raymarine c series help needed

[Freebee]

Ive just spent 2 days running cables round my boat to fit new scanner, gps and c series radar screen screen. I ran the last cable and fitted the power cable and the radar cable only, to the back of the screen and decided to run the system up. Press the red start button on the bottom left and nothing happened.

Checked to see if the power cable was live, it was and refitted but still no response, the comprehensive manuals give no clues, And yes I know I can call the helpdesk on tuesday but can any other owners shed any light , on intial start is pressing the red button the only thing I should do or is there something I have overlooked?

 

[pvb]

Two thoughts....

First thought - you say that the power cable is live, but have you double-checked that the polarity is correct?

Second thought - has the display been powered up before? Is it possible that it was turned off when in night mode? If so, you might not be able to see anything on the screen in daylight. Doing a "factory reset" will restore default settings - press and hold the left-hand soft key, then press the red Power button.

 

[Freebee]

Re: Two thoughts....

I have not checked polarity, I ran coloured coded cables and relied on that to be correct, admittedly the connection comes out my boat distribuition board, I did not have the means to check polarity with me, will it refuse to start if polarity is wrong?

Not started before, its fresh out of the box!!

 

[pvb]

OK....

I'd imagine it would refuse to start if the polarity is wrong. Your distribution board most probably switches the 12v positive (follow the feed wire back to the battery to be sure), so the positive wire of the C-series power lead should go to the switch/fuse in the board. If you've used extension cables, are they heavy enough for the load? Are the connections secure (it's possible with a poor connection for 12v to be detected at the end of the cable, but for it to fall away to next to nothing as soon as a load is applied). Did you also connect the power cable screen to negative?

You could also try unplugging the radar cable and try it again with just the power cable connected.

Once you get it going, you'll love it! I'm finding my C-series to be a great piece of kit.

 

[Freebee]

Re: OK....

The extension cables are bigger dia than the leads provided by Raymarine, I cannot check the feed cable from the distribuition board back because it disappears ino the bowels of the boat,

I will take a meter on my next boat visit to check polarity, and the screen is not yet connected to anything does it just connect to the negative?

 

[pvb]

Screen....

Screen on power cable should connect to negative, although I don't think this would stop the display working if it wasn't connected.

 

[Talulah]

Re: Screen....

Disconnect all cables from the display. Connect just the two power leads and turn it on. If nothing happens, polarity may be reversed.
If the display does work, as I expect it will the problem will be with the scanner unit. You will need to supply power directly to the scanner and not via the C series display. The thickness of the power cable to the display is probably insufficient for the length of run.

 

[pvb]

Scanner unit....

On the C-series, the scanner isn't supplied with any power when the display is first switched on (it's necessary to manually turn the scanner on once the display is working), so I wouldn't think that the scanner is affecting it. Incorrect polarity or poor connections are still the most likely culprits.

 

[Talulah]

Re: Scanner unit....

pvb - your right. If there was insufficient power getting to the scanner unit it would come up with a message 'no data' or 'no scanner' etc. Something else is taking all the power from the c series display'. In which case it could be what you suggested. Another possibility (and I know this from experience) is that the cable at the scanner has been incorrectly fitted. The scanner has 4 terminals for the power wires. 2 for positive and 2 for negative. If the negative and positive have been put into the same pair then there is a huge current drain. The drain may be insufficient to blow a fuse due to the length of cable run but it will suck all the power from the display.
Mike - let us know when you find out the cause!

 

[branko]

I have mounted SL70CRC and have similar problems in the begining. Reason was too thin cable! Try with bigger diameter wire !

 

[Freebee]

It was polarity of the cable, its a Benetau with blue and black cables I thought I new which was which but....

Anyway quick check with meter and reversed cables then display lit up and then switched scanner to TX and all is well, next challenge, gps,fishfinder and VHF connection!

And as you pointed out I am impressed

Many thanks for the help and support.!!

 

[pvb]

Glad it was a simple solution, Mike! Do you have a rate gyro compass to get the best benefit from MARPA?

 

[Freebee]

No please tell me more, I'm new to all this technology, what does it do and how do I use it?

 

[pvb]

RTFM...

If you want the best results from MARPA, which will track selected radar targets and let you know if they're going to come perilously close to you, you need to have a stable source of heading direction. The Raymarine Smartpilot or Smart Heading System rate gyro gives this, with a compass heading output at 10 times a second. There are other similar systems, but the Raymarine kit interfaces effortlessly and can be auto-calibrated by the C-series.

The rate gyro also adds stability to the the radar/chart overlay (which I think is one of the most useful features of the C-series).

More details in the manual.... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif