Intermittent Ipilot problem

[redzone1]

Today I deployed the pilot and began fishing.  After several minutes go by notice I still do not have any signal bars on the remote.  The motor would run and power all the way up to 10 and turn left and right, just like it is supposed to.  Finally after about 15 minutes my remote shows signal, so I hit the anchor button.  I stayed on spot lock for about 10 minutes ( very little current- the motor was running around 3 or 4 power). Then all of a sudden I lost all GPS signal on the remote.  10 minutes later the signal comes back and I spot lock again.  This goes on like this all day.  Anybody ever experience anything like this?

[jh141]

Not on an Ipiot   BUT my XI5 was doing some stupid stuff. Here,s what I found. First the battery's in both my remotes were below 1 volt ( aaa ). While that does cause problems with these remote control trolling motors I was not convinced it was the sole problem. Did a maintenance check on my 36 volt battery's and found the center battery had good voltage on the meter but would not pass a LOAD TEST. THAT WAS THE PROBLEM.  Replaced, all good now. 

[redzone1]

Being that the power function of my motor is not in question - as stated it will run all the way up to 10 and turn with no problems.....strong as normal, that tells me I don’t have a battery problem.  The only problem is gps signal.  This is an older model by the way as it doesn’t have the external heading sensor that comes on the newer models.

[jh141]

 "it will run all the way up to 10 and turn with no problems"

Yea......so did my XI5.  It started as GPS problems for a while. Weeks later it eventually It would be running wide open for 4 or five minutes then just shut off. That sent me to checking the battery's and connections.  My point was  these remote control, GPS driven trolling motors have control boards that have step up and step down voltage capabilities and are sensitive to voltage fluctuations caused be battery issues. The first thing that suffers is the GPS spot lock or heading lock.

Just my experience, Hope it helps someone!

 

 

[dcathey]

Skip, I have the older ipilot as well. Mine acted up similar to that and I redid the connections in my battery tender plug. Hasn’t missed a beat. I also freshened up remote battery

[whichwaysup]

^^^^this^^^^  My experience is that these are very sensitive to voltage.   A little corrosion or loose battery connection causes strange isses like this.  I would start there.

[knotthereelworld]

6 hours ago, whichwaysup said:

^^^^this^^^^  My experience is that these are very sensitive to voltage.   A little corrosion or loose battery connection causes strange isses like this.  I would start there.

Agree on the connections. I was just having issues with my Ipilot acting funny as well. Turns out the write connection to the tender was going bad. Cut it off and redid and back to working normal now. Whichwaysup has a good point on the sensitivity of it all. 

[redzone1]

Update.  I tested the batteries and as it turns out one of the batteries was only producing 10 volts.  I pulled it out and put it on my charger.....it read reversed polarity.  This was evidently the problem.  3 year old Interstate group 27 deep cycle.  This is the first time I have had this happen.  Thanks for the suggestions for troubleshooting.