Typical Problems with Marine Electronics

Too often boat owners ignore glitches in their electronics (thinking it’s just a glitch). Often, the electronics are sending a warning that something is going wrong, e.g. wiring, the equipment, brand incompatibly, corrosion, damage, faulty installation, etc. Following are few of the typical problems boaters encounter.

Electronics will not work – Some electronic devices seem so easy to install, until you open the box and see the various colored wires. The colors are not for looks. They are informative. Some wires connect to power, some connect to NMEA ports, some connect to alarms and transducers and so on. If you get the wiring wrong, the electronic device, and who knows what else, will not work. If electronics fail to power up, be sure to also check power connections and fuses.

Autopilot not working well - Here you are - drifting off course. It could be there is a magnetic interference with the heading sensor or compass. Maybe the chart plotter GPS is not working correctly, or there is a steering fluid leak in the hydraulic pilot system.

Old batteries leak and ruin the electronic device – Everyone has seen batteries that leaked and ruined a flashlight with corrosion. The white stuff leaking out of the battery is potassium hydroxide that interacted with the carbon dioxide in the air to form potassium carbonate. Now imagine leaking batteries in a portable electronics unit. The white stuff corrodes the battery contacts and then proceeds to destroy circuitry around it.

VHF radio is not transmitting or receiving clearly – Wow! How frustrating when communication is unclear. The possible causes include interference from other electronics, poor coaxial cable connection, corrosion or low voltage.

Dimming screens or electronics that will not turn on or shut down on their own - There are several possibilities. Of course, the equipment itself may be breaking down. Often though, it’s a voltage problem. There could be a short circuit or a ground fault due to worn wiring or switches.

Coaxial cables are incorrectly cut or spliced – For some reason, people think it’s okay to cut or splice cables when they are too long. It’s not okay. Some cables are intentionally long for performance or require special treatment if cut or spliced. Cutting cables exposes the wires inside the casing too, meaning now moisture can get inside. Wires are wrapped for good reasons which include keeping moisture out. Cut wires that aren’t put back together properly can also cause shorts in the electrical system which can ruin the electronics, or worse, cause a fire.

AIS Transponder is not letting other boats see yours – There are several reasons why other boats cannot see you. One could be that a dedicated AIS-VHF antenna is not properly installed, i.e. 6-feet from other VHF antennas. It could be there is a problem with the connectors and cables. There are also still many vessels operating with older software that’s not compatible with Class B transponders. Maybe other antennas are interfering with your transmission, or the GPS antenna is incorrectly set up. If you cut the GPS cable because it was too long, you could have damaged the transponder.

Transducer produces poor bottom or speed readings – Transducers are subject to fouling and should be cleaned. They can also be damaged, like the paddlewheel speed sensor on a transducer measuring speed. A thru-hull transducer needs its fluid to be maintained, while a transom mount may have been accidentally pushed up.

Backbone static – This could be due to a simple issue like a loose connection. If it isn’t that simple, you need a marine technician to assess the system.

Equipment dropped in the water – It’s bound to happen at some point. A piece of equipment is dropped in the water, hopefully floats and is recovered. If you hear water inside the device, it should not be used. Water causes shorts.

Connecting cables have bent pins – Trying to force connectors together usually leads to bent pins at best and broken pins at worst. When bent pins touch each other, they can short out the electronic device. Unfortunately, trying to straighten bent pins often leads to a pin or two breaking off.

GPS Chartplotter loses position data – This could be due to the GPS antenna connection, antenna power or interference from other electronics. Sometimes the software experiences glitches.

Davy Jones locker may seem appealing when electronics don’t work well. Don’t throw electronics overboard! But you have to wonder how many have been pitched over the decades because they stopped working.

Professionals Should Install and Repair Marine Electronics

There are three big reasons a marine dealer, installer and/or repair expert should be consulted as a matter of routine.

1. Buying Marine Electronics

Some electronics are more important than others. For example, you may not need a fish finder, but you may need an alarm system that lets you know when a bilge pump stops working. You might not need the hottest new vessel monitoring system, but you do need a fish finder if you enjoy fishing. You might not need a six-function multifunction display, but you likely need a two-function MFD. Too many boat owners spend money on features they probably won’t ever use.

One of the challenges boat owners face is deciding on the brand, type and features of their marine electronics. There are “should have” and “would like to have” options. A marine electronics professional can advise you on the devices and systems that can help you enjoy an entertaining and safe time on the water. For example, electronic chart plotters are processor intensive because most continually retrieve GPS signals and overlay the signals on a map. The chart plotter could have built-in GPS and SONAR processors. Which one should you buy? What if you decide you need radar? Should you get the round one (Radome) or the one with an antenna that swings around (Open Array), and what size do you need?

Do you cruise the coast, go offshore a few miles or further, go deep sea fishing, putter around a marina area, go shallow water fishing, fish in deep lakes or go sailing? What kind of boat and engine do you own? Do you want portable or fixed mount electronics? These are the kinds of questions that influence the electronics you purchase.

Other questions to consider include: - Are you interested in inputting data with a touchscreen or a keypad? - Do you need preloaded navigation charts? - What beam width, frequency, and beam configuration should the transducer accommodate? - Will you use your boat only in the U.S., or will you cruise international waters? - What is your budget? - What does your neighbor’s boat have in the way of electronics? (Just kidding!)

2. Installation of Marine Electronics

Many problems with boat electronics are due to boat owners trying to install, upgrade or network electronics themselves. In some cases, the problems that develop are dangerous to the boat’s survival and passenger safety. For example, if you wire in too much power to an electronic device, the unit could burn up or even catch on fire if the fuses fail to do their job. You have to know the power requirements of the electronic device and know the kind of wiring to use.

Designing and installing an onboard network is a major project for most people. Integrated electronics are popular, but install one unit incorrectly and the other units will not work properly or the whole system is compromised. A typical integrated electronic system includes a central processor (the brains of the system) to which various devices are connected, and a thru-hull depth transducer.

Following are the main reasons a professional electronics expert should install a network: - The NMEA standards guide the proper installation of networking and communications between electronics, and they are complex. - There are two sets of NMEA standards used now – NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000. - NMEA 0183 is over 20 years old and defines requirements for instrument serial data exchange. Data is transmitted by a single device to multiple pieces of equipment (technically, this is not a network). - NMEA 2000 addresses the digital backbone that can manage up to 50 devices. NMEA was intended to standardize connectors, cables and wires for easier integration of different brands of electronics. It’s too slow for video images. - Ethernet networks have the high bandwidth needed to enable connected electronics to share large volumes of data like that associated with video images. It’s much faster than NMEA 2000. - Different electronics brands give their networking technologies unique names, making it more challenging to know what type of standards are being used. - Different electronic brands use different connectors and cabling for ease of connecting their brand’s electronic units but not other branded electronics (despite the NMEA trying to stay ahead of standardization). - It’s difficult to integrate NMEA 0183 devices with NMEA 2000 devices.

3. Repair of Marine Electronics

Electronics for boats and yachts are more and more complex pieces of computer equipment with circuit boards. Unless you have an older set of standalone electronics, your electronics are integrated in a system that consists of a lot of high-tech components and software. Remember when people could work on their own auto engines? Now they need computer diagnostic tools. The same is true for boat electronics. In addition, in an integrated system, a problem in one electronic device may cause numerous other electronic issues or bring down the whole system.

Not for the Do-It-Yourselfer!

A correct installation of electronics is paramount to a smooth operating system. You can check a few things, like power connections, fuses, voltage test and if the software is the latest version. If all you need to do is plug in the electronic unit, then that’s probably okay. Even then, you need to consider how it will impact your batteries and the other electronics.

Most of the time, electronics installation, integration, upgrading and repair are best left to the people who are trained and have the proper tools – the trained, certified marine electronics technician.

Mariner Exchange can direct you to the qualified boat electronics experts closest to you. We take the work out of locating the best people for the job on the east and west coast. Just choose the type of service you need and your city and state to access a variety of marine experts.

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