GPS NO FIX

CLOUD9

CLOUD9

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 Apr 2005
Messages
363
Location
Home in Bath, Boat in Cala d'Or, Mallorca
Visit site
Quick silly question.... Still learning about the GPS......Just turned on the Raymarine GPS (RL70C) its not picking up a fix. Do I simply need to be patient and wait until i move the boat and hope it comes back to life?

Ive tried restarting it and also found a 'cold-start' command (under 'GPS setup') but it doesnt seem to do anything.

Any tips?

Thanks

Rick
 
I have the same equipment and it will take some time ie up to 15 min to find all the satelites when you haven't used it for some time. From memory under "GPS setup" you can see the satelite strength and number. Are you getting anything at all? You should see at least one coming up quite quickly. If nothing after say 10 mins then I would suspect the GPS sensor or connections to it. Raymarine will check the sensor and there are some firmware upgrades I believe but it's a pain getting all the wire out. Suggest tieing some string to the cable to make 're-entry' easier.
As you can guess I had the same problem (under guarentee) a couple of years back.
best of luck
David
 
unless the boat is moored under a large bridge, or between a high wall and a supertanker, moving it shouldn't make much difference!

I am not familar with that unit but generally -
1. there is a page (screen) showing the actual satelites being interogated at any time; is this showing signs of life at all?
2. you have the option to fasttrack initialisation of a new unit by entering an approximate position - is this a new unit adn have you doen this?
3. 15 minutes says something is wrong - once upon a time the first units with slow processors and ugly routines might have taken up to that for a cold start but not modern ones.
4. Is this a new installation? If so suspect either the wireing to the antennae (is it an active one that requires power for example? Saw a Lowrance installation recently where the guy had only plugged the antennae in to the head unit but not connected up the power cables to the antennae (which it required) so it simply wasn't working!).

After all that - suspect a fault in the hardware!
 
I had the same problem as did two other people I knew.
It can also switch back on only to switch back off later - so its not alway OK when it just comes back on.
In my case the replaced the Raystar sensor - they did this with the others as well.

If you purchased it new , and it is faulty - given that it should be expected to last at least 6 years, you are of course legally entitled to a replacement for up to 6 years from purchase.
 
I think on my set up the power supply to the ariel is seperate to the plotter and presumably for the convenience of whoever wired the electrics, is on a different switch to the Navigation instruments. Just try turn every on every 12v switch on the board and wait a few minutes for it to pick up the satellites.
 
Fault is usually in the GPS unit itself (not the RL70c) or the cable connecting them. The GPS engine is all within the white round mushroom thing installed on the mast - that is not merely an antenna. If you have the newest GPS (the 125 model, I think it's called) with the LED (unhelpfully) located on the top, the colour of the LED indicates what the unit is doing. Otherwise you have to suss it out by elimination. They are only about £100 anyway
 
JFM
Thats right - its the whoile mushroom thing that I had replaced - from memory I think it was called the Raystar 150 ..... cost about £150 then but was supplied foc twice as it turned out - it was third tim lucky.
 
Thank you all for the help. What a great place this is! I wont feel so concerned about asking stupid questions in future.... although I do feel a bit foolish......MedDreamer hit the nail on the head... I have now discovered that I must make sure both 'Nav Instruments' and 'Autopilot' switches are ON! The antenna must be wired with the autopilot.

I would normally turn it all on together but only wanted to compare the fix with the new handheld Garmin thing Ive just bought.

Thanks again

Rick
 
Well this is strange... looks like I might be suffering from both problems... not switching it on properly AND an intermittent fault!

5 minutes after turning on the autopilot switch and seeing it all fire up the lost signal alarm sounded. A few minutes later it refound the fix but soon lost it again and its now been lost for 20 minutes.

Looks as though I will need to get it checked out properly.

Rick
 
When my old Garmin is switched on, it defaults to a screen showing which satellites it is finding, and the signal strength; when it has enough it changes to a navigational display.

Surely your Raymarine has an analogous display, so you can monitor progress?
 
yep - it is a common fault, more worring though that it is intermittent (as I found out half way across the Thames estuary) . The fault is with Raystar 120 antennas from or before 2003ish.
 
I had the same problem. Initially I just restarted the GPS set up every time but this was a bit of a bore.
In the end I tried phoning Raytheon and finally got through to some guy in America. The answer he gave me and which worked is -
Somewhere behind the Raytheon set is a white junction box with "Raytheon" printed on it - mine was the otherside of the bulkhead - Undo the box and inside are two wires from the antenna. Undo the red wire and earth it to discharge any static within the antenna itself, connect the wire, restart the GPS.

I know - I thought it was a strange thing to do but since I did it the problem has disappeared!
 
The RL70C is just a plotter.
There should be a mushroom shaped device somewhere on your boat.
Probably on the flybridge or radar arch.
I believe that this isnt the antenna - it is actually the GPS receiver and feeds back to the RL70C (Pathfinder) display.
I should check the cables behind the display and onto the GPS receiver.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I rang the local Raytheon agent and described the problem. The instant diagnosis was that the antenna is ****ed, which wasnt a surprise having read all your experiences!

The unit was fitted to the boat when new in Feb 2004 and I am the second owner, so not sure what chance I have of convincing Raymarine to contribute to the cost of replacement.... but I will try on the basis that this appears to be a common design fault!


Rick
 
[ QUOTE ]

The unit was fitted to the boat when new in Feb 2004

[/ QUOTE ]
Raymarine guarentee period is 2 years. You can say that you have had an intermittent fault for a few months and have only now tracked it down to the GPS receiver. This is partially true because it hasn't just failed, you have only just noticed it.
I sence that this boat is new to you. Any dealer guarentee?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top