Radar help requested

[dmurph]

Hello all, need help with my radar set up. My boat came with a Raymarine E120 and 18 " raydome and to be honest I have no idea how to use the radar. I was thinking could just figure it out by trial and error but no way. Hoping somebody with similar set up could offer some trouble shooting. Thinking the dome may not be working . When I power up the E120 sounder and gps work perfectly, I select the radar setting TX wait for it to power up and the indicator in the upper right hand corner of the display shows the radar icon on ,ie radar symbol rotating, but nothing shows up on the radar screen other than the distance rings and my waypoints. Do think the dome is working as long as the indicator shows up and therefore my settings are just not dialed in. Any fed back would really help.

 

[casper5280]

Don't know about the Raymarine in particular, but my Lowrance when it powers up waits for you to manually set it to transmits other whys it just stays on stand-by. If it's working you should hear the motor turning when it is in transmit mode.

 

[casper5280]

By the way there is a Radar course put on by the Brentwood Bay Power Squadron starting this Thursday at Claremont School only $75 for 6 nights.

 

[dmurph]

Thanks for the reply casper, my unit is the same , have to manually select transmit, was messing with it today while trolling but with all the other noise could not hear if it was actually powered up. I was thinking if it was not actually powering up then the screen would not allow you to select any radar options, but good call on listening for the radar. Will go check tomorrow . I am on the main land so course is to far.

 

[Secretpursuit]

Read thru the manual located for the unit at

http://www.raymarine.eu/view/?id=1990&collectionid=12&col=1992

Owning two, it appears that you have some settings for the unit that are incorrect. Did have an issue which sounds similar to yours, required removal of the e120 and radar head for service at the supplier. Located on Still creek in Burnaby, if you get stuck I'll locate the name a number, PM me.

 

[Theb55]

Make sure transmit is on which looks like you have done. Also make sure the scanner is set to on. If it is then you might need to have it serviced. May not be that expensive.

 

[reelfast]

visit the raymarine site on line and download the manual, free. with the E120, you should be able to overlay the radar track on the chart, very handy. powering up the set will take a few minutes, depending on how cold it is, as the magnatometer has to warm up before it will do anything. once that happens, you should see the lower menu bar change and from that you should select TX. not knowing what other settings were made on this setup, you also could have some settings that are not allowing the image to come up, filters, range, ...... i can't remember, off hand, if there is a one button push that will take you back to factory default settings but that is probably the starting point before you take stuff apart. the downloaded manual should point the way.

 

[dmurph]

Well went to the boat today and it seems the dome itself is not powering up. I select radar on, and then TX and nothing . Is it possible for me to un screw the the top of the dome to see if it is as simple as a loose connection or is this best left for a professional ?

 

[Ofishal]

It sometimes takes more than 2-3 mins for them to be ready and then hit transmit, adjust your gain, and other settings. READ the manual

 

[quicksilver11]

Not sure on that model if there is a fuse just for the scanner, had a radar years ago that was the problem, it would be worth checking. Check your connections are tight and see your getting power to the scanner with a small meter

 

[reelfast]

the radar dome cable plugs directly into the back of the E120, make sure the connection is solid. keep in mind that whatever settings were last used are saved until the next power up. since you have no idea regarding what may have been set up, read the manual and find out how to take the radar back to its default settings. selecting 'radar on' only starts the power to the unit. depending on air temps, it could take some time before the magnatometer is warmed up enough to begin transmitting. you should see the choices on the bottom of the screen change color when its ready. if you press TX and see the color change and still nothing, probably time to have it looked at.

 

[Theb55]

I have a Raymarine and I need to activate the scanner which is beside the transmit. How do you know it isn't working? No image on radar screen? Do you have the overlay?

 

[dmurph]

Thanks guys, checked the connection on the back of the e120 display today and it is in nice and tight , also tried resetting to the defult settings and I still just get the screen with the range rings and no actual images showing up. I can range in and out and select and change all the settings but I don't even hear the dome make any noise. Does anyone know how to check the connection going into the dome itself, I looked today where the wire treads into the dome but it looks like I would have to take the dome top off and look inside to see if something is loose.

 

[-smtw]

Hey,
10 yrs as a radar/nav tech here, I'm in comox valley but willing to help you (and any others on this board). Extensive experience with heavy commercial raymarine/jrc/sperry gear.
I would be looking at fuses, service switch on radome (shuts power off to it), or broken conductor in the main cable between the display and the transceiver.
Multi-meter and a few minutes poking around can tell a lot.
I will be back home after the 8th if you want a hand.

 

[reelfast]

so you are saying that when the color of the choices on the bottom of the screen changed, this tells you the unit sensed the warm up, and you pressed TX nothing happened save the range rings. toggle over to the navigaiton screen and see if the radar is overlayed on the map. if you have reset to default, i am baffled, time to take -smtw up on some professional help.

 

[reelfast]

with some caffeine in my system, one last thought. raymarine has a pretty good crew of folks who man their help desk. you may want to open a 'trouble ticket' on their web site and ask for some help. before you do that, however, take a pencil and pad and then go out and write down in tiny steps just what you are doing and what you see as a result. the more detail you can provide these folks the faster this will go and, who knows, they might even solve this problem for you.

 

[dmurph]

Well fellas, went today and tried again to get the image working on the radar. Spoke with raymarine tech at the house before I left for the boat. They advised me it is most likely just the settings and suggested I make sure the sea button has harbor selected, FTC is off, rain is off and then to slowly start adjusting the gain. All of this did nothing to bring up an actual image so I will try to call them on sight next time. Took the lid off the raydome and it is powering up and the scanner is spinning, I fear it may need professional service. To the others with the e120, do you know if the unit has back up power as mine fires up with the battery switches off as well as the dc main off. Every other thing is in very good working order as I had Galleon go through the entire boat last spring when I purchased it. They went through all the electrical at that time and made what ever repairs were needed aside from the radar. Thanks

 

[reelfast]

don't know how your boat wiring is done, nothing works on my boat with the battery switchs set to OFF. i don't think there is any seperate power for the E120. are you running this with shore power attached? how are the levels of your batteries, fully charged? the fact that the ray dome is spinning would suggest you still have a settings problem or you may have a low power issue.

 

[dmurph]

Reelfast everything eles shuts off with the battery switch off seems like the e120 is wired into the starting battery for some reason, think I will switch it over to the house battery.. I was at the dock with the shore power plugged in, but turned the ac switch off. My batteries were new last spring and read at 15 on my tach. What do you mean when you say low power issue.

 

[reelfast]

the ray dome is a power hog so it occured to me that you may be draining your batteries. but if you are running shore power, low power can't be the problem. i have some last minute stuff to do on my boat tomorrow so i am going to write down the steps it takes for me to bring the radar up and running. i am running a C80 so there may be a few differences, but i'll write down my steps and post them for you.