Garmin turns off when I start the engine

W

Wasser Frau

New Member
Jul 22, 2015
7
Thousand Islands, NY
Boat Info
Sundeck 240 1999
Engines
Merc 5.0
We just had our local marina install a new Garmin FF and GPS unit on our Sundeck 240. It works great until we start the engine. Then the whole Garmin turns off. This can't be right. What did they do wrong on the install? Should we bring it back over to have it fixed?
 
Wasser Frau said:
We just had our local marina install a new Garmin FF and GPS unit on our Sundeck 240. It works great until we start the engine. Then the whole Garmin turns off. This can't be right. What did they do wrong on the install? Should we bring it back over to have it fixed?
Click to expand...

Absolutely bring it back to have it fixed!
 
Well it can be right actually. The Garmin could be shutting itself off due to low voltage. Low voltage caused by the engine starting. As long as it turns back on when you push the power button then your ok.

A couple of ways around this would be to start the engine first then turn on the Garmin. The other would be to put in a house battery that powers your electronics.

I don't believe there is anything wrong with your Garmin.
 
I have to concur with Skybolt The voltage drops from the load the starter puts on the battery and the Garmin shuts down automatically when the voltage reaches a specific level. I am sure you can look thru the Garmin manual and it will tell exactly at what voltage the unit will automatically power down.
 
All newer Garmin units run on 9-32 volts, it may be a bad battery or they wired it to a power source that doesn't supply voltage when the ignition is in the start position or has a drop of below 9 volts dc.

Does your boat boat have an accessory switch? Which switch is it wired to?
 
SKybolt said:
Well it can be right actually. The Garmin could be shutting itself off due to low voltage. Low voltage caused by the engine starting. As long as it turns back on when you push the power button then your ok.

A couple of ways around this would be to start the engine first then turn on the Garmin. The other would be to put in a house battery that powers your electronics.

I don't believe there is anything wrong with your Garmin.
Click to expand...
I Agree! My Garmin system always shut itself down when I started the engine associated with the battery bank it was connected to. I never had weak batteries on my boat because I was in the habit of buying new batteries every other year, port bank new one year, and starboard bank new the next, and it did it with the new batteries too.
 
Bob & Sue said:
All newer Garmin units run on 9-32 volts, it may be a bad battery or they wired it to a power source that doesn't supply voltage when the ignition is in the start position or has a drop of below 9 volts dc.

Does your boat boat have an accessory switch? Which switch is it wired to?
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. Hook it up direct to a battery then try to start the engine. If it doesn't go off it's on a switched power that cuts out when starting.
 
I had that issue with my Raymarine C80 and radar. My house / port engine bank is 6v golf cart batteries, which have great capacity, but less cranking power/voltage. But the main problem was that the power feed wire was too low gauge and the voltage drop too significant when starting. I just upgraded the gauge of the power feed wire and the problem was fixed, even with the golf cart deep cycle bank.
 
You can replace the battery and that might fix your problem for a period of time, but to do things right, you should have a dedicated "House" battery that is separate from your engines. One of the biggest reasons for that is, if you drain the house battery below 12v your engine(s) will still start. Your electronics can run perfectly fine if the voltage drops below 12v (not much below - a few tenths), but your engine(s) will not start. Or buy an over size battery every other year or so ...
 
I don't have any dedicated battery. One thing I was told NOT to start with any radios, gps or anything on. Start up then turn your radios on.
 
New batteries or old batteries my Raymarine always shuts down @ engine start up.... I just start engines before RM.
 
mnm99 said:
That's what I was thinking. Hook it up direct to a battery then try to start the engine. If it doesn't go off it's on a switched power that cuts out when starting.
Click to expand...
I wired mine directly to a battery source. No ignition switch in between. That slight break in the circuit when you go to crank will cause the Garmin to shut down. Connect ground under the dash and run the positive to the battery of choice. It happened to me on an previous Four Winns I had.
 
The starting demand of your engine requires lots of current. More current, less voltage.

Simple solution, turn on all electronics *after* starting engines successfully!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
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