Garmin 451 turning itself off

[severnseadog]

Hi Ribnetters

Has anyone also experienced a very annoying issue when a plotter likes to turn itself off upon a bumpy sea? The radio is on the same wiring and stays on no matter what the lumps and bumps are.

Both radio and plotter are only 6 months old and are in good nick.

I will double check connections for power. Could it be the radio is less sensitive to a very brief disconnect and remains up when the GPS does not, and dies?

I've removed the unit from the mount and given it a good few whacks to check it'snot internal, and it seems not as the power stays on.

Doing my head in! Sets off the NMEA alarms on the radio....

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by severnseadog

I will double check connections for power. Could it be the radio is less sensitive to a very brief disconnect and remains up when the GPS does not, and dies?

Very possible. Some units have a large capacitor on the input and will survive a short break in power. One way to check is to bring both units up and cut power and see how long it takes each to fade completely (not real scientific, but can give you an idea.)

Sounds like wiring to me. Also check the connectors for corrosion.

jky

[severnseadog]

Thanks jky. Good idea about turning the power off and seeing what happens.

Thinking about it, it does have an inline fuse on the positive wire. Maybe the springs are the cause. Hmm. Will have a good rattle around and hope to find the annoying bugger!

[Wibs]

Mine did this......


On the way back from Priory Bay.


Mind you, several other things also fell of my boat on that particular trip.


It was a electrical issue- I think where the unit plugs into the multi pin connector at the back of the unit.

I gave it a good clean, and not had any probs since.

[severnseadog]

Right. Had a good play this afternoon. The multi pin connector looks good and was all working fine when tugged from all angles. I turned the isolator off with both the radio and plotter on and both died instantly. Which leads me away from the theory that both were getting a temporary glitch but the radio was too slow to turn off that it was unaffected.

This lead me to the only thing not in common which was the in line fuse on the plotter power cable. They look pretty flimsy inside and the springs seemed weak. I reckoned it had to be worth try so removed it and ran the wiring from a switch panel instead (fused). Better solution all round.

Didn't get a chance to go afloat but will keep this thread posted...

Went through the event log and the plotter and saw a whole load of unexpected power down logs from yesterday. Hopefully they stop now!

[SteveHall]

This is why I dont like the inline fuse, and rather use my Blue Sea fuse board!

Hope its resolved the issues!

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by SteveHall

This is why I dont like the inline fuse, and rather use my Blue Sea fuse board!

Not to cloud the issue, but I had my on-board air pump fail just before a trip. Did a bit of quick troubleshooting, and it appeared to be the pump. Ordered a new one and left to go ab diving. When the new pump came in, I connected everything, and no go. Turns out it was the Blue Seas switch/fuse panel. The contacts on the fuse holder got some water ingress and the fuse contacts caked up to the point that it lost continuity. Replaced the panel with a breaker panel (not complaining; the boat is stored outside, and lasted 8 years.)

Now I also have a spare Bravo pump.

jky

[severnseadog]

Fuses eh? I think we should do away with them, or replace them with paperclips...

Right - went afloat and had a few lumps and bumps a few days ago. So far the plotter has been well behaved. Long may it last!

[jyasaki]

Good to hear.

jky

[Peter_C]

Fixed it for you!

Originally Posted by severnseadog

Fuses eh? I think we should do away with them, or replace them with .22 caliber shells/bullets...

Wouldn't be the first time...

[9D280]

Probably a bit late now, but I had similar a few years ago - turned out to be the cable into the -ve battey terminal post had shaken loose!

Plotter died instanly, VHF & everything else took the momentary voltage drops in their stride.