Moor Subtrol and Gold Autopilot interference problem

[Don Supon]

I have an aluminum hull. The subtrol will not give readings when the kicker motor autopilot is functioning. With autopilot off I have readings.

I will try connecting the Moor to a different battery to see if that solves the problem. Ferrites beads on the subtrol antenna cable or sheilding of all wires of the autopilot system have been suggested by Moor, but not sure they would correct the problem. And the Garmin rep I spoke to didn't have a solution either; he never heard of that problem before. Anyone have a similar problem? What was your "fix"?

Shielding all autopilot wiring will involve removing the boat's flooring to gain access to the gyrocompass wiring. The cable for the remote is the only wiring anywhere near the subtrol wiring or antenna cable. Would shielding only the remote cable correct it? The autopilot wiring to the battery has excess wire looped in coils and both it and the control unit are mounted close to the main battery. There is no other location for the control unit because of the hydraulic hoses. I really need electrical interference help.

I will be out of town for a few days so will check back when I return. Thanks in advance to those who offer advice.

[HomeOffice]

I had the same problem with mine after I installed the TR-1. Therefore, I did some testing and found that if you remove the long RCA cable between the probe antenna and the unit it will work a little better. You will need a coupler; I believe it was male/male you can pick up at any radio shack something about the wire antenna picking up the A/P signal thou the long cable. So if you can move the moor head unit to the back of the boat and use the coupler to plug directly to the antenna this might solve your problem. It made my unit work a lot better, but as I was lowering the probe deeper into the water it would start messing s up again I believe it was around 60/70 feet. I ending up selling my moor and buying a depth raider and installing it to the back of the boat so the unit plugged directly in the antenna, which ending up solving my problem and I now can lower my probe as deep as I need to without interference. When not in use I discount the unit, put the antenna and power cord ends in a plastic bag and put a rubber band around it so they will not co- road. I tired shielding all the wiring on the A/P and the hand held with no luck as well as all the coax cable on the moor. I also tried ferrite beads and different types of power sources with no luck. Plugging the unit directly in to the antenna was my only fix.

[Don Supon]

Thanks for the reply, Home Office.

Could be a problem I won't be able to correct. If moving the A/P power source to a different battery doesn't stop the interference, sounds like a waste of time and money to try the shielding and/or ferrite beads. Will try the battery source option and test it on the water later today. Will also try moving the Moor power source to a seperate battery.

Also will experiment with placement of the remote cable. Maybe if I route it along the port side of boat there will be enough distance to eliminate the interference. I'm not optimistic, but hopeful.

I'm not looking foward to always having to choose to use only one or the other. I like both units and prefer not to give up on the Moor at this time, because the A/P is definitely staying.

[Don Supon]

Got some experiments done this afternoon. Temporarily connecting the A/P to a different battery got the interference corrected, but lost subtrol readings after 60'. Will wait to make the connection change permanent until I can determine how to get deeper readings on the subtrol. Also, the subtrol readings I got today are suspect (to me) because they changed frequently and indicated a very low lure speed no matter what direction I traveled. Expecting underwater currents that affect lure speed, changing direction and surface speed didn't make enough difference. Things are still suspect! More experimentation is needed.

Thanks for giving me some insight with possible corrections, Home Office. I'll let you know if I ultimately get the "bugs" out.

[HomeOffice]

Well I wish you all the luck, glad I could help.

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