Stowe Dataline Intermitent Fault

[cashinone]

I've seen various threads on this but not one that deals with my problem on our 28' yacht. Our Stowe depth/log is probably 15+ years old and all has been fine during our 6 year ownership until recently where intermitently, and as you'd expect at just the wrong time, the display screen shows dashes. This continues for a period (can be minutes, can be an hour) until normal service is resumed.

I'm assuming this is a faulty electrical connection, but thus far have been unable to locate it.

In the panel's opinion is my guess at an electrical problem correct? or is there a more likely alternative cause?

Would appreciate any advice

 

[earlybird]

My previous boat had a Dataline system which showed symptoms along the lines you describe. During a trip, and over a period of several minutes, the instruments would stop working one by one, ( can't remember if they showed dashes), recovery usually took several hours, but were then OK until the next event. The culprit eventually proved to be the switch panel supply fuse to the databox, which was a slack fit in its holder. There always seemed to be 12v on the supply but Simrad Tech. suggested that electrical noise upset the Databox electronics. My only suggestion is that you could wire a temporary firm supply direct from battery to databox to see if that improves things. IIRC, the databox has an internal fuse, so an external one won't be essential, ( but confirm! ).