Raymarine RN300 GPS losing fix

Looks like my RN300 is crapping out. It's been getting slow to lock up, now it is starting to lose the fix at odd times.

So who has upgraded from the RN300 to the Raystar 125? Any tips? Will the RN300 display work with the Raystar 125? I seem to remember this coming up on SRO, but I can't find anything in CSR.

Question for Jim - any sales of Raymarine gear coming up? Are you coming to the CSR BIH gathering? :grin:

-CJ

I'm going to be attacking this problem this week myself. I bought a Raystar 125 two years ago and it is sitting on my workbench. I never installed it because I found out the antenna wire had been partially pulled out of the Raynav 300 antenna so I just got a new Raynav antenna and it was fine for a few more years. However, I'm now seeing what you are seeing... just loses fix for whatever reason and then comes back. Extremely annoying. I get my boat back today from having the bottom painted and I'll be working on the electronics this week. I'll let you know how it goes.

My plan, however, is to try and use the Raynav 300 as a display only and then feed it an NMEA string from a Brookhouse multiplexer ( http://brookhouseonline.com/nmea_multiplexer.htm ). The multiplexer has the ability to take inputs from two seperate GPS strings and if the primary goes out, then the secondary automatically kicks in. My two GPS units will be the Raystar 125 and the Airmar Weather Station with built in GPS that I have. The Raynav 300 can display other NMEA items from the Airmar Weather Station (true and apparent wind speed) which is the only reason I want to keep it.

My preliminary look at the manual appears to show where you can ditch the built in GPS on the Raynav 300 and use GPS strings you get off the Seatalk or NMEA bus. The simplest approach for you might be to set the Raynav 300 to that setting (slave) and hook the Raystar 125 up to the Seatalk bus with a splitter (the Raystar 125 can be hooked up as either a Seatalk component or an NMEA talker)... but I have not done that yet. The question I have though is does the NMEA out on the Raynav 300 go anywhere and will it transfer the Seatalk GPS info from the Seatalk side to the NMEA outputs so no wire tracing/hookups have to be done (i.e. is the Raynav 300 a Seatalk <-> NMEA converter or does it only send stuff out on the NMEA bus it generates itself). If the Raynav can not function as a converter and the Raynav 300 is transferring GPS info to other instruments on both the Seatalk bus and the NMEA bus, you are going to have to hook up the Raystar 125 to Seatalk and the NMEA things that the Raynav was hooked up to (like the DSC enabled VHF radio if it's not Seatalk?)

Four Suns said:

My preliminary look at the manual appears to show where you can ditch the built in GPS on the Raynav 300 and use GPS strings you get off the Seatalk or NMEA bus. The simplest approach for you might be to set the Raynav 300 to that setting (slave) and hook the Raystar 125 up to the Seatalk bus with a splitter... but I have not done that yet. The question I have though is does the NMEA out on the Raynav 300 go anywhere and will it transfer the Seatalk GPS info from the Seatalk side to the NMEA outputs so no wire tracing/hookups have to be done (i.e. is the Raynav 300 a Seatalk <-> NMEA converter or does it only send stuff out on the NMEA bus it generates itself)

Click to expand...

I did exactly that on my 380DA. Set the RN300 to Slave and put the RAY125 on the Sea Talk bus....just make sure that the SeaTalk bus you use also has power...preferably switchable....I put it to the Electronic Switch on the dash.....frome what I've seen, not all junctions from the factory have Power in the ST boxes. I had no problem with the NMEA conversion on the OUT of the RN300. I'll wait till I get home to look at the schematic I made of the connections and settings....unless someone knows now...

The back of my ST60 multi display has an open Seatalk port and I had thought of plugging the Raystar 125 into that as I know that gets power from the "Electronics" switch on the helm....

On a side note... isn't this better than discussing vacuflush problems? :grin:

I have same problem. Here is a response I received from Raymarine Help Desk:

"Failing RN300's can be configured to a GPS repeater, permitting them to use GPS data from a RS125 GPS Sensor. The RS125 would typically be connected to a R55006 SeaTalk Auxilliary Junction Box. The junction box feature a terminal strip to which the RS125's leads would be connected, a power/ground cable for supplying +12VDC and ground to SeaTalk, and plug to be connected into the RN300."

davefin said:

I have same problem. Here is a response I received from Raymarine Help Desk:

"Failing RN300's can be configured to a GPS repeater, permitting them to use GPS data from a RS125 GPS Sensor. The RS125 would typically be connected to a R55006 SeaTalk Auxilliary Junction Box. The junction box feature a terminal strip to which the RS125's leads would be connected, a power/ground cable for supplying +12VDC and ground to SeaTalk, and plug to be connected into the RN300."

Click to expand...

You don't want to send power on the Sea Talk bus connector that you are connecting into the RN300. Just data (yellow) and shield(bare or black wire). NO red. The RN300 should already have a seperate fused power source.

On my list of 400 things to do yesterday was to resolve my Raynav 300 losing fix problems. The simple solution with a new Raystar 125, as Dom points out, works perfectly. I'll document here what I did. You can do it cheaper by just splicing wires, but I like my electronic wires to be neat and not a rat's nest.

In addition to the Raystar 125 GPS, I got these parts to hook it up:

R55006 SeaTalk Auxiliary Junction Box
D244 SeaTalk 3-Way Junction Block
D285 SeaTalk Interconnect Cable, 9 ft. 9in(3m)

I didn't need a 9 ft Seatalk cable but that was the smallest I could find (need about 12 inches).

I took the old GPS antenna off (you have to cut the wire at the base and to get it off but you are going to through this thing out anyway). The Raystar 125 fits on the old stanless mount and you can use the old wire as a fish to pull the new wire to the helm. They are different as the old antenna is a coax and the new wire is 5 conductor.

The SeaTalk Auxillary Junction Box has a pigtail for power coming out of it (black and red) and a cable with a SeaTalk connector on it. I hooked up the power connectors to the helm carling switch labled "Electronics". The Raymarine ST60 instruments are hooked to that now with a single connector so I put a piggy back terminal on the carling switch (like these: http://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=52079&eventPage=1 and you can get them at Lowes). I crimped these piggyback terminals on the black/red pigtail and then plugged the ST60 terminals in and now the "Electronics" switch on the helm fires up the GPS and ST60.

In the junction box, I then wired up the Raystar 125. There are instructions in the Raystar manual but it basically is putting the green and red wire together and hooking into the red Seatalk terminal, the black (shield) and brown wire together and hooking to the black Seatalk terminal, and hooking the yellow to the yellow SeaTalk terminal. This hookup will provide power on the red SeaTalk terminal as well as the Raystar 125 GPS when the switch is turned on but that's what the instructions said to do. The Raynav does not use this power or supply power on the bus so I guess it's fine. (it worked anyway)

I then unplugged the SeaTalk cable out of the Raynav 300 and plugged it into the 3 way junction box. In the 3 way, I also plugged in the auxilary junction box I just wired and then another cable that I also plugged into the back of the Raynav 300. This is just a 3 way splitter.

Turn on the power to the electronics and the Raynav 300 and go to "System Setup" and scroll down to the GPS setting and select "Repeater" and it should all work. It did for me... left it on all day while I was working and it never cut out. Make sure you tie wrap everything up nice and neat and you are good to go.

I went a little further and tied in the Aux junction box to my NMEA multiplexer to do automatic fail over but I won't cover that here... But... this did work on fixing the crappy old built in GPS on the 300.

Off to the boat again... 4 days until the trip and much work to do.

Gary,
Thanks for the insight. It sounds like the swap didn't take very long and was straightforward. :thumbsup:

My RN300 seems to have settled down, no problems this weekend but I know I am running on borrowed time. I probably should price out the parts from Jim and get them on order.

Maybe this is a BIH project? :wink:

-CJ

Four Suns said:

...
My preliminary look at the manual appears to show where you can ditch the built in GPS on the Raynav 300 and use GPS strings you get off the Seatalk or NMEA bus. The simplest approach for you might be to set the Raynav 300 to that setting (slave) and hook the Raystar 125 up to the Seatalk bus with a splitter (the Raystar 125 can be hooked up as either a Seatalk component or an NMEA talker)... but I have not done that yet. The question I have though is does the NMEA out on the Raynav 300 go anywhere and will it transfer the Seatalk GPS info from the Seatalk side to the NMEA outputs so no wire tracing/hookups have to be done (i.e. is the Raynav 300 a Seatalk <-> NMEA converter or does it only send stuff out on the NMEA bus it generates itself). If the Raynav can not function as a converter and the Raynav 300 is transferring GPS info to other instruments on both the Seatalk bus and the NMEA bus, you are going to have to hook up the Raystar 125 to Seatalk and the NMEA things that the Raynav was hooked up to (like the DSC enabled VHF radio if it's not Seatalk?)

Click to expand...

I like the way this sounds, but would sure like to be able see a schematic of all this hooked together. For myself I like having the information on the RayNav 300 directly in front. (in "data box" mode.)

Call me weird, but I also like to have the ST60 TriData up. It gives basically a quick set of some redundant data, depth and speed which Ilike to glance at for a quick comaprison of the two, especially useful on the ICW here in Florida, narrow and shallow, plus shoals.

I have on the far port side console, Combined Radar/Chartplotter A RL80CRC hsb2 PLUS Series Color LCD Display, continuing on located, at the helm behind the wheel, ST7001+ Autopilot Control Unit, next the ST60 Tridata, then the RayNav 300

Eventually I would either like to go to a dual display for the RL80CRC, but in the interim , I would like to find an angle backing plate so I could angle the port side of the display out further for easier viewing from the helm station

Thanks


:thumbsup:

Four Suns - Your information really help me. Thanks

Okay you guys have my head spinning with all this tech talk. When we bought our '05 320 it came with a RN300 installed. I am a picture guy, like to see a GPS map. So I replaced the unit with a RayChart 435. This unit uses the same antenna the RN300 used, I didn't want to hassle with fishing new wires etc.

So heres my question: Do I need to replace the existing antenna with a RayStar 125? If so, can I just fish the new wires through and plug it into the RC435? I know the RC435 talks to my Smartcraft and to be honest I have forgotten what the wiring scenario was. But I think there were a total of 3 cables that hooked into the back of the RC435.

We boat on inland water, so I don't need to have several different units hooked into this.

Thanks for any insight/advice you guys can provide.

The Raystar 125 is not a passive antenna like the one used by the RN300 and RC435 you just bought. It's a complete GPS and antenna all in one unit and the cables coming out of the Raystar 125 are SeaTalk/NMEA (4 or 5 18 gauge wires or something like that). The cable coming out of the passive antenna for the RN300 is a coax cable. Unless your antenna you currently have mounted is bad, I would just use it and not install a new one... The coax going into that passive antenna is sealed so you can't replace the antenna and leave the old coax. You would have to fish the new coax from the antenna down to your display location...

You can hook up a Raystar 125 but it would connect into the SeaTalk port on the RC435... kinda pointless unless you want a redundant backup OR the internal GPS function is broke like many of the RN300 systems have done.

Gary,

Thanks so much. You always seem to have the perfect answers. And I for one appreciate that.

I read somewhere, not sure if was this forum or not, that the antenna I have now has a battery in it?

Do antennas go bad? Mine does take a few minutes to locate my unit, but once it locates it operates fine. I am going to take your advice and leave it alone.

Thanks and Happy New Year.

Stan

Here is the threard from my thread of last year.

"Clarification from further research identifies a second battery which has failed in my case, i.e., the battery in the GPS Sensor or antenna. Each battery has a defined role and symptons if it fails. Losing the current location memory on startup requiring current position to be entered is the sensor battery. Loss of waypoint data is the battery in the GPS 398 unit. Restoring boats forces you to do this researchre is the thread that I wrote regarding the batteries."

"

I think the Raymarine 398 unit didn't have a passive antenna on it like the Raynav 300. I think my 380 DB had that and it was a big ugly GPS system with a small whip on it and the GPS was more in line with the Raystar 125 in that the output from it was SeaTalk/NMEA and so it was self contained. I could be wrong since it's been awhile though... In that case, there would be a battery in the GPS antenna as it's also the GPS brain. I don't think The Raynav 300 passive antenna has a battery but I could be wrong. I replaced my passive antenna because the bozo who installed it on my 480 DB hardtop at the Sea Ray factory put the cable very very tight and when the hard top flexed from side to side (they do that a little) it pulled the cord out of the antenna by the roots. Shortly thereafter, the GPS in the electronics on the head/display failed... I really hate that thing... Nothing like a beeping screaming piece of sh&t electronics that loses fix/gains fix/loses fix/gains fix/loses fix every 10 seconds. There is a battery in the head unit of the RN 300 though... supposed to last 5 years... too bad the unit only lasts 3 years. Probably designed by GM.

That's the issue I have with Raymarine. Everyone says "but they are really good now". I've been burned by them several times in buying their high-end stuff only to be left standing in the cold a few years later. Maybe they are better now... and hopefully their new customers won't leave them.

Wait.. I'm not supposed to talk like that... the "new improved Gary" is not going to use bad words or be sarcastic.

I love Raymarine. They are my friend. They have taught me that paper charts are indeed important.

Four Suns said:

I think the Raymarine 398 unit didn't have a passive antenna on it like the Raynav 300. I think my 380 DB had that and it was a big ugly GPS system with a small whip on it and the GPS was more in line with the Raystar 125 in that the output from it was SeaTalk/NMEA and so it was self contained. .......

Click to expand...

I seem to remember that if your 398 antenna had the little whip on top then you had the upgraded Differential GPS.....remember those....before SA was turned off and before WAAS....But then again, my memory has been failing me too lately...

yeah... I could really use those brain cells I lost back in my college days.

Bill Gillespie said:

Here is the threard from my thread of last year.

"Clarification from further research identifies a second battery which has failed in my case, i.e., the battery in the GPS Sensor or antenna. Each battery has a defined role and symptons if it fails. Losing the current location memory on startup requiring current position to be entered is the sensor battery. Loss of waypoint data is the battery in the GPS 398 unit. Restoring boats forces you to do this researchre is the thread that I wrote regarding the batteries."

"

Click to expand...

So now I am confused, however, being Polish lends me to get confused easily!

If there is a battery in GPS antenna, where would it be located?

The battery is enclosed in the top of the antenna. When you remove the top it will be visible. The battery is availalbe for a few dollars at Radio Shack.

Bill

Bill,

Are you referring to an antenna that looks like this:



If it is, it's not the same.