Chart Plotter No Power

N

Newbie509

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Joined
Jul 1, 2008
RO Number
30359
Messages
105
Here's a new problem of this boating year. I did a shake out cruise this weekend. On the way out my chart plotter froze. I tried to power it off to restart but it wouldn't power down. I disconnected the power cable in the back to hopefully re-boot it. No Go. I checked the fuse at the bus bar and it was blown. I replaced it and now it still won't power up. Any thoughts? It's a RayMarine 400 series chart plotter.
 
I will try it. What if the ground is good? Does it make sense that there would be a fuse at the bus bar and one inline somewhere?
 
Depends on how it was installed... Follow the black wire from the plotter.

Take a multimeter and measure voltage at the fuse and wherever the black wire ends.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Newbie509

I will try it. What if the ground is good? Does it make sense that there would be a fuse at the bus bar and one inline somewhere?

Click to expand...


All I can say is that every time, and I do mean every time, I have ever had any problem with power to my electronics, it has always been a bad ground connection.

I know there are a whole host of other possibilities. I'm just relating what my experience is.

Bob
 
quote:
Originally posted by Newbie509

........ On the way out my chart plotter froze. I tried to power it off to restart but it wouldn't power down. I disconnected the power cable in the back to hopefully re-boot it. No Go. I checked the fuse at the bus bar and it was blown. I replaced it and now it still won't power up.

Click to expand...


We have an advantage here, an eyewitness account of what happened so let's put our troubleshooting skills to work:

The screen froze and the plotter wouldn't power down. Is that what happens when a fuse blows or a wire falls off? No, if a fuse blows or a wire becomes disconnected, the screen goes black right away, right?

The fuse was found to be blown, but it either blew on the attempt to restart the plotter or it's a different fuse altogether that happened to be blown.

With the symptoms stated, the odds are that the plotter itself is defective.

A good troubleshooter would still check to see that the plotter is getting power before sending it off for repair. That means checking to see that there is 12 volts DC available at the terminals the plotter is connected to while attempting to switch the plotter on. A better test would be at the end of the power cord where it connects to the plotter.

Another test would be to remove the plotter and the power cord from the boat and connect the power cord directly to a 12 volt battery, either on the boat, on a car, or on a bench.
 
+1 Ron's correct it isn't a blown fuse.
What type of plotter? Garmin has a master reset procedure for frozen plotter syndrome.
Could be a bad ground but I doubt it again the plotter didn't go dead it froze up. More then likely the processor froze.
Bill
 
Well, not to belabor the point, you guys are probably right, but "bad ground connection" doesn't necessarily mean the wire fell off.

In my last case, Humminbird 1155 chart plotter, froze up exactly as described above. Turned out to be a corroded ground connection restricting current flow to the point that, though the screen was still lit, it froze up. Removed and cleaned the ground connection at the bus bar and all was well.

Bob
 
Bob, not saying your wrong you could be correct. I have also found many marine electronic and electrical problems that can be directly traced to resistance in the ground connection.
This one sounds like it could be either internal stack overload or a voltage sag or spike that caused the microprocessor in the plotter to freeze.
Bill
 
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