Raymarine C Series plotter - slow to pick up co-ordinates

[Andy Bav]

We have a C series plotter, but not convinced it's the original. Boat is 2006.

On our previous boats, the plotter would pick up our position almost instantaneously. On this one, it takes 5-10 mins.

Its quite fascinating going into the set up menu and watching the satellites being picked up one by one, but it can take some time.

Am I over expecting from an old(er) peice of tech, or is this quite common?

 

[Elessar]

I suspect you have an external GPS and the battery is gone in it.
The battery allows the unit to remember its last position allowing a fast fix. Yours is doing a cold start every time so is slow.

 

[Andy Bav]

Thanks, makes sense. Need to locate the external GPS now.

 

[SailingDog]

Thanks, makes sense. Need to locate the external GPS now.

I suspect you have an external GPS and the battery is gone in it.
The battery allows the unit to remember its last position allowing a fast fix. Yours is doing a cold start every time so is slow.

An additional question if I may, can the battery be changed or will the fix be a new GPS ?
Thanks

 

[Elessar]

Thanks, makes sense. Need to locate the external GPS now.

If it’s not obvious check your set up settings. There is an “internal GPS” toggle on some of the later C series. If you are on internal GPS the same may apply but I’ve no idea if any internal battery is replaceable.

 

[Elessar]

An additional question if I may, can the battery be changed or will the fix be a new GPS ?
Thanks

Little button battery that you change. Like a car remote.

 

[DavidJ]

Thanks, makes sense. Need to locate the external GPS now.

Yes, it’s the battery failing so it forgets the last record….been there.
There are (at least) two types of Raymarine dome GPS receivers. The earlier one has the battery (looks like) spot welded in and the later you just push it in the slot. You can dremmel out the spot welded one with care, let’s hope you have the later version.

Here we go on the 125 later version. The earlier was the 120
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi17_-Kxa36AhVGQUEAHaN3BgkQtwJ6BAghEAI&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYgo6HDnLQk&usg=AOvVaw0_MFahd8F_oDn3XhzaEDsC

 

[Andy Bav]

Thanks all for your responses. Been on airport runs with son and grandson today, so will take a look tomorrow...

 

[oldgit]

Cheap no fuss solution to external GPS receiver. Ebay.
Battery changing is pain, no matter wether soldered or otherwise. All mine needed rather unsuccessful attempts with a Dremel to get at the battery.
New battery failed to achieve anything useful and the casing looked simply horrific after my "surgery."
No need to run new wires all the way through boat superstructure , just solder new wiring on receiver to old installed wires wherever you can access wiring.
It does not seem to affect performance if you connect entire length of new wiring or shorten it for neatness.
Solder connections.
New GPS receiver should come complete with A4 sheet detailing which colours on new aerial wiring connect to which colours on your old existing wiring.
In my case, Raymarine RL70 and RL80 CRC and later on an old Simrad.
Loads like this of varying quality and prices.
Marine Ship GPS Receiver Antenna Module NMEA 0183 Baud Rate 4800 DIY Connector | eBay
A few more pounds will get you one from a UK based seller more quickly.
Did have a replacement unit fail after about 18 months, contacted the UK seller without much hope, they immediately went a replacement and told me to dispose of the old one.

 

[jrudge]

I have replaced the batteries. If welded you won't be able to solder it so you need to buy a battery with wire tails on it. Ebay sell them

 

[KREW2]

I went to pick up my new to me boat on January 19th from East Cowes to bring it to Weymouth. As I pulled away from the fuelling berth the plotter lost its fix, and auto helm displayed the message Seatalk Fail.
After buying a new antenna the plotter worked but would not link in with Seatalk, so not much good really. I did a lot of faffing around with settings but to no avail.
The old Raystar PL125 was flush mounted on the wheel house roof so was a pain to get at but I did't want to spend 5k on a whole new setup until I had tried what might be a simple fix.
Glad I did, a £2.80 battery sorted the whole thing. If you have the Raystar PL125 a new battery should sort it

 

[DrSpock]

A new battery wouldn't have cured the Seatalk Fail from the autopilot. It's possible your rummaging around cured a loose connection in the Seatalk cabling.

 

[KREW2]

A new battery wouldn't have cured the Seatalk Fail from the autopilot. It's possible your rummaging around cured a loose connection in the Seatalk cabling.

Wrong, my plotter wasn't getting a fix and it caused a STLKFAIL message on the ST4000+. The only way to get it to work was to power down the C80 plotter, which I did as it was no use without a fix. At least I had auto pilot and rudder indicator.
I put a new battery in the Raystar125 GPS receiver and it has all been fine since.

 

[DrSpock]

A lack of GPS fix isn't a cause for STLKFAIL message on a ST4000+. You can happily run it without a GPS signal. STLKFAIL means a bus failure which 9/10 is bad wiring or voltage.

 

[KREW2]

A lack of GPS fix isn't a cause for STLKFAIL message on a ST4000+. You can happily run it without a GPS signal. STLKFAIL means a bus failure which 9/10 is bad wiring or voltage.

Interesting, all I can say is a new battery in the GPS receiver sorted it all out. I indeed can run my ST4000+ without the C80 plotter on, but plotter on without fix gave me the FAIL message.
Before I changed the battery I had no fix, the plotter GPS page showed no satellites were being picked up. I put new battery in and everything came to life and has been working fine. Of course I cannot power up the plotter now without getting a fix, so I have no way of testing out your claim.

 

[DrSpock]

You can change the GPS Datum on the C80 so it won't pick up any satellites if you really wanted to try it.

 

[KREW2]

You can change the GPS Datum on the C80 so it won't pick up any satellites if you really wanted to try it.

Thanks for the tip, but I will probably leave well enough alone.

 

[Mistroma]

Cheap no fuss solution to external GPS receiver. Ebay.
Battery changing is pain, no matter wether soldered or otherwise. All mine needed rather unsuccessful attempts with a Dremel to get at the battery.
New battery failed to achieve anything useful and the casing looked simply horrific after my "surgery."
No need to run new wires all the way through boat superstructure , just solder new wiring on receiver to old installed wires wherever you can access wiring.
It does not seem to affect performance if you connect entire length of new wiring or shorten it for neatness.
Solder connections.
New GPS receiver should come complete with A4 sheet detailing which colours on new aerial wiring connect to which colours on your old existing wiring.
In my case, Raymarine RL70 and RL80 CRC and later on an old Simrad.
Loads like this of varying quality and prices.
Marine Ship GPS Receiver Antenna Module NMEA 0183 Baud Rate 4800 DIY Connector | eBay
A few more pounds will get you one from a UK based seller more quickly.
Did have a replacement unit fail after about 18 months, contacted the UK seller without much hope, they immediately went a replacement and told me to dispose of the old one.

Your GPS receiver must be quite different from my 125. I replaced the battery about 5 years ago and again this year. Not surprising as the boat had not been used since October 2019. It was a trivial and really quick job. Just a matter of undoing the electrical connector and a couple of knurled knobs to lift it out of the deck. I undid a few small screws to undo the base and popped in a new battery.

It would have been trickier with a fixed battery as I'd either need to find a tagged battery to connect or replace the existing battery with a small battery holder.

Which model did you have?

 

[TSB240]

I have been living with the same problem with our C80 . On our boat we have a Raystar Seatalk GPS unit.

I will need to remove the saloon ceiling liner (big tedious job) to gain access to the Raystar mounting screws before pulling it apart to see if it is possible to fit a new battery.

Can anyone confirm if the seatalk version has a battery that can be replaced?

It would be far easier to fit a new nmea wire tailed gps mushroom and break into the existing nmea connections. This could also provide a lat long for the DSC radio.
In my case I am considering adding an ais transponder which can replace the Raystar as a primary gps source for the C80. Probably need to do this anyhow as the C80 will only communicate at the higher baud rate as I think it has a mono speed nmea input output channel.

 

[DavidJ]

I have been living with the same problem with our C80 . On our boat we have a Raystar Seatalk GPS unit.

I will need to remove the saloon ceiling liner (big tedious job) to gain access to the Raystar mounting screws before pulling it apart to see if it is possible to fit a new battery.

Can anyone confirm if the seatalk version has a battery that can be replaced?

It would be far easier to fit a new nmea wire tailed gps mushroom and break into the existing nmea connections. This could also provide a lat long for the DSC radio.
In my case I am considering adding an ais transponder which can replace the Raystar as a primary gps source for the C80. Probably need to do this anyhow as the C80 will only communicate at the higher baud rate as I think it has a mono speed nmea input output channel.

From memory and because I wrecked one trying to dremmel out a battery, The model 120 has a ‘welded’ battery and model 125 has the ‘slip in‘ one which I had to buy to replace. I think there is a physical difference which if you google images of them both you may be able to identify yours