ComNav Commander P2 & P2VS Installation & Operation Setting Up
Document PN 29010074 V4.1 - 92 -
7) After detecting the drive type, a P2, or a P2VS with an RFU, gives you the option to bleed
your hydraulic steering system:
If you wish to do this, please refer to the hydraulic system’s manual.
When all Bleeding is done, press the
F
F
n
n
button on the Control Head.
•
If you do not have a hydraulic system, just press the
F
F
n
n
button on the Control Head.
Note: on a P2VS without an RFU, the bleed option is not provided. You must have
already done proper bleeding, before starting the drive setup procedure.
8) When the P2 or a P2VS with an RFU is testing the drive system’s performance, it will run
the Rudder from hard-over to hard-over a number of times. It will also make a series of
short movements – quick starts & stops – of the Rudder, in order to determine a base
reference for how the steering system responds to the typical small movements the
autopilot uses during normal operation.
Note: a P2VS without an RFU does not do any “performance testing” of the rudder
drive system.
9) After the autopilot has determined the time span for a Hard Over to Hard Over movement
of the Rudder, there are several possible results:
•
If the HO-HO time is too fast (less than ~5 seconds), the setup may fail. That’s
because if the Rudder moves too quickly, it can not be safely controlled by the
autopilot.
On the other hand, the setup may also fail if Rudder is too slow (more than ~22
seconds HO-HO), because the autopilot will not be able to control the Heading of the
boat properly.
⇒
In either case, you will need to make some changes to the drive system, to slow
it down or speed it up, as appropriate.
•
If the drive system is a reversing motor (in a hydraulic or cable drive system), and it
did not test as too slow, you will see an option to have the autopilot slow down the
Rudder intentionally.
Slowdown is done by using Pulse Width Modulation of the SPU’s drive output
voltages. PWM in effect lowers the voltage “seen” by your drive system’s motor(s),
and thus slows down the Rudder’s HO-HO time.
⇒
On most boats, it is probably not necessary to slow down the Rudder, unless the
HO-HO time is less than ~10 seconds. However, every boat is different, and so
the choice is left up to you.
If you choose to slow down, the Rudder movement will be re-tested (in the same
sequence of test steps as you just did), but with it slowed down using a PWM signal
that should run the motor(s) at about 65% of full speed (i.e., the HO-HO time should
be ~50% longer than at full speed).
Note: slow-down is automatically selected for Stern Drive boats when operating
using the “Hi” Parameter Set (see page 126).
PWM may increase the electrical “noise” emitted from the drive system’s
wiring, potentially causing interference with other equipment.
If this happens, but you still wish the autopilot to slow down the Rudder, you may
have to re-route the wiring, and/or use better (possibly shielded) wiring, and/or
take other typical “noise reduction” steps. Contact your ComNav Dealer for
assistance.
When Drive Setup is all done, record the settings & choices you made, in the
Settings
chapter at the back of this manual.
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