[gverb1219]

I recently bought a newused boat. It came with a SiTex DL2 chart recorder and a Raytheon L470 FishFinder.

These work fine, and if I shut off the engine to drift leaving them on and then start the engine there is no spike in them at all.....

Now, I hooked up my Garmin GPS 182C and wired it to the same terminal block the others are wired to, but everytime I restart the engine, the Garmin shuts off.
There is only one 3 way battery switch, but it does have an isolator hooked up.

Why is the Garmin spiking and not the Raytheon? Could it be that the Raytheon unit is older than the Garmin?

It is really a PITA having to turn the GPS on and off everytime I have to restart the boat.....

Any suggestions..............

 

[CaptPaul]

It is simply either more sensitve to voltage drops, or it is getting lower voltage than the others when the battery voltage drops upon cranking. Try a separate line from the battery switch to the unit, of twelve gauge wire. Otherwise, monitor the voltage drop when you crank. Maybe the batteries are weak, or the cabling somewhere is insufficient or compromised, as at a terminal.

Paul

 

[gverb1219]

CaptPaul wrote:
It is simply either more sensitve to voltage drops, or it is getting lower voltage than the others when the battery voltage drops upon cranking. Try a separate line from the battery switch to the unit, of twelve gauge wire. Otherwise, monitor the voltage drop when you crank. Maybe the batteries are weak, or the cabling somewhere is insufficient or compromised, as at a terminal.

Paul

Thanx Capt Paul
One other thing I didn't mention earlier. When the battery switch is turned on, there is NO POWER at all to the dashboard, switches, horn, blowers, trim, tilt, ect.......untill the ignition switch key is turned to the on position to where the sensors beep. If I just turn the key to kill the engine, things stay powered up, but if I turn the key all the way like I'm taking it out, all power to the dash stops.
The only thing that works without the key switched on is the bilge pumps.

 

[Quailoh]

Sounds like a a little rewire job. I would not want to have everything dependent upon the key switch. I suspect that it is not a big deal to change.
As to the electronics, my Furuno machine is much more sensitive to low voltage than my older Garmin, and the Raynav loran just never quits. I got so frustrated that I finally put in a whole seperate battery solely for the electronics. Works great, and I put in seperate battery switch so I could use the new battery to crank the engine, or the engine batteries to run the electronics should disaster happen. So far not problems but you never know.

 

[RookieHook]

Strange....sounds like the positive terminal block only gets power when the key is on? Is this the case? If so is the positive lead hooked directly to the ignition switch somehow? It sounds like the ignition switch is giving power to the terminal block.

 

[DarthBaiter]

Check your ground wires.

 

[gverb1219]

I am going to get a better look at it tomorrow and see exactly where everything is wired.

My biggest concern right now is why one electronic device stays on when the engine is cranked and the other device shuts off.............................they are both wired to the same block.................voltage meter shows plenty of power.....

I will try to get to the battery boxes and see how they are wired up.........they are under the deck and I haven't checked them out since I bought the boat 2 months ago.......

 

[Fishbust]

Juice...

Drop that keyed hot lead.

Run a couple heavy wires up front to a 12 volt breaker to feed your electronics.

Breakers are good to use for accessories. Kill the breakers at the end of the day and nothing gets left on by accident. If your boat is bigger than a runabout and you have a lot of lighting, good to have lighting on a separate breaker, lights are most commonly what gets left on by people who like to play with switches, especially the 'little people' we have on the boats sometimes.

 

[MakoMike]

Gary, The Garmin GPS is probably just more sensitive to voltage drops than the other two machines. I would definately rewire so power is not dependent on the key switch. If you have the room I would install a seperate electronics/house battery to completely eliminate and chance of spiking the electronics and provide another emergency battery for starting.

 

[gverb1219]

I'm getting ready to head to the boat. I'll take a couple pics and give it another look. There are 2 breaker panels.....one on the dash and one on the side of the console. IIRC, the one that is on the dash is powered by the key switch, but I will double check.

I'll post what I find............

 

[gverb1219]

OK, the best I can figure is this yellow cord comes from the batteries. The black leg is from battery 1, the red leg is battery 2 and the white goes the the ground block.
Red and black legs BOTH go to the "hot terminal block", the white to the ground block.

I was mistaken, the panels do work without the key switch. The only thing that doesn't work without the key on is the trim.

Gotta go to PT, be back in an hour.

 

[geosushi]

Go to freeport marine and buy a newmar start guard. Problem solved.

 

[gverb1219]

OK, the Nav Start seems like a good fix, but if I can get away from spending $200, I'll try fixing the problem first.

Right now, the hot terminal block is fed from both batteries, and the 2 breaker panels are fed from that.

If I were to move one of the batteries hot lead from the terminal block to a new terminal block, and then run just the electronics from that, then it should stop the spiking................is that correct.....

 

[BreezyGuy]

Similiar Problem

My fishfinder goes on and off as does my VHF radio. If i shake the wires it comes back on then goes off. Its driving me crazy. But my GPS and Rader work fine. GO figure. HELP anyone

This post edited by BreezyGuy 07:04 PM 08/08/2008

 

[Brenainn]

MakoMike wrote:
Gary, The Garmin GPS is probably just more sensitive to voltage drops than the other two machines. I would definately rewire so power is not dependent on the key switch. If you have the room I would install a seperate electronics/house battery to completely eliminate and chance of spiking the electronics and provide another emergency battery for starting.

What he said

 

[toyotaoffroad91]

check your grounds..... get the corrosion off

 

[CaptPaul]

A separate bus for the electronics is a good idea, but run heavier wires (6 or 4 AWG) o the batteries, both power and grounds. Change battery terminals, and run single cables to a power bus close by, to eliminate connections on the terminals, which quickly degrade due to corrosion.

Paul

 

[RookieHook]

The voltage drop when starting engine(s) seems to be the problem...I've searched other forums online and haven't found anything about it. However, when searching products, the one I linked to does mention voltage drops effecting electronics with microprocessors (gps). Here is the link. My guess, to save money, along with above in this forum is to dedicate a battery to the electronics block.

 

[DarthBaiter]

That's as bad as my wiring job.

Both you and BreezyGuy need to clean the leads and the terminals. get rid of all corrosion, make sure the connections are nice and tight, then spray some Corrsion x or Boeshield or put some dielectric grease on it.
Yehn do like Capt Paul said and get some heavy wires for the terminals buses.
Here's tinned 4awg for $1 a foot.

ebay tinned wire seller

 

[captainlarry84]

Deadly

Starting your vessel with electronics such as fish finders, Lorans, GPS, and radars is deadly to the units. Even if they do not shut off when staring the electric surge is not good.
A startguard is the way to go.

http://www.newmarpower.com/DC_Power_Conditioners/DC_Power_Conditioners.html