Wiring-up See me Active Radar reflector

eebygum

eebygum

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Has anybody had problems installing/wiring up the See me active Radar reflector ?

When I first installed and connected to the 12V DC power, the Green and Red LED lights flashed on briefly and then dead ..... checked the fuse and it was blowen. Changed the 0.5A fuse and wired directly to battery to isloate control panel and fuse blew again ? Changed fuse and disconnected active aerial connections and fuse blew again .... Now I'm not stupid and the polarity is correct and the battery is showing 12.6V

Returned to the manufacturer who kindly returned after 3 weeks (it took a while because there was a number of items being checked ??) and wired it up again .... and the fuse just blows again ?

Anybody had a similiar problem; any known quality issues ?

I'm about to send back for another replacement as it it's still under warranty but interested if anybody else has had similiar problems or any suggestions ?

Thanks in advance
 
Hi,

daft question but what is the current consumption of the device ? If it says more than six watts @ 12V then there's your problem.

Go for a 1amp fuse and see if that makes a difference, the fuse is there to protect the wiring in case of a short circuit. Most devices have a little surge on power up , may be your problem.

Worth a try.
 
No, it can't be that, the 0.5 amp fuse is supplied with the control box, so should be the right size. Can't help you otherwise, I'm afraid, mine worked fine.
 
Is the 0.5 A fuse the internal one, or one between your battery and the control box? If it is an external fuse, the you can replace it with a bigger one (2A)

The Sea Me draws less than 0.2 A when idle, and a between 0.3 and 0.4 when transmitting (or at least mine does). The Sea Me instructions suggest measuring the current on both sides of the control unit to try to pin-point faults.

John
 
Hi,

had a look on the OEM site, yes it would appear that the fuse is correctly rated if its the one in the device, so thus should work. If you sent it back and they returned it I am reasonably confident the problem will lie your end.

Fuse blowing indicates excess current being drawn as I'm sure you know, thus most likely cause is your supply output is a bit high assuming as you say polarity is correct. If your polarity was incorrect you would not have lit the LEDs first time around however.

Soz cant think of anything else.
 
When I installed my control box the mast was down, so the aerial was not connected. In this circumstance the lights flashed briefly when the control unit was switched on, but the fuse did not blow.

Try disconnecting the aerial, and measure the output voltage. If this is 12V, reconnect the aerial, but with a multimeter in series - you should find it draws about 150mA. If it is higher, then the fault lies in the aerial, or the wiring to it - could there be a short ?

John
 
I can answer that easy: ones legal on its own the other isnt you would still need a dustbin up the mast PLUS vessels with radar but no ais WILL see the sea me - curious to understand the point of your question?
 
Are you sure you are connecting power to the power input and not the buzzer output - just a thought. Otherwise could there be a dead short, it only takes one stray fillament or a pinched cable to give this sort of grief.
 
You need a multi-meter.
Disconnect power and use ohms range across the power input to the device.
Anything less than 25 ohms with the device switch on, the fuse will blow.
If the meter reads only 1 or 2 ohms, you have a short circuit somewhere.
 
The Sea-Me enables a better chance of being seen by other craft which have radar fitted thereby making you more visible.

AIS class B enables those craft fitted with AIS receivers see you, but,

1 More craft have radar fitted than AIS receivers.
2 Class B returns can be switched off.
3 AIS signals can be inaccurate.
4 Etc, etc.

On board the bridge of a channel ferry, the Skipper was openly saying that he turned off Class B returns in the Channel due to the many boats fitted with it cluttering the screen. He added the info is often inaccurate.
 
Whilst I will not dispute your comments, I prefer to ensure my safety without hoping the other one sees me, whilst the likes of ferries do tend to have better standards of bridge watchkeeping many other ships do not reach their standards.

I prefer to take responsibility for my own safety rather than hope firstly the other one sees me, and then takes the correct action. My interest is therfore to keep a very good lookout, and gather as much information about any contacts as I can from as many sources as I can
 
Not quite sure of your point ! I have an AIS receiver to keep track of other shipping, and I want the See-me to amplify where I am.... Ok, I sail single-handed often which raises a completely different question on keeping watch... but that thread has been debated many times before.

Cheers
 
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