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Has anyone had any trouble with keeping a satelite signal on the i-pilot? I've only had it happen once before and I disconnected the power and it came back on. This past weekend I kept losing the signal, I could turn off the remote, turn it back on and the signal bar would re-appear then disappear. I relearned the remote and the low battery light is not on....any ideas why I'm losing the signal?
Check batteries on boat. They may be low or may be pulling too much amperage for the size wire you have.
I agree....this sounds a lot like low power to the trolling motor.
X3 Had it happen to me too. No problem since I change to new set of batteries.
All i-Pilot users should recognize that the i-Pilot controller (head unit) DOES draw a small amount of amps when the trolling motor is turned on. Moreover, the GPS functions of the i-Pilot are somewhat power sensitive, and under conditions of reduced power to the trolling motor (low charge, loose connection, etc), you may experience this sort of response from the i-Pilot. Generally, the "co-pilot" type functions (steering, prop speed, prop on and off) remain available, but any functions that require GPS input will begin to be flaky. If for no other reason, this is a terrific reason to run at least a 24V system in conjunction with an i-Pilot, if not a 36V.
Jason - The last 2 trips out I had problems similar to what has been described. Loss of functions, gps, cruise control and advance auto pilot. The advance auto pilot changes to the regular aupt pilot. Here is the trick - It olny happens on windy days - Which means on days I am trying to run the motor and speeds higher than 5 for speeds. If I back off to more normal speeds of 3 the functions return. I changed the remote battery and feel the batteries are good. I'm running 2 batteries together to the 12v 55pd. Does this sound like a drop in power thru the wiring? Sure don't want to lose the spring bite with the motor in the shop.
Thanks
I have found that if the voltage at the trolling motor drops below 11.5 volts, the GPS will lose satellite lock.
The ipilot would work unless the motor speeded up to 8-10
I moved my battery to the front of the boat and soldier all the lugs on the wires going to the battery.
The wires from the trolling motor are connected directly to the battery via a breaker
The GPS receiver is in the trolling motor head not the remote.