Raymarine GPS

Wavey

Wavey

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The GPS on the boat stopped working about 18 months ago and being based on the non-tidal Thames I hadn't worried too much about getting it fixed. With the boat now going to the coast I need to get it sorted.

We're all Raymarine kit on board and I seem to remember a thread about a similar problem (which I now can't find) that mentioned the head unit up on the radar arch has a small battery which lasts about 10 years. Timing would be pretty much right if that is the problem. Do I remember this correctly or did I dream it. The manuals are on the boat which isn't really accessible right now so thought I'd stick a note on here.

Thanks
Jim
 
Fix or bin ?

The Raymarine GPS aerial (little white dome thingy) is known to fail due to old age. Lots of stories about the 3.6v cell located on the PCB failing and being replaced. Common problem and stuff on interweb telling you how to check volts into unit and if any signal coming out.
IMHO unless you are dead skint or are just want to have a look do not bother with trying to cut open unit and fix.
You can buy the outrageously over priced replacement Raystar item £250-300 quid ?? or maybe find a second hand unit on Ebay but there are available clone items to do the job for around £90.00.
Cut mine open with Dremel and soldered new button cell but no luck.
You will need to know the exact model of your RayMarine gear to make sure they supply you the right item,
In my case rather than strip out most of the roof lining,merely cut off the long wiring connected with unit and soldered it to the end of the cables already run through from nav gear.
Cannot remember exactly but think there was only 3/4 joints to be made.
Instructions indicate which colour wires from new GPS connect to the old Raymarine wiring.
Good Luck.The info is out there.
 
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Blimey. Didn't realise you had to cut the thing open to get to the battery. Just assumed it had screws to allow access. Thanks for the info. Will investigate a replacement when I can get aboard to see exactly which one I've got.
 
Don't waste £250 on a raymarine 125. Buy the Evermore clone off eBay for £90. Replaced mine last summer. It was an easy fix (if you aren't colour blind) and works perfectly.
NB Active antennae are more reliable than the passive one you're having problems with.
 
Wavey said:
Blimey. Didn't realise you had to cut the thing open to get to the battery. Just assumed it had screws to allow access. Thanks for the info. Will investigate a replacement when I can get aboard to see exactly which one I've got.
Click to expand...

Wavey, i have an old Raymarine GPS mushroom somewhere in the house from when I purchased Bizzy Bee, the previous owners had replaced it with a Raymarine 125. I am not sure if it's working as they may have replaced it due to a fault but then, why would they have kept the thing so chances are it's working and they just wanted to upgrade. If I can find it, you're welcome to it if you think it'll help you out

Cheers Gary
 
oGaryo said:
Wavey, i have an old Raymarine GPS mushroom somewhere in the house from when I purchased Bizzy Bee, the previous owners had replaced it with a Raymarine 125. I am not sure if it's working as they may have replaced it due to a fault but then, why would they have kept the thing so chances are it's working and they just wanted to upgrade. If I can find it, you're welcome to it if you think it'll help you out

Cheers Gary
Click to expand...
Thanks Gary. I'm hoping it's one with screws that allow access. Will be a little while before I can check but if I get stuck I'll give you a shout.

Cheers Jim
 
Wavey said:
Thanks Gary. I'm hoping it's one with screws that allow access. Will be a little while before I can check but if I get stuck I'll give you a shout.

Cheers Jim
Click to expand...

You will probably just have three or four screws to undo to get to the innards of the unit. Some people find that the button cell is held in a slide-in case, while others, like me, fouund it had been spot welded into its connectors ( six on each side! ). Some very careful use of a small flat screwdriver worked for us.

Alternatively, as suggested by others, it may be easier just get an Evermore unit and solder the connections somewhere dry inside the boat.
 
Mine was def a one piece moulded unit.System circa mid 1980s, may have been an early model.
Replaced it with an Evermore unit.
Worked first time without any further prodding on my R70CRC Plus.Display was showing "NO FIX" all the time.
 
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Mine, I'm guessing, is the original unit fitted at build - late 2001 - which sort of ties in nicely with it failing after about 10 years - early 2012. Even if it's got screws to get inside it, if I find the bloke who fitted the battery won the competition for the maximum number of spot welds you can apply to a small metal object, it's going in the bin :)
 
Raystar 125 and C120 plotter

I just purchased a boat with a 125 and C120 plotter. The plotter was not working at all and I got it running with a master reset, but it won't show anything from the 125 at all. No LED lights up on the 125 at all even though we checked it for power. It was connected with the scotch locks to run in seatalk mode. Disconnecting it actually fixed a seatalk error.

Is this prognosis terminal, or could it be the battery?

Whats he best thing to replace it with? The evermore is not that cheap in AU even off ebay $200. I can get a Simrad or Lawrence NMEA 2K with mag deviation for $290.

How do I connect a NMEA 2K device to the C120? I do not have the special raymarine 2K plug. Can I splice it into the seatalk bus? I dont see how as the plugs are only 3 pin?

Thanks.
 
Howles of anguish. There are a variety of mushrooms you can use. I have three, an evermore, a Garmin 17 and a military unit that came from a challenger tank. The evermore drives the raymarine RL 80 , the Garmin drives my raymarine VHF and the tank unit sits on my fish finder, so don't get hung up on Raymarine stuff.
I try to avoid Seatalk interconnectivity since my depth sounder failed and froze my whole navigation system. I then had an eight hour slog on the wheel as I also lost the autopilot.
 
Raymarine Raystar 125 battery replacement.

I've just successfully replaced the battery in my 2005 Raystar 125. For the 125, the symptom of a flat battery inside is that it takes around 6 minutes to find a fix.
Battery replacement in the 125 is simple. First remove 2 pozi screws fastening the top section to the funnel shaped stalk. Next remove the connector on the base of the GPS head. Underneath are 6 small pozi screws, remove these. Re-insert the 2 screws which held the head to the stalk and use these to gently pull out the base. The battery is a C2032 Li-mn (normal lithium manganese battery available in Asda, 2 for £3-50), and simply slides out of it's holder.
Fit the new battery (correct way round, pos out). Carefully remove the large o-ring and smear with silicone grease, re-fit the o-ring slipping it over the pcb so that it sits on the plastic housing, just above the ribs.
Smear a little bit of silicone grease on the inside of the cap, where the o-ring will fit.
When re-fitting the top make sure that the LED will line up with the window in the top. There is a small arrow on the outside of the base which lines up with a dimple in the top. Press in carefully, holding in place (the base will want to pop out again due to the lubricant) and secure evenly with the 6 screws.

Re-fit the remainder of the fittings.

On first power up it will take around 6 minutes to get it's first fix, but after this it will aquire fix much quicker, good for another 5 years or so.

Cost £1.25, time approx 30 minutes.
 
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Just to give another slant on this issue I also had a No Fix showing on my RL70c chartplotter. I ordered an Evermore GPS receiver unit as a replacement after reading up the recommendations on here.
When I fitted it the problem came as my unit had software from 2001 but the Evermore unit has 2014 software and they don't talk to each other.
So, I've had to send the plotter back to Raymarine for a software upgrade at a cost of £88.00 plus vat.
Just wanted to pre warn you of this potential issue if you ever have the same problem
 
Stupid question time. You haven't fitted anything else on the radar arch recently which might be shielding the GPS engine (mushroom) itself? On my last boat I suffered from intermittent loss of GPS fix constantly and I replaced the mushroom and the wiring before some bright spark mechanic spotted that the mushroom was being partially shielded by the radome and TV antenna. He moved the mushroom to a different position on the radar arch and hey, ho no more problems. Just a thought
 
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