you have. A lot of hydraulic systems have bypass valves to allow an electric pump to move the rudder without back driving the wheel, but they are using hydraulic for the autopilot as well.
Still other arrangements use an electric motor to drive the steering wheel which then uses hydraulic to drive the rudder.
Other systems have a manual bypass valve on the hydraulic.
I have not heard of a system such as yours, but I am learning.
Would it be possible to manually bypass the hydraulic with a switch before engaging the pilot?
Could you use a time-delay circuit from the clutch output to the linear drive so it does not engage right away?
I am not suggesting either of these are best, but trying to fully understand what you are working with. Yes, pypilot could be modified to delay corrections after engaging.
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The autopilot always engages the clutch before manual movement command or when engaged. When in standby the clutch is released after any manual command. The pump is normally powered from the motor drive wires which reverse with direction and only powered during movement.
So to override this, it really depends on your setup, but you would either have to disengage the autopilot, or you could add an emergency switch to override the clutch and break this circuit. I am not really sure I understand exactly what is needed or if it is not already possible.