May 9, 2011

I got some tragic news this week. One of my second cousins committed suicide, sending a tsunami of painful emotions through the family. Plans for a relaxing weekend with Carol in LA had to be altered, and we spent most of Saturday with a cousin who lives in LA.
Nonetheless, I was able to squeeze out a little time on Tuesday evening to test the old Neco autopilot motor. I used my car battery and a small 12 v power supply to provide power sources. I also had a large wiring diagram I had drawn showing just the six needed connections I had isolated from tracing circuits in the complex complete wiring diagram. After a few missteps, I got it going...at least in one direction. It ran fine and I learned I had to get power to the clutch solenoids in order to engage the output shaft. But, I still hadn't figured out how to wire it to reverse the motor direction.I had some more discussions with Wil Hamm, and he explained to me that such a motor really needs those troublesome relays to reverse it, and that trying to control the old motor with his controller would end up causing repeated failures and repairs. He suggested seeing if the motor could be separated from the gearbox so that we could use the old gearbox and pump with a new motor. Well, as soon as I pulled the old motor off the gearbox, gear oil flooded the workbench. Obviously the two were designed and built to function as a single unit.I thought about the possibility of trying to put a large pulley on the old pump and mating a new WH motor to it with a belt, similar to the arrangement Wil uses. Of course working out and fabricating the mounting arrangements would be quite a bit of work, and I'd still have a 40-year-old pump. In the end, Wil worked with me to find a way to get a whole new system within my budget. Thanks to his giving me a real break and using some demo components (but still with full warranty), I'll just be able to do it, although it's still going to take a big bite out of the kitty. But, like the anchor, chain and windlass, an autopilot is a critical system that you have to be able to count on and it's no place to scrimp. WH is the best, so, I'll be placing the order this week. I'll also be checking back with Hydraulic Power Sales to see how they're coming with the new seals for the helm pump.