Motorguide Tour Pro - Round II

[King_Fish]

Got my replacement MG TP on Thursday. Installed and on the water all day with opportune conditions for GPS calibration....... One problem, new Rev H TM will not acquire GPS, no way, no how... anywhere on the water, no GPS. All other TM functions SAT.

What's a boy to do?

[TomM]

When I upgraded mine to Rev H, it took two power cycles and a good 20 minutes for it to acquire GPS the first time, and, it took 5 to 10 minutes the next couple of trips out but now it acquires within one minute. Sorry to hear of your problems.

[PMantle]

If you haven't, unplug while on the water. Then run through the calibration codes again.

[RazorCat]

Don’t ask me why, but the MG Tour manual states you the TM head should be a minimum of 6” above the shaft collar when performing GPS calibrations.
Mine normally has to be set within about 2” of the collar, or I can’t open my rod locker. I was unable to get mine to calibrate in that position. So, I raised the head until it was well above 6” off the shaft collar and tried again. The TM acquired a GPS lock before I could make one complete circle. I performed the complete calibration steps twice more and it locked on quickly again both times. I fished around that area for a bit to make sure I had a good lock when using Anchor Mode, and it performed flawlessly. I then lowered the head back to where it had to be to clear the locker lid.
My TM hasn’t had any GPS related issues since I followed those steps, and acquires a GPS signal in we’ll under a minute.
Just something you might try.

[King_Fish]

Don’t ask me why, but the MG Tour manual states you the TM head should be a minimum of 6” above the shaft collar when performing GPS calibrations.
Mine normally has to be set within about 2” of the collar, or I can’t open my rod locker. I was unable to get mine to calibrate in that position. So, I raised the head until it was well above 6” off the shaft collar and tried again. The TM acquired a GPS lock before I could make one complete circle. I performed the complete calibration steps twice more and it locked on quickly again both times. I fished around that area for a bit to make sure I had a good lock when using Anchor Mode, and it performed flawlessly. I then lowered the head back to where it had to be to clear the locker lid.
My TM hasn’t had any GPS related issues since I followed those steps, and acquires a GPS signal in we’ll under a minute.
Just something you might try.

Interesting....

I have tried it at the 6" and higher positions and it didn't help me. I cycled power several times on the water yesterday, no help.

So, after the install I paired the remote, no problem. I was unable to do the keel alignment calibration and the compass calibration due to not acquiring the GPS signal.
Not sure what other calibrations I can do with out the GPS signal...?

[bassfisher444]

Got my replacement MG TP on Thursday. Installed and on the water all day with opportune conditions for GPS calibration....... One problem, new Rev H TM will not acquire GPS, no way, no how... anywhere on the water, no GPS. All other TM functions SAT.

What's a boy to do?

Exact problem I had with mine, send it in and got my money back is what I did.

[BULLYFISH]

I have had mine 2 years worked flawlessly best trolling motor l have ever had

[King_Fish]

I have had mine 2 years worked flawlessly best trolling motor l have ever had

I liked mine too, until all the "stuff" happened, and now an apparent bad one out of the box..... I especially like the Rev H feature of turning off the power steering.
I'm already discussing Round III with MG

[PMantle]

I especially like the Rev H feature of turning off the power steering.

Can you tell me more about this?

[King_Fish]

Can you tell me more about this?

Sure - M-code M288 disables the foot pedal power steering. The foot pedal will be a true cable steer i.e. pretty stiff. Which is my preference. M-code M287 enables the foot pedal power steering, which is a bit too light for my liking, but it's nice to have the option....

This feature was added in Rev H software.

[bigbasser54]

I am currently having the same issue. Motor guide will tell you it needs to go to a dealer for circuit board replacement, they refused to send a replacement board directly to me which I consider poor customer service. Pretty disappointed with this product overall and basically being told having broken equipment out of the box is part of being a boat owner wasn't satisfying.

[King_Fish]

I am currently having the same issue. Motor guide will tell you it needs to go to a dealer for circuit board replacement, they refused to send a replacement board directly to me which I consider poor customer service. Pretty disappointed with this product overall and basically being told having broken equipment out of the box is part of being a boat owner wasn't satisfying.

That stinks, I know.
I can tell you that the MG Technical Support has been very accommodating toward a total replacement TM.

I suggest contacting them via e-mail support@motorguide.com. I recommend NOT calling the MG customer support folks, go directly to the tech service folks.

[King_Fish]

Control / GPS module was replaced and my TM works fine now...

The one thing I have noticed, and I've asked the Tech Support folks - when i use M-code 288 to disable foot pedal power steering, I lose and cannot acquire GPS. as soon as I enable power steering M-code 287, GPS returns.... weird...

[Macsimus]

Control / GPS module was replaced and my TM works fine now...

The one thing I have noticed, and I've asked the Tech Support folks - when i use M-code 288 to disable foot pedal power steering, I lose and cannot acquire GPS. as soon as I enable power steering M-code 287, GPS returns.... weird...

Sounds like to me when you disable foot pedal power steering you're basically putting the entire TM in "manual mode" and in the process, disabling the ability of the TM to do anything for you. So it makes sense that it wouldn't attempt or need to get a GPS lock? I've had to use mine briefly in that mode (when I was having a problem with the TM that caused the power steering to stop functioning) and I found it doable but not desirable as it was hard to turn the motor. I certainly would not have wanted to fish an entire day like that. In my case, my issue was resolved by redoing the pedal travel calibrations.

Glad to hear you're back in business.

[King_Fish]

Sounds like to me when you disable foot pedal power steering you're basically putting the entire TM in "manual mode" and in the process, disabling the ability of the TM to do anything for you. So it makes sense that it wouldn't attempt or need to get a GPS lock? I've had to use mine briefly in that mode (when I was having a problem with the TM that caused the power steering to stop functioning) and I found it doable but not desirable as it was hard to turn the motor. I certainly would not have wanted to fish an entire day like that. In my case, my issue was resolved by redoing the pedal travel calibrations.

Glad to hear you're back in business.

Thx, she earned her money yesterday (the TM).... just out of curiosity, what issue were you having with occasional loss of PS i.e. symptoms?

[Macsimus]

Thx, she earned her money yesterday (the TM).... just out of curiosity, what issue were you having with occasional loss of PS i.e. symptoms?

It's been a while so my memory is a little fuzzy but it was a partial loss of power-steering. I believe it was caused by too much slop in the cable. Tightening it a bit and redoing the pedal travel calibrations resolved it but since then I've also had the Rev G board installed and haven't had any problems since. I never lost the GPS signal however.

[PMantle]

Every once in a while it will take a few/couple seconds for my power steering to engage when deployed. Once is starts, it never stops though.

[King_Fish]

Roger....

PS - MG confirmed that when FP power steering is disabled, no GPS.... by design