I mostly use the Simrad autopilot and jog-stick while underway. The hydraulic steering is 5 turns LTL and I have gotten really spoiled with the follow-up jog lever. It is mounted on a Ram ball mount and can be extended to the upper steering station for use there too. Serious overkill ($1,250) but really worth it.
oK, that got me poking into jog levers. I have a Cetrek 930 autopilot over my hydraulic steering. I point the boat, hit "on", and sit back. I use the rotary knob to ease around things, and have only used the jog buttons once. I have a remote station and handheld, but have never installed it. And there was a "proportional jog lever" at an eye-popping $1K that I never purchased. I just found a listing on the web for one NOS in Croatia for $200eu, but it's been sold.
So now I'm on the hunt...Puget Sound Instruments guy who deals with autopilots hasn't a clue, says to call ComNav. OK, ComNav has a jog switch - will it work with my autopilot? Tech there says theirs is a "bang-bang" switch - I can try shorting the port and starboard wires to the common and seeing if it moves the rudder. If it does, their NFU switch will work...but the switch that was sold for my autopilot is "proportional", so...per
this Navitron page, I want a FU (also FFU) switch.
Now I get onto another jog dial manufacturer's support page, and calling them links me to one of the best techs I've ever talked to, period. What I'm really looking for is a switch with a
potentiometer - when set in the middle range the rudder is amidships, less is one direction, more the other. I can buy their switch (it's in the $500 to $1K range - I'm deliberately being coy here) and hope that it works, or I can buy a corresponding potentiometer and try it myself first. We exchange a couple of emails, and a while later I end up with the schematic to their controller and the ca.mouser.com link to the 1K ohm linear precision potentiometer they use. I can get a (non-precision but still high quality) potentiometer with the same specs locally for $8.
If that works, then I just have to figure out how to gear 1 full turn down to a lever that rotates through about 60 degrees. And find a way to incorporate an "engaged" switch, a center return spring?, and maybe an "on" light, and then the plug for the Cetrek.
Damn, I really wish that unit in Croatia were still available!