Humminbird Greg?

Cane Pole, Craig (the moderator on that web site) must have already heard that you're a trouble maker! Just joking. I think that you will find many others such as yourself that want more out of their unit than we can currently offer. If you are still having problems just e-mail me your e-mail address and I will contact the moderator on your behalf.

Years ago I had one of the Software Engineers get all in my space because I made the "it would only take some more software to do it". Seems it sounds like a simple think to those of us who don;t actually write code... Still I think (insert personal opinion disclaimer) that HumminbirdPC should have this capability too!

Someone would have to check on this but I think that the *.bmp files are faster for the units to write/save. I also believe that just about any PC out there can open a *.bmp file. This would be a good question for the Yahoo site as we have at least a couple of real live Software Engineers that hang out on that web site.

The FCC has something to say about the whole AC power thing. We may have gotten into a little issue about this with them many years ago... The 9V battery cable was originally only meant for those units that did not have an SD card reader/writer. The idea was for fishermen to use an MMC/SD card to perform software updates and manage GPS data with their units on the boat so that we did not have the added expense of passing whatever test criteria the FCC says we have to pass in order to (legally) be allowed to be connected to the power grid. This helps us keep the cost of our units down. I suspect (insert personal opinion disclaimer) that as we get into more of the high-end market though, that at some point we will have to have this capability. Still I would bet that you could buy a power cable and rechargeble battery or 12V AC supply for cheaper than we could kit one for. In fact there is someone on E-bay that is selling a 12V AC adapter that has our power cable connector on it right now. Not sure how he is doing this as that is not a standard connector that we use.

GREG, SINCE JOHNSON OUTDOORS OWNS BOTH HUMMINBIRD AND MINNKOTA. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE AUTOPILOT RAN THROUGH THE GPS UNIT WITH ABILITY TO ALSO CONTROL SPEED. MAYBE EVEN HAVE THE ABILITY TO SET A TROLLING PATTERN VIA WAYPOINTS OR ROUTES. THIS SEEMS LOGICAL TO ME. wHAT DO YOU THINK?

I think that is a very good suggestion - which has already been made. Don't know if they will do it or if there is some legal reason why they could not. Seems like a logical melding of two of a companies products though.

Here is the problem. At slow speeds, the gps sends erratic data . It needs speeds over 1.5mph to accurately plot a direction. At slow speeds, the servo steer motor goes wild, just like the pointer on a gps when not moving or slow moving.

Raymarine had a small autopilot for steering small craft. It was removed from the market because the erratic gps data was causing the servo motor to "overwork" at slow speeds and the boats roamed all over the lake/ocean. The one I built did the same thing. I looked into buying one of their units, but decided against it. The Raymarine unit used a small dc motor just like the ones in MK and MG trolling motors.

By the way, both MG and MK use Johnson DC motors for the steering motor. ha

I talked to the Raymarine engineers several times. They were very helpful when I built my unit.

Raymarine still makes a steering unit that is hydraulic controlled. No dc motor to wear out. Big bucks and for big boats.

You can go to Raymarine and read up on their recent discontinued devices. I believe the helmpilot is what it was called.

I have not given up on this idea.

I think at low speeds the system would have to work off of an electronic compass to maintain a constant heading. I believe that Pinpoint had a system like what you are asking for but I don't know what they used.
Johnson DC motors? We were told the MK people built all of their own motors - but hey what do we know, we aren't in the motor business and they could tell us what they want us to know!

I totally agree about the electronic compass combined somehow with GPS. The only one (digital compass module) that I could afford as a hobbist only had 8 degree accuracy. It could be the same one that MK uses. When my MK autopilot does heading corrections, it looks to move about 8 degree increments during these correctional moves. I don't know. I am an outsider with good guessing abilities (glass ball and Ouigi board).

The down side to the compass is it doesn't take into account the physical influences such as wind, water, tidal action, moon phases, etc. There is an answer, it just ain't in my glass ball yet.

The Gps Would Mainly Be Used To Update Speed And Manage The Track Maybe At Longer Intrevals As The Compass Manages More Infinite Updates. Is This Possible The Hm/gps Unit Would Be A Brain And Make Say 90sec. Updates On A Track. Is It Possible For The Compass To Handle The Slows Speeds And The Gps To Handle The Speeds Of 1.5mph Or Higher As I Do Alot Of Trolling At These Speeds. Especially With Cranks And Also Heavy Jigs.

I don't know if it would be possible or not. I was under the assumption that the electronic compasses had better than a 8 degree accuracy. Got a message into Silva (another Johnson Outdoors Inc. company) to see what they say the accuracy/repeatability of thier electronic compasses are. Could be that all the pieces are already available in different JOI products but just need to be merged with some software.

Thanks, Greg! Maybe this will someday be possible.