Point 1....where is yours mounted?
- Thread starter tains
- Start date
You did not mention what kind of issues you are now having with the GPS.
That it worked fine for 3 years and is now acting up is interesting. Why not try a temporary non mounted location 6 feet away and see if it solves the problem. I doubt it will which should tell you something. My Lowrance is mounted under the cabin roof forward on the cabin and the radar is higher up on an arch at the back of the cabin. I would think I have about five or six feet of separation from the radar dome. I have found I have a lot less problems with in cabin GPS's that have a separate external antenna. You get much better satellite lock on and usually less positional error. My external remote GPS antenna is on the roof and also about 5 feet from the radar dome and is lower so hopefully not in the radar beam. Do you notice any difference when your radar is off, on standby or on, in terms of the operation of the GPS. If the problems occurs when the radar is on or on standby but not when it is off, that would suggest to me that it may be related to the radar. If the radar is just above the GPS and you have an internal GPS antenna built into the GPS the radar dome may be physically blocking some satellite reception but that would not explain why it work just fine for three years. Sounds like you have some testing to do. It would not surprise me that your current GPS problem turns out to be unrelated to the radar. In less of course you just installed the Radar right on top of the GPS and that is when your issues started.
That it worked fine for 3 years and is now acting up is interesting. Why not try a temporary non mounted location 6 feet away and see if it solves the problem. I doubt it will which should tell you something. My Lowrance is mounted under the cabin roof forward on the cabin and the radar is higher up on an arch at the back of the cabin. I would think I have about five or six feet of separation from the radar dome. I have found I have a lot less problems with in cabin GPS's that have a separate external antenna. You get much better satellite lock on and usually less positional error. My external remote GPS antenna is on the roof and also about 5 feet from the radar dome and is lower so hopefully not in the radar beam. Do you notice any difference when your radar is off, on standby or on, in terms of the operation of the GPS. If the problems occurs when the radar is on or on standby but not when it is off, that would suggest to me that it may be related to the radar. If the radar is just above the GPS and you have an internal GPS antenna built into the GPS the radar dome may be physically blocking some satellite reception but that would not explain why it work just fine for three years. Sounds like you have some testing to do. It would not surprise me that your current GPS problem turns out to be unrelated to the radar. In less of course you just installed the Radar right on top of the GPS and that is when your issues started.
Last edited:
tains
Crew Member
The trail is the direction I was running but the heading line is way off. I did the calibration and it came back ok after turning the 390 degrees in the allotted time frame. I have this issue when the radar is completely off. I've never had the radar on since it started acting up. If I unplug the point 1, the internal gps antenna works perfectly. If I try and use autopilot it will turn in the direction of the heading line and I'd end up on the rocks. Lol. I'm just wondering if anyone else has their gps set up similar to mine and if they have problems. The gps and radar were both installed 3 years ago and the AP last year.
My limited knowledge may be insufficient to the problem. For starters I don’t have an AP.
However, logically if it worked fine for the last year including the auto pilot with the external gps antenna. Then something has changed with one or more of the following:
Hardware failure/bad connection.
Settings have been changed.
Software/programming problem.
If it works correctly on the GPS internal antenna with the external unplugged including the AP working correctly, the first thing I would want to check is the external antenna. Do you have a friend or someone you know at the marina with the same ext. Antenna who would be willing to park next to your boat and let you run his antenna connector to your gps unit and see if the problem goes away? Beyond that I suspect I am out of my depth.
However, logically if it worked fine for the last year including the auto pilot with the external gps antenna. Then something has changed with one or more of the following:
Hardware failure/bad connection.
Settings have been changed.
Software/programming problem.
If it works correctly on the GPS internal antenna with the external unplugged including the AP working correctly, the first thing I would want to check is the external antenna. Do you have a friend or someone you know at the marina with the same ext. Antenna who would be willing to park next to your boat and let you run his antenna connector to your gps unit and see if the problem goes away? Beyond that I suspect I am out of my depth.
ryanb
Well-Known Member
Autopilot needs the heading reference so that won't work without it. If your radar isn't on and you've always had it mounted there without issue I would pretty much guarantee the sensor is toast.
Some of these solid state heading sensors can be thrown out by being close to a strong magnetic field (I don't thing anything, including the radar would be strong enough to do it though).
Some of these solid state heading sensors can be thrown out by being close to a strong magnetic field (I don't thing anything, including the radar would be strong enough to do it though).
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