RaymarineT70154 Evolution Autopilot Package EV-100 Hydraulic System with Control Unit

The system is up and running and does a good job at keeping a course when AUTO is pressed.Things to know:1- you'll need to spend many hundreds more in hydraulic fittings. 500$ in my case.2- the rudder position sensor is also expensive and is not really necessary for the system to work.3- don?t waste your time triyng to calibrate the compass if you don?t have a compatible chartplottter/GPS wired to the seatalk NG system. The "detecting magnetics" progress bar won't move and stays red (need speed input)4- the componants are shipped without the latest firmwre versions and it is impossible to uprgrade without a compatible chartplotter/MFD.The price of this package is pretty fair considering the cost of each individual components, but you have to decide when you want to stop investing in order to have the "perfect" system.

todo perfecto asi da agusto

Preliminary report to cover installation onlyDocumentation is ample and good printouts as manuals for each component plus on line.Tech support via phone is available with reasonable ( 5 to 10 minutes holding)Comes nicely packed and most all is needed to install is provided,more details later.Because the cables are so short you MUST give a serious consideration to how all the components will fit on your boat,the only leeway is for the sensor that can be installed with cable extension away from the helm.Pump location is limited to the length of the wiring (12 volts) to the ACU).Plumbing is straight forth,however all printed instruction have the system spliced on the hydraulic hoses,this seems impractical for a DYS,not sure how feasible is to use existing hoses to install T'sOne of the helpful blogs C-Brats quotes a Seastar tech moving the T fittings to the helm pump and that works better.I have now all components set up (except display unit,need to find a permanent home on a crowded nav station)SHORTCOMINGS OF THIS KITNo plumbing fittings supplied?except the 3 converters for the pump.plan a trip to the supply store.No connecting hoses from pump to helm pump,plan on ordering them if no local supplier available,cost on the 100 dollars extra.These hoses consist of two high pressure hoses and a clear low pressure for the return/bleeding to visualize bubbles.No wiring supplied to energize the ACU,need a length of suitable 12 V marine grade 14-16 gauge plus connectors to panel.Cost is minimal.When installing the sensor and bracket the supplied stainless screws show a minimal magnetic field (I tested),not sure how important this is so to be safe I replaced the mounting screws with nylon and aluminum screws from my local hardware store,suspect I am too extreme but for a few cents what the heck.I started the system and got a stand by screen readout but was too tired to calibrate/run the wizard.IMPRESSIONThis is my second try at an autopilot,first was to install a Lowrance that I did lured by the lower cost unfortunately ran into the no software available from Lowrance to integrate the system and have to remove and return the unit,see my review.Cost wise is almost the same considering this unit will cost on the neighboring of $1500?? when added hoses etc.vs the Lowrance about $1000 for the unit plus the less expensive display unit will be a 5" HDS 2Gen non touch for about $500 with no software available??yet to make it work.SayonaraUpdate May 21Installed and commissioned at the dock and under way,works fine very happy

I had installed a unit by this company 18 or 19 years ago and it worked fine for many years. Finally both the head and the rudder reference unit went bad. The rudder reference unit was always having to be reset. The unit I bought now says it doesn't need a rudder reference unit, but in the book but in the book it says you need one for better accuracy. I sent an email to the company explaining my problem and no acknowledgment or anything. So it forces me to send you back. I am very disappointed in them because I spent a lot of time on the phone the with the one I had bought 18 or 19 years ago and they were a lot of help. Things change and not for the better

The system works well for offshore trolling and fishing. I installed this on the Robalo R207 dual console with single outboard Yamaha F150XB engine and Seastar hydraulic steering.Here is what I wish I had known BEFORE installing. Hopefully I can save someone else some time and trouble:1. Dometic’s Seastar ORB Fitting Kit, HF6007 contains ALMOST everything you need to install this system. At time of this writing it’s available on Amazon for $141.76. The compression fitting work well enough. As long as you can position the pump near the helm station you should be fine. Remember that you need to run 3 lines to the helm station (port, starboard, and return) for the autopilot pump to work correctly. 25 ft sounds like a lot of hose until you divide it by 3 and start snaking it around bulkheads. I say almost everything because you’ll also want item 2 on this list.2. Loctite 545 Pneumatic/Hydraulic Thread Sealant is your friend. Theoretically it should not be necessary; however, I found that the ¼” NPT fittings and the 3/8” BSPP fittings both leaked after installation. I could have saved a lot of time by just applying this up front. Be warned – DO NOT PUT LOCTITE ON THE FIRST THREAD AS IT COULD FOUL THE PUMP3. The course computer MUST be installed far away from everything electronic/magnetic. I had to move it several times until I found a spot that gave a good reading. According to my Axiom MFD I now have the variance down to +/- 3 degrees (I was at +/- 38 degrees on my first attempt).4. At planning speeds, the system seems to wander a bit before eventually throwing an error message that it’s off course. I’m still experimenting with settings to see if this can be fixed. I’ll update my review if I’m able to resolve it.5. Make sure that you measure the time it takes for the pump to move the engine to lock and use that as your hard over time. You can do this by simply applying 12v directly to the hydraulic pump leads. Use this to properly calibrate your installation6. Raymarine Axiom units only have NMEA2000 but this kit requires SeaTalk NG. Be sure to purchase the appropriate adaptor/cable for your installation7. Some documentation indicates that the Actuator Control Unit (ACU) provides power to the SeaTalk NG bus. This is NOT the case. You must use the included power cable for SeaTalk NG to work.Overall this has been a great learning experience and the system works well.