Raymarine C120: Loss of DSM

[CapeCodFrank]

I have a Raymarine C120 with a depth sounder module. I also have a windless to help with the anchor retrieval. When I use the windless to pull the anchor, my C120 reports that it lost the DSM connection. I have to acknowledge this. When the windless has finished its work, the C120 re-acquires the DSM signal and all is well. I suspect the issue is that the windless draws a lot of juice at the expense of the DSM, or I have a grounding issue. I don't recall seeing this problem last year. Any thoughts on how to troubleshoot this?

 

[Porkchunker]

May want to put a bigger house battery into the system. Obviously the windlass and the other electronics, when combined, cause a drop in voltage. Either the GPS antenna or the display can't handle the drop.

What size battery is in use now? I went to a pair of group 31 batteries on my boat because I had a similar problem.

Also...make sure your battery terminal connections are clean. I had that problem too and moved the many small wires off of the battery to a large terminal on the transom...then connected the battery terminal to the transom lug with a large (4 ga) jumper.

I have threads in the Projects folder on both operations. They are a couple of years old. Will see if I can find them and link them here.

Dave

aka

 

[Porkchunker]

Group 31 battery tray swap:

http://www.classicparker.com/phpBB2/vie ... ight=group

Large terminals on transom:

http://www.classicparker.com/phpBB2/vie ... y+terminal

BTW, I hope Parker Marine is looking at that last link...it sure would be helpful if all Parkers were rigged with large single jumpers from the battery(s) to large posts on the transom. It would save us all a lot of scraping and replacing of connectors.

Dave

aka

 

[MaxOut]

I agree with Porkchunker you probably have a weak battery and explains why it just started to happen. If you have two batteries I would move all navigation and communication electronics to one battery and all lighting and windlass to the other. This may require a circuit breaker, heavy cable and a buss. If you have a newer model Yamaha I would get the aux charging cable and wire it to the other battery so both batteries charge all the time and are isolated. Keep your battery selector in place and move the primary charge wire in the switch to the other battery. Now you have both batteries been charged at all times from the engine while keeping them isolated and can still select what battery starts the motor or powers house electronics. Use the battery with the lighting (non critical) connected for your primary start battery. I would also suggest two identical deep cycle batteries same model year and even production batch if possible. I like AGM's and wet cells. Not a fan of Optima.

 

[sparky]

We have the same problem in our landing craft. If we have the Raymarine system on, and restart the engine, we lose power to the DSM. Its not a big deal, I just think the sounder module is very sensitive to power fluctuations, much more so than other components. Our VHF, Raymarine C120, Radar, and lights don't even flicker, but the DSM dies for a few seconds.

 

[B-Faithful]

my father runs a full c80 series and when he starts his motor the system restarts. I was told that there is a device that will maintain a consistant power flow to the Ray stuff. Call http://www.boemarine.com about it.

 

[MaxOut]

my father runs a full c80 series and when he starts his motor the system restarts. I was told that there is a device that will maintain a consistant power flow to the Ray stuff. Call http://www.boemarine.com about it.

You can add a capacitor to supply current for the brief draw and it will also filter alternator noise and surges. I am doing electronics upgrades to my boat this weekend and will be adding a capacitor like this on the critical electronics circuit. Also adding E12102 smart heading sensor and final LED upgrades with dimmers.

See Here

http://cgi.ebay.com/MA-Audio-1-0-Farad- ... 286.c0.m14

 

[sparky]

my father runs a full c80 series and when he starts his motor the system restarts. I was told that there is a device that will maintain a consistant power flow to the Ray stuff. Call http://www.boemarine.com about it.

You can add a capacitor to supply current for the brief draw and it will also filter alternator noise and surges. I am doing electronics upgrades to my boat this weekend and will be adding a capacitor like this on the critical electronics circuit. Also adding E12102 smart heading sensor and final LED upgrades with dimmers.

See Here

http://cgi.ebay.com/MA-Audio-1-0-Farad- ... 286.c0.m14

Just make sure that the cap isn't sent power with the battery switch off. Caps leak current, and can drain a battery in short order.

Also, make sure to coat the terminals with dielectric grease, and protect them well. Caps can give quite a jolt if you accidentally short them, or hit a wire with a cap on it. There's another issue with capacitors in this situation: a danger of electrocution after the switches are off. You'd expect that turning the battery switch off de-energizes the whole electrical system, and in most boats, you'd be correct. On a boat with a cap, there can still be live current anywhere beyond the cap.

Just be smart, and isolate the cap with its own switch, that way you can make darn sure that everything is electrically dead if/when you need to change something. Its also a good idea to use a 2-position switch (like a 2 battery switch) for the cap, that way if it fries, you can bypass it and still have power.

 

[MaxOut]

Good points sparky, installing the capacitor between the breaker and buss will allow it to be disconnected from the battery during storage. I had a 4 farad capacitor on the audio system installed on my previous vehicle and never had an issue with battery drain even after several months of sitting (good quality Cap's). Some capacitors are more likely to have greater leakage value due to there composition and dielectric material/thickness. When working on the electrical system I will discharge capacitor when needed. If cap dies (never had one die yet knock on wood) you can move the cable to the other terminal bypassing the cap. I sometimes forget everyone on this forum is not electrically inclined and need to point out possible hazards. Thanks...sparky.

Disclaimer-
All opinions/ideas shared here are just that and I will not be held responsible for the incidental or coincidental damages or injuries incurred related to my posts in any way. All modifications are done at the sole responsibility of the person performing them.
:shock: :shock:

 

[sparky]

Good points sparky, installing the capacitor between the breaker and buss will allow it to be disconnected from the battery during storage. I had a 4 farad capacitor on the audio system installed on my previous vehicle and never had an issue with battery drain even after several months of sitting (good quality Cap's). Some capacitors are more likely to have greater leakage value due to there composition and dielectric material/thickness. When working on the electrical system I will discharge capacitor when needed. If cap dies (never had one die yet knock on wood) you can move the cable to the other terminal bypassing the cap. I sometimes forget everyone on this forum is not electrically inclined and need to point out possible hazards. Thanks...sparky.

Disclaimer-
All opinions/ideas shared here are just that and I will not be held responsible for the incidental or coincidental damages or injuries incurred related to my posts in any way. All modifications are done at the sole responsibility of the person performing them.
:shock: :shock:

Agreed. I like to put a switch on the caps so if it dies in the middle of a bad situation, you don't have to try and move wires, you just throw a switch and you are all set. Do you do the old screwdriver-across-terminals cap discharge? Quite a spark show sometimes. The best way is to disconnect the cap from the battery, then turn on a light and let it drain the cap down.

Caps don't drain power by themselves, but if the wiring leading to them isn't great, current will keep moving between the battery and the cap, slowly draining the battery.

A good quality cap, with NO LCD or crap on it, connected with good wiring, close to the battery, with a bypass switch and battery disconnect switch is a good addition to a boat.

Anything else is a liability in my eyes.

 

[MaxOut]

I do discharge with a test light. Not good for the caps or your screwdriver to short the terminals. :shock: Cool fireworks though! 8) I am not a big fan of switches as they also add another place for problems so I will not have a disconnect/bypass. I'll take my chances and bought a good quallity capacitor and wire it correctly. My theroy is the less connections and switches the better. Most of the electronics on the boat have a million ways to fail internally I don't want to add too many external possibilities exposed to the environment. I am running new 1/0 cable from the breaker to the console where the cap will be connected to the buss out of the weather. I will abandon the Parker wire and keep it as an emergency spare.