Getting my heading to display straight up on MFD

Mightychan

Mightychan

Member
Oct 8, 2016
157
Panama City FL
Boat Info
2005 DA 420, AB Dink
Engines
Cummins 6CTA
I have an 05 420DA with original Raymarine electronics. I have played with various display settings, course up, heading up, etc, but can't seem to get my heading to consistently display straight up on the MFD. I have noticed that my MFD and my compass show the same number, but my autopilot is often off by 30 degrees or more, so I suspect the problem might be there. Perhaps the autopilot is providing incorrect heading info to the MFD? I don't have a manual so am not sure how to calibrate it, but I imagine that it can't be hard. Am I on the right track or should I be looking somewhere else? Thanks, all!
PXL_20210119_231856003.jpg PXL_20210119_231842021.jpg
 
You have the older AP, and the heading info comes from a Fluxgate compass. It is likely installed in one of your center bilges down in the cabin. Try this.

1. Make sure you don't have anything ferrous/magnetic stored near that fluxgate compass, no tools, cooking pans, anything metal. At least 3' clearance.

2. Recalibrate your fluxgate compass. It should be within a couple degrees. I cant tell the model of your Pilot controller or your AP course computer...post that up, it will help to find the right proceedure.

upload_2021-1-24_11-44-50.png
 
And then after you calibrate the compass, you need to align the heading to COG on the MFD. That is in the manual too.

I find that mine needs to be aligned periodically when the radar overlay starts to misalign to the chart slightly. I suspect there is some magnetic interference with the mounting location of my fluxgate compass. I may play around with its location and see if that helps too.
 
Just an alternative. I dumped my fluxgate compass, and my Ritchie, replacing it with a KVH digital. Tied that to the autopilot, and all of my problems went away.
kvh.PNG
 
370Dancer said:
Just an alternative. I dumped my fluxgate compass, and my Ritchie, replacing it with a KVH digital. Tied that to the autopilot, and all of my problems went away.
View attachment 98367
Click to expand...
Interesting. Does that work with older Raymarine gear?
 
Yes...its MEMA0183.
 
Not sure if it's relevant, but I had an intermittent problem with the heading on my Garmin. It was sometimes off by 15-30 degrees.

I finally figured out that the heading sensor was mounted too close to the windshield wiper control module wiring. The magnetic field from the wiper module was interfering with the heading sensor. Moving the heading sensor a few inches fixed it.

If a recalibration doesn't help consider checking your heading sensor for a source of interference. I think wires could be a prime source (maybe a wire became loose and moved?), or a big chunk of iron near the sensor.
 
A friend of mine has a "new to him" 420DA and experienced the same issue but is was constant, not intermittent. We found that he was in the habit if laying his hand-held VHF on the dash when it wasn't in use. When he started parking it in the cabin, the problem went away.
 
370Dancer said:
No. It is self contained, but has a digital LCD display, and a NMEA 0183 output.
Click to expand...
So when tied in, it will show what the monitors are showing for heading...I get. But when they go down, it also has the magnetic s to convert back to "old school" magnetic? That sounds fantastic.
 
The KVH Azimuth 1000 compass has been around since the 90's, I had one on my first boat. I ditched the Ritchie compass in favor of this device and used it for my heading sensor on a laptop that was running Nobeltec charting program at the time. Fantastic device that works flawlessly but I am surprised that they haven't updated it to N2K and still operates on 0183.
 
Mightychan said:
I have an 05 420DA with original Raymarine electronics. I have played with various display settings, course up, heading up, etc, but can't seem to get my heading to consistently display straight up on the MFD. I have noticed that my MFD and my compass show the same number, but my autopilot is often off by 30 degrees or more, so I suspect the problem might be there. Perhaps the autopilot is providing incorrect heading info to the MFD? I don't have a manual so am not sure how to calibrate it, but I imagine that it can't be hard. Am I on the right track or should I be looking somewhere else? Thanks, all!
View attachment 98276 View attachment 98277
Click to expand...
Remove anything metal from the Glove compartment. The compass is under there. I had this exact issue.
 
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