Raymarine radar not working “rotating”

Haden

Active Member
May 27, 2020
482
Madison, Alabama
Boat Info
2001 Sea Ray 380 Sundancer
Engines
Twin 8.1l Mercury w/V Drives
Finally reinstalled my radar after transporting. Worked before, but it’s not working now. The cable was cut before my 380DA was transported. I rewired everything back to the best of my knowledge, and based on pictures of schematics. The radar will rotate freely when the power switch is in the “off” position. When I switch the radar “on” it feels engaged. It does not rotate freely, but has an engagement feel when I turn it by hand. Where did I go wrong??
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Do you have a dash switch thst energizes the radar? And then it actually turns on by using your MFD?
 
On my E140W I need to place the radar in an active mode to get it to spin. Just going to the radar page doesn't activate it. For me I have to tap the power button and I get a choice to place it Standby or transmit.
 
On my E140W I need to place the radar in an active mode to get it to spin. Just going to the radar page doesn't activate it. For me I have to tap the power button and I get a choice to place it Standby or transmit.
Well, that might be the issue. I’m new to these electronics. Never had a boat with radar before this, so I’m behind the curve. I do remember seeing the standby, and transmit choice, but I don’t think I selected it. I will be able to trouble shoot again tomorrow. I do know that all my connections are solid. I individually soldered each one very carefully, and checked their strength.
 
Do you have a dash switch thst energizes the radar? And then it actually turns on by using your MFD?
I flipped all the switches that are associated to my knowledge. Electronics, and autopilot are the only two.
 
Well, that might be the issue. I’m new to these electronics. Never had a boat with radar before this, so I’m behind the curve. I do remember seeing the standby, and transmit choice, but I don’t think I selected it. I will be able to trouble shoot again tomorrow. I do know that all my connections are solid. I individually soldered each one very carefully, and checked their strength.

My money is on you need to switch it to "transmit" or you need a new cable.
 
My money is on you need to switch it to "transmit" or you need a new cable.
Lord, I sure hope that is the solution. If not, I probably won’t mess with it too much. I need an HD radar inorder to upgrade the displays, and other instruments anyway.
 
My money is on you need to switch it to "transmit" or you need a new cable.
I will add this. I do know for 100% that the radar it getting power. I tested the 2 main positive and negative connections, and they are hot.
 
Good excuse for an upgrade. I had a C80 in my last boat and it was decent...have a Raymarine e97 in this boat. Really happy with both, but I've heard a lot of good things about Garmin.
 
I would check the basic operation to put the radar in transmit mode because that is easy, but my.miney would be on the splices. Raymarine doesn't recommend splicing the cable.

The most straightforward way to test the splices is the get a multimeter and do a continuity test on each wire. Disconnect the white connector plug from the radar, disconnect the cable from the back of your MFD, and test each cable to make sure it is passing signal. If you aren't sure how to do this reply back or DM me and I can walk you through it.

If the cables have continuity, I probably still have the specs somewhere for what the acceptable resistance range is for each cable. I had to go through all of this after my boat was transported.
 
I would check the basic operation to put the radar in transmit mode because that is easy, but my.miney would be on the splices. Raymarine doesn't recommend splicing the cable.

The most straightforward way to test the splices is the get a multimeter and do a continuity test on each wire. Disconnect the white connector plug from the radar, disconnect the cable from the back of your MFD, and test each cable to make sure it is passing signal. If you aren't sure how to do this reply back or DM me and I can walk you through it.

If the cables have continuity, I probably still have the specs somewhere for what the acceptable resistance range is for each cable. I had to go through all of this after my boat was transported.
Thank you for your help. Yes, I do know how to do a continuity test. Tomorrow I will make sure I do put the radar in transmit mode. If that does not correct the problem, I will proceed to check the continuity. I truly can imagine Raymarine does not recommend splicing. You know, I should have checked to see if I have any extra slack in the cable. I should have checked that first!! I’m going to feel really stupid if I have extra cable to spare.
 
My money is it will start to spin when you turn it on by the switch and then Transmit on the MFD.
Good luck!
 
If you do get that bugger working again I'd suggest you go back and redress those wire connections. Get yourself some butt connectors and cheapo shrink tubing. That way you won't have to potentially chase connection issues again in the future :)
 
You can't wire it that way; well you can but it won't work. There should be plenty of slack in the cable stowed below - make the effort to pull it up. The shield on the large cable must be bonded to the housing. There is a screw and bonding clip that goes around the shield. There is also a tiny coax that is shielded separately that must route fully shielded to the terminal block. Cutting that cable was the wrong thing to do..... Get the installation manual and follow that.
 
You can't wire it that way; well you can but it won't work. There should be plenty of slack in the cable stowed below - make the effort to pull it up. The shield on the large cable must be bonded to the housing. There is a screw and bonding clip that goes around the shield. There is also a tiny coax that is shielded separately that must route fully shielded to the terminal block. Cutting that cable was the wrong thing to do..... Get the installation manual and follow that.
I agree with you. I didn’t cut the cable, the transport company did, I’m just trying to put it all back together. I put it back together based on pictures, and I didn’t recall seeing the shield grounded to the housing, but I will quickly fix that. The electrical tape was just so separate the individual lines, and I did have shrink tubing for each. It just wasn’t in the pictures. Question, why are butt connectors better than a solid soldering? I’m going back to the boat around 12:00. I’m going to see how much slack I have and rewire everything.
 
My Raymarine radar had a toggle switch on the base of the radome itself. It killed the power to the unit. Do you have a switch there? If so, maybe it was dripped during removal and transport.
 
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Almost hate to mention this, but you do have the array switch positioned to "on", right? The guy who used to wash my boat would use his chamois on a stick to dry the radar arch and occasionally would move that switch to the "off" position. Everything appeared normal at the helm except the array would not rotate.
 
I agree with you. I didn’t cut the cable, the transport company did, I’m just trying to put it all back together. I put it back together based on pictures, and I didn’t recall seeing the shield grounded to the housing, but I will quickly fix that. The electrical tape was just so separate the individual lines, and I did have shrink tubing for each. It just wasn’t in the pictures. Question, why are butt connectors better than a solid soldering? I’m going back to the boat around 12:00. I’m going to see how much slack I have and rewire everything.
ABYC standards say that no electrical connection shall be made exclusive via soldering. This is because there is so much vibration in a boat that a soldered connection will eventually crack and break from fatigue. A crimped connection is not subject to fatigue failure in the same way. This is also why boats must use stranded wire; solid wire like for a home will eventually break from vibrational fatigue.
 
ABYC standards say that no electrical connection shall be made exclusive via soldering. This is because there is so much vibration in a boat that a soldered connection will eventually crack and break from fatigue. A crimped connection is not subject to fatigue failure in the same way. This is also why boats must use stranded wire; solid wire like for a home will eventually break from vibrational fatigue.
Excellent!!! That makes perfect sense. Thank you for explaining that.
 

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