GPS PROBLEM

[Darryl]

Gidday all, i wanted info on a black and white gps, it has lines running through the screen from top too bottom. What i want to know is , is it the screen that is cactus, bad earth etc ?? Any help appreciated

Thanks.. Darryl.

[Chimo]

Darryl

I think that was the problem I had with a Lowrance Global map 2000.
Lowrance said it was a loss of pixcels due to voltage spikes.

Have you a separate house battery that it runs off or do you turn GPS off before starting?

Thats what Lowrance asked me. At that time the answer was no on both counts but although the unit was 2 yrs old they still replaced it for me.

Dont know if that helps but thats my experience with lines up and down the screen

Chimo

[Darryl]

Thanks for the reply Chimo, at the moment it's running of the start battery(Im in the middle of a dual battery setup as we speak).. The boats battery is a bit down atm but i tried both running directly to the buss bar and directly to the battery as well. None of this seems to improve it. To answer your question i haven't had it out on the water yet, it's a second hand unit i bought that was working fine before.

This is a lowrance global map as well Chimo a globalmap 11 a.

Mate could you explain to an electronics failure what a voltage spike is?

Thanks.

[oddbudman]

A voltage spike is when the supply voltages to the unit increase or decrease quickly over time. A spike in the supply can be caused by a number of issues some common causes include poor connection wiring, relays switching, or bad cable seperation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_surge

Voltage spikes can do nasty things, especially to electronics which are sensitive devices.

If you are running a sensitive device such as a sounder or GPS its a good idea to connect the units supply wiring as close to the battery as possible and not have it run off a bus bar which is also supplying high currents elsewhere. This will help reduce interference and spiking to the unit.

What I would recommend is connecting the unit directly to a charged battery (no motor or alternator or charger running), and see if it works. If you have a Multimeter, measure the battery voltage when the unit is operating, that way you can also cancel out the battery as the problem.

I hope this helps.

oddbudman

[Chimo]

Hi Darryl

I'm no sparky and I'm sure there are others on the site who can (and hopefully will) explain it better (after they read my attempt) but I believe that the voltage spike that after a while has the potential to affect electonics like GPS screens is a high voltage "surge" that can come off the motor altenator when one first starts the engine. The spike/ surge does damage to the screen and possibly other parts of the unit too and damage shows up when you power the unit up.

The damage apparently occurs when the unit is hit with power running thru the boat electrical system so that to prevent it one need to have either a separate battery that you charge elsewhere ( I used this system years ago in another boat) or you need to physically disconnect the electonics battery from the motor when you start and probably stop it. I thought b... gger this and went looking for the alternative and found the marine elect who put me onto the Auto battery Coupler.

What ever the technical description ( that I'm interested in hearing too from our trained and qualified Ausfishers) Lowrance told me to use an isolated house battery; I use an Auto Battery Coupler that my marine Electrician fitted when he installed the deep cycle house battery and all the linking connectors and isolation switches and the ABC. The ABC I got has a 180 amp relay as part of the installation and the unit costs about $100 but I think Capt is getting an ABC and I don't know what else fitted today so he'll probably have a better idea.

Does that help?

Cheers

Chimo

[Darryl]

Certainly does Chimo, thanks for taking time mate and explaining it to me.

Oddbudman , i will try doing as you say tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. I did hook the unit directly to the boat battery but i had a charger on it today when i did, so i will try it tomorrow without the charger as it should be fully charged by then.


Thanks for your replies fellas, and i will be looking into an ABC.


Darryl.

[Brejen]

Darryl how'd you mate. Did you get it sorted mate or what.


Brett

[Darryl]

No Brett, i tried all the things mentioned and rang lowrance as well and the unit seems to be faulty. Although apparently it was Fine when it came out of the sellers boat.

Darryl.

[Brejen]

MAte that is not good.

Hope you get it sorted out.

Brett

[Darryl]

Yeah me too mate, i learnt a lesson though. I certainly wont bother throwing my money away on secondhand electronics again. :-/

[gawby]

Geez Darryl,
Looks like you might have been sold a dud. >:( >:( >:( >:(
I don't know where you got it from but i hope you didn't get stitched up off the forsale section. :-X :-X :-X
Graeme ;)

[skippa]

doesn't sound good Darryl,

Hope you get it sorted alright, I'm not a lecky expert so I'm not much help but have you spoken with the seller??


Tony

[oddbudman]

Darryl,

I can have a look at it for you if you want free of charge. I should be able to check a few more inns and outs for you as I'm pretty experienced with electronics. Drop me a PM if your interested.

oddbudman

[gawby]

Hey Darryl,
How did you go, did you get the unit fixed or did you get your money back :)
Graeme ;)

[revs57]

Set the cat loose I say ;D ;D ;D

[Dirtysanchez]

Bung a capacitor in line on the positive (get one from Dick SMith or I can give you one) 100uf shoudl do. It should smooth out the spikes

Hey oddbudman, what do you do for a living then ?

Russell

[Darryl]

Thanks for the help Fellas, unit is going back to Lowrance to see what they say. And i was refunded my money with no drama's.If the unit isn't stuffed i will buy it back.

Thanks again fellas.

Darryl.

[Wear_the_fox_hat]

Darryl,
I had an old JRC sounder/GPS that came with my boat when I bought it & the screen had all lines across it when I turned it on for the first time as the new owner. Turns out that a diode had leaked & affected some of the componentry on one of the boards. As Murphies law goes, the damaged parts were unavailable & it was going to cost $450 for someone to try & fix it with no guarantees, so in the bin it went. Best for you to try & get your money back & just buy a new unit as you could end up paying the equivalent of a new price if you have to pay for repairs on top of the price you have already paid for the dud unit.

Regards,
WTFH

[webby]

Mate throw the gps in the water and buy a sexton and start reading the stars ;D ;D
A man with your talents will find it easy ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
regards

[Darryl]

I was sort of hoping you were going to get a promotional one from the boat show for me Webby. I'l have one like Mono's thanks. ;D ;D

Hurry up and get that show out of the way, i want to go fishing.