2120SC GPS Electronic Problem

[Linda Lou]

New owner of a 2120SC. I have a question and hope someone can give me some advise. I have a A65 Raymarine chart platter & fish finder. If using one battery when starting the motor, the GPS cuts off. Raymarine advises to use the Blue Sea Series Dual Circuit Plus Battery Switch with a Starting Isolation Series ACR to correct this problem, have anyone experienced this problem or give me some advise. Thanks for your help.

 

[Megabyte]

Sounds like the plotter is very sensitive to the drop in current when the motor starts.

The easy solution would be to turn the plotter off when the motor is turned off, and only turn it on after starting the motor.
Is that an option for you?

 

[Linda Lou]

When fishing and using the fish finder we start the motor frequently and really not an option to be turning on and off when fishing. Do you know anything about the Blue Sea battery switch?

 

[Anonymous]

this is a real common problem with most electrical systems...guys wanna run a battery switch in the "all" or "both" position...what happens is you're drawing from both batteries when the engine is started,this in turn causes a voltage drop,the electronics crash...
the real fix is to rewire the boat's electrical system the correct way,that way being,the engine is seperated and dedicated,and the 12v system is seperated and dedicated,the batteries are recharged via a sense relay...simple stuff !!! it's the best way to go !!

 

[Linda Lou]

Thanks for the info. Going to go with the e-series Dual Circuit Plus Battery Switch from Blue Sea, this should resolve my problem according to Raymarine technical people.

 

[Outta Here]

I have always used "All" or "Both" (2 batteries) and never had a problem (all Furuno). Electronics wired under console to factory buss strips (if that's what the're called.

Am I just lucky? Can original poster's problem be too small batteries, excessive corosion (causing lot of current draw), or old weak batteries?

I don't think I have a "sense relay". Has Parker wired my boat wrong?

 

[Linda Lou]

07 2120sc all new batteries. Was told by using both batteries they could both be discharged at the same time when turning the switch on both. If you have a westmarine catalog or boat US read about the Blue Sea Switch that I mentioned this seems to be the way to go to resolve my problem, it will charge both batteries equally and designate one battery for engine and the other for the electronics automatically, if you have a chance to read up on it, let me know what you think.

 

[coachbob]

I have not had a problem with the electronics- Lowrance- in either single or duel battery. I have a 2006 2120 SC

 

[grouperjim]

The Blue Sea switch sounds interesting. However, in my experience with both my Parkers, I have never had any of my electrics hickup during engine start. Although I do have the windlass (high amp draw) hooked directly to bat 2 with its own CB so I can still have a dead boat if desired.

Let us know how the Blue Sea works out.

jim

 

[Megabyte]

I have a pair of group 27 series Optima blue-tops on my boat (4 years old) powering my gear. I always run my switch on 'Both' and have never had an issue with my Furuno sounder or Garmin chartplotter when starting my 10 year old OX66.

Something isn't right with your setup if you're having issues like that on a new boat. She is still under warranty, so my first stop would be with the dealers service department to get it sorted out.
I'm betting it's something simple.

 

[greatcir]

I do not have an A65 unit but I do have a Raymarine C70 (radar, chart, depth) and it would turn ON itself sometimes when I started the engine.

Since the cover was over my unit I did not know it was on one day & it killed a battery. After lots of Raymarine discussion and emails I finally told them I was going to write an article on the problem for Boating and other magazines. This lead me to a Raymarine engineer who said it was a problem with the software and to wait two months for the new software.

I turned my battery switch to off for two months; the new Raymarine software was released; I installed it and the low battery voltage issue went away.

Just a thought if you can update your software? ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Pete

 

[Anonymous]

let me clarify this a little...
multiple battery systems are an interesting thing,it's like this...when the battery switch is ran in the "all" or "both" position,you're drawing from both batteries,meaning,both batteries are being discharged,they're parralleled...now,with that,if one of those batteries goes bad,it's gonna take the other battery out...a discharged battery will discharge a fully charged battery-i promise you that...
electrical systems are a little tricky sometimes,the new electronics are very voltage sensitive,a good example of this are the raymarine sets,the "c" and "e" series...these sets require a pretty constant voltage supply.
it's a real good idea to have a dedicated power supply as well as a ground for the electronics...

i like multiple batteries ina seperated and dedicated set up,meaning the engine battery is seperated and electrically isolated from the engine battery.by having this set up,when you're drifting or on the anchor with the gps on,the stereo on and the vhf on,you're not drawing from the engine battery,you're drawing from the 12v system battery...therefore,you have no fear of the engine not being able to crank when it comes time to run home...when you fire the engine up,it recharges both batteries...like this...i use a blue seas "acr",it's a sense relay,it sense voltage at both legs,when the voltage at one of the legs is 13.2v or higher,the relay grounds,allowing both batteries to charge at the same time...when the voltage at one of the legs drops below 13.2v,it opens...pretty simple stuff huh ???
i set the system up with simple on/off switches...pretty fool proof stuff...

the problem this gentleman is experiencing could be caused by weak batteries,it also could be caused by the way the electronics are wired...sometimes the "feed" wire for the 12v system is a little too small to carry the load for the entire system,remember,the longer the wire run,the larger guage wire is required,due to a volt drop across the length of the wire...

i could go for hours explaining how to wire a boat correctly,i've lost count of the boats i've set up with the seperated and dedicated systems,and i've lost count of the problems with electrical systems i've seen...
i only explain what works for me,and how i set up customer's boats...