After the end of last season my Raymarine E120 seemed to have lost the ability to locate me on the chart. I was told that I needed a new a new GPS antenna(system is 7 years old now). Without yet replacing the antenn, this season it's working! Do I still need to replace the antenna?
GPS Question
- Thread starter Idocdes
- Start date
I have the same problem with mine but it is older, I get the No Fix maybe once a year. I have to disconnect the positive power cable from the fuse block and wait a few minutes, reconnect and good for rest of year. Not sure whatthe deal is, heard there is a battery in antenna that goes bad.
From what i was told back in the day. The old antennas store data. If something happens to the stored data it can no longer find fix . Simply killing power to the antenna deletes all the data and it starts all over again.
The new antennas do not have this issue.
Rob
The new antennas do not have this issue.
Rob
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2001
- RO Number
- 3813
- Messages
- 9,936
I had a problem with my old Standard Horizon chart plotter where it would just turn off by itself. Sent it back to them and they updated the firmware at no charge and it has worked perfectly ever since.
SH has excellent customer service.
SH has excellent customer service.
If it's working, you don't need a new antenna. 
. ...Yet.
If it happens again , before replacing , disconnect at both ends of the antenna cable particularly at the antenna end if there is a disconnect there, and reconnect a few times to potentially make more reliable contact. Might just have been a little loose from vibration, or moisture, or?.
Also , the antenna ...might... be separately powered to boat power ( not through the E120?) - if so, it would be good to confirm the connection there is clean , tight & and power supply reliable.
Did you check the satellite page to see if the GPS had acquired enough satellites for a L/L position? If it had but the boat icon was not where it should be , perhaps the cursor position had not been cancelled?
. ...Yet.If it happens again , before replacing , disconnect at both ends of the antenna cable particularly at the antenna end if there is a disconnect there, and reconnect a few times to potentially make more reliable contact. Might just have been a little loose from vibration, or moisture, or?.
Also , the antenna ...might... be separately powered to boat power ( not through the E120?) - if so, it would be good to confirm the connection there is clean , tight & and power supply reliable.
Did you check the satellite page to see if the GPS had acquired enough satellites for a L/L position? If it had but the boat icon was not where it should be , perhaps the cursor position had not been cancelled?
Shake n Bake
Member
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2005
- RO Number
- 16525
- Messages
- 371
The Raystar 120 receiver had a buffer overflow issue where a power reset would fix the lack of fix issue. The Raystar 125 does not have this issue. Which receiver are we talking about?
I know more about Raymarine GPS antennas than I ever wanted to, but only for our specific model, which was vintage 2005 (Raystar 120). It worked intermittently just like yours for a season or two. A friend with exceptional soldering skills replaced the battery for us once, and he made me promise to never tell anyone that he did it - it was a tough job. About a year later, the unit pooped out again.
When you get sick of wondering whether it's alive or dead, your best is to call Raymarine tech support. They're excellent. You'll need to identify the GPS/antenna model number. If you're lucky enough to have a 130 or above, you'll probably be able to replace the battery. We had to upgrade to the 130 along with a converter kit to provide communication to our C80 multi-function display. It was expensive IMO, but far less than new electronics.
When you get sick of wondering whether it's alive or dead, your best is to call Raymarine tech support. They're excellent. You'll need to identify the GPS/antenna model number. If you're lucky enough to have a 130 or above, you'll probably be able to replace the battery. We had to upgrade to the 130 along with a converter kit to provide communication to our C80 multi-function display. It was expensive IMO, but far less than new electronics.
Shake n Bake
Member
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2005
- RO Number
- 16525
- Messages
- 371
The Raystar 125 is pretty much the gold standard for Raymarine GPS receivers. It has a user replaceable battery. It will output NMEA and Seatalk positions and it needs no adapters for most displays.