Raymarine RL 80 C plus gps interface

[Canuck Dennis]

The factory gps seems to be unreliable, wondering if I could wire in a garmin or = type unit ?

 

[Bob Bradley]

What do you mean by "unreliable", Dennis?

My RL80 used to lock up and would only come back to life by me shutting off the breaker to the entire system and then restarting it. The problem was caused by the fact that the gps antenna was hard wired as per the installation instructions. I corrected it by installing a simple on-off switch to the antenna. Now I shut it off between uses, and it no longer freezes up.

To your specific question, I know that the RL80 can put out GPS signal to other devices (e.g. my vhf radios), so I suspect it can also take in signal. Do you have the manual? I think mine is still kicking around somewhere.

Good luck getting cust supp out of Ray though!

 

[Canuck Dennis]

Tks Bob, it give the Lost fix message about every 5 - 10 mins, then will be ok for a while, then back to the lost fix issue, no real reason for that, not in the mountains or any high rises around, PITA

 

[jim rosenthal]

Can you borrow another GPS antenna and try that? The antenna may be going off line and then coming back on.

 

[Bob Bradley]

I know I said "freeze up" in my earlier post, but reading your response reminded me that it was the "Lost Fix" message that I was getting.

If you can't find another antenna, try putting a switch inline on the + side of the antenna feed, and leaving the antenna powered off when not in use. I'm presuming here that you've done the obvious, like using contact cleaner on the connections and applying dielectric grease to them.

I installed the switch 5 or 6 years ago, and now only see the Lost Fix problem occur when I've been offshore with the unit running constantly for 3 or more days. Then, I simply turn the power off via the switch briefly, turn it back on, and the problem goes away. At the time, I did get a Ray tech on the phone and discussed putting a switch inline. While he wouldn't come right out and say that their installation instructions were full of crap, he did tacitly concur that this would be a reasonable approach.

 

[Canuck Dennis]

Tks Bob, will give it a shot...