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Old 02-16-2018, 12:28 PM   #4
Comodave
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City: Au Gres, MI
Vessel Name: Black Dog
Vessel Model: Formula 41PC
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 21,185
The panel having lower voltage than the batteries usually indicates that the supply wiring is too small. When the autopilot moves the rudder and the voltmeter drops would make me suspicious of small wiring. As has been suggested I would check all connections. Where are the washers you mentioned. They should not be between the connectors and the bus bars as they will cause a voltage drop. If you have a non contact thermometer you can check the connections and see if any is running hotter that the others. You can measure the run from the batteries to the panel and back to the batteries to check what size wire you need to carry the 65 amps with a 3% voltage drop. As to the complete loss of power and then it comes back on its own, I would suspect a loose connection. If you have time while it is off, I would put a volt meter on the various connections and see where you loose the voltage.
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