Raymarine C70 and Raymarine SL530 Issues – Please Help

I understand the need for a power switch on things like GPS systems, weather stations, and depth finders. I have a switch on my helm panel labeled "Electronics" that provides that function. However, the switch shown in that picture looks like a momentary push button switch (like the reset button on a PC case) which is why I called it hooky. If something is acting up to a point you have to put in a "reset" switch, time for a new something.
 
tobnpr said:
Fluctuating low voltage between the yellow and ground is normal and indicates the unit is probably working OK- the voltage fluctuates as each sentence is output. I don't think checking voltage between the 12v hot and NMEA out is indicative of anything.

Let's back up here- do you have the NMEA version, or the Seatalk version of the 112LP, and how do you have the interface wired? The yellow wire can be either NMEA or Seatalk, depending on the model you have.
Click to expand...

tobnpr,
I SeaTalk version, at least I think so based on what it says on top of GPS receiver. I have a white junction box where wires come from two displays, one from power pannel and the GPS. So, all together the junction box has 4 type of incoming set of wires.
My switch is like Gary described, it's a push button. The wires off the switch have label "Air Temp".

Alex.
 
Sorry- didn't see where you had already posted that it's the seatalk version. I don't think the momentary switch has anything to do with this, but at some point curiosity would make me trace the wires to see where they go...
The fact that it initially acquires a fix would indicate that everything should be wired correctly. Puzzling that it seems to lose the fix after a period of time. Have you switched to the GPS Status screen after power-up and watched to see what happens?
 
You know, the sad part is that now it as "No Fix" right when I turn on the unit. I was reaching to check connections of each wire and they felt secured. I will do more detailed trobleshooting next weekend when I'll be back at the boat. I really hope it the GPS antenna. I rather spend $250-$300 for new peice than deal with the hassle of getting Raymarine techs to diagnose the issue.

As I was typing this post I just realized something. I've read in the other board where people complaint about this issue, they had mentioned that the GPS unit needs to be powered down to reset itself and start getting the signal. In my case I have to turn the batteries in off possition. Since last time the signal was lost I didn't do that since I had lots of other stuff to do. I'll do this test next weekend as well. If that will proof the concept, I would think it's a sign of bad GPS unit.

Alex.
 
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Boat a Bing,

I had the same "no fix" issues with my C70, and Ray 120 GPS. Replaced with the Ray 125 and all is good for 2 years now.

Not sure about the T issue.

Jeff
BadaBingII
340 SDA -2003
 
Gary, Jeff, when you guys replaced your faulty GPS with Raystar 125 did you include shut off switch in the installation or you just followed hard wiring instructions and new unit stays on all the time?
 
I have a switch on the helm labeled "Electronics" as I said. It was already wired up to provide power to the SeaTalk network so I just tapped into that. I would not leave it on all the time. If power is being supplied by your chartplotter though, it may turn it off when you turn off the chartplotter. You need to find out how the SeaTalk network gets power and how it is switched and work it from there. You'll be just tapping into the SeaTalk network so you should not have to run a separate power feed.

If you are doing NMEA, then you will have to worry about the power switch somehow.
 
Gary, your prediction nailed it. I made decision not to waist any time, so I bought new Raystar 125. Installed on Sat. had the system on for most of the day at the dock, went out today and GPS is fine. During the installation, I've noticed only one small differents in the voltage between red and yellow wires. For the old unit it was jumping from 0 to 5v max. With R125 it was hitting about 6v max. there must be something inside the unit.

Finding a switch for taking it off line, would be another puzzle.

Thanks,
Alex.
 
If you read the manuals for the 120 and 125 devices you'll see the yellow line is NMEA or SeaTalk output. That's a data signal and it's going to change voltage levels quite a bit as it's sending data. Using a voltmeter on it isn't going to be of much use. It's the red lead that's used to provide power TO the device that you could check. Depending on whether it's NMEA or SeaTalk the other wires will vary in purpose (rtfm). But other than the power there's not much point to measuring voltage on the other lines.

The 120 is known for dying an intermittent death. Replacing it with a 125 is the best solution, as you've discovered.

As for the C70, have you updated it's firmware to the latest revision AND reset the configuration to factory defaults? There's often a mismatch that happens when trying to use newer firmware on a unit that's already been configured (not just on Raymarine gear either).

Finally, if you really want to check the voltage on something, see how close the voltage is at the chart plotter compared to directly from the battery. All too often boat wiring is undersized for electronics gear. Both the postive AND the negative wires. If you measure the voltage at the plotter and it's more than, say, .75 volts different then you're possibly dealing with too small a gauge wire, running too long a distance for the load required by the plotter. Bearing in mind that any number of other devices may be piggybacked onto that same circuit. Especially when dealing with a "new to you" used boat. God only knows who bodged together what's in there already.

If you find there's significant voltage drop you may be best served just pulling new +/- wires for the plotter directly from the breaker panel. It might be some work but it'll probably go a long way toward eliminating these odd problems.
 
wkearney99 said:
If you read the manuals for the 120 and 125 devices you'll see the yellow line is NMEA or SeaTalk output. That's a data signal and it's going to change voltage levels quite a bit as it's sending data. Using a voltmeter on it isn't going to be of much use. It's the red lead that's used to provide power TO the device that you could check. Depending on whether it's NMEA or SeaTalk the other wires will vary in purpose (rtfm). But other than the power there's not much point to measuring voltage on the other lines.
Click to expand...

Bill,
I was able to get some response from Raymarine Tech Support and they're the ones to suggest the test for yellow wire as well. "If you can find the white junction box where the antenna is connected take a volt meter and measure across the red and ground wire you should have 12 volts. Across the yellow and ground wire you should see 10 to 12 volts and it should vary. "

My CF card hasn't arrived, so software upgrade has to be delayed until next weekend.

Comming back to the slip had strange C70 behavior. Admiral opend the cabin door and when it hit the stopper the unit lost power. From what I remember I've secured all the wires well when I've connected everything in the white junction box. The good news is that while I was docking the unit came up as normal. I guess I'll have to go back and inspect all wires to C70. I'm hopping it's just loose connection somewhere. We were running very late, so I didn't have a chance to jump on this righ away.

Alex.
 
What did you do with that momentary push button switch?

Also, it makes you feel better if you tie the old gps antenna to the back bumper of your car with the antenna wire and drive around for awhile. It'll also make a point of you use a permanent marker and write one of your kids name on it first.
 
Four Suns said:
What did you do with that momentary push button switch?

Also, it makes you feel better if you tie the old gps antenna to the back bumper of your car with the antenna wire and drive around for awhile. It'll also make a point of you use a permanent marker and write one of your kids name on it first.
Click to expand...

Gary, I tried to find where the wires go from that switch, but I couldn't find the end point. They were heading way too far under the dash toward the cabin. I didn't want to take anything apart, so I just left it a figure I'll call the dealer, may be they can give me some clue. At this point, I think that the previouse owner didn't know the proper use of the switch, since he told me it was for GPS. I don't see any connection between GPS, two display untis and that switch.

The old unit makes no noise being dragged, so it's even useless for that. :lol:
 
You can generally use any 64mb CF card (no larger, no smaller). A sandisk brand one seems to be the most reliable choice. Don't know why but some other brands just don't seem to work properly. I'm sure it has everything to do with the slot support for copy protected (aka Navionics) chart cards. Software updates seem to come about every 18 months, so having a card of your own might be worth considering.

If you lost power when the door slammed then you definitely have a wiring issue. Are all the wires connected using marine-grade connectors? Or are there some wire nuts and solder joints?

It may well be worth just pulling all new power/ground for it. That way you'll know for sure. I've been considering changing some of my power wiring to allow toggling power to just the buss devices, independently of the chart plotter. But seeing as I've yet to have any issues this season (knock wood) it's not a priority.

As for that switch, is it momentary? If so it might just be designed to cut power to the GPS module. I can envision some nightmare of spliced seatalk cabling here...
 
Bill, I thought on getting the 64mb card, but considering how fast everything grows in electronics I thought that 64mb today may not be good enough for upgrades next year or so. So, I ordered 1GB Sandisk. Based on the reading I've done there's just couple extra steps to format the drive properly to work for the upgrade. According to Raymarine, it should work fine. But, I'll as soon as I'll get the card.

The door slam was the only and first occasion of shutting off C70. The unit is located further away from the door (to the starboard side) than my other chartplotter SL530, which is closer to the door. The SL530 didn't shutdown and worked just fine while C70 went dead. I didn't see any wirenuts. There's one inline fuse, which tangled together with other wires. It looked ok, so I didn't touch it. Right now I can't be sure, but I think that fuse is for the VHF, not C70.

The switch is momentary. If it's for GPS, then it would cut off power only while holding the switch by pressing the button. So, in best case it would meant to be for hard reset rather than turning it off.
 
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