RL70 Pathfinder - No GPS Fix-gctid811219

[Checks_Five-Oh]

I have an older (2002) RL70c tied to an ST6001 Auto Pilot and Raymarine Dept Sounder. Over the last while, it seemed that it took longer for the plotter to achieve a gps lock until yesterday, when it did not lock at all. Coincidentally, my sounder and autopilot would not work either, but I presume that is because they are both relying on the plotter to achieve GPS fix. I am away from the boat for the week, but I am going to begin troubleshooting by Friday, and I plan on pulling the box and following the antenna cable to start.

Thanks for any support here.

[Guest]

are you using an older raystar antenna for the chartplotter (RS-110, rs-120,etc? If so your battery is probably gone dead. Without a good battery in the active antenna, you wont get a fix on the plotter.

[Dadrock33]

"Checks Five-Oh" post=811219 wrote:
I have an older (2002) RL70c tied to an ST6001 Auto Pilot and Raymarine Dept Sounder. Over the last while, it seemed that it took longer for the plotter to achieve a gps lock until yesterday, when it did not lock at all. Coincidentally, my sounder and autopilot would not work either, but I presume that is because they are both relying on the plotter to achieve GPS fix. I am away from the boat for the week, but I am going to begin troubleshooting by Friday, and I plan on pulling the box and following the antenna cable to start.

Thanks for any support here.

Hey Checks Five-Oh . . . . we just bought a 1998 Avanti 3685 and it has a Raystar 112LP GPS Transducer in it too. The manual (installation) specifies a lithium battery for the memory backup and yep, it says it has a 10 yr battery life note on it too and says the battery is mounted internally. That's about all I can help you with right now. If you would, let me know by posting or PM if you replaced the battery and if so, what model of battery you used and what it might be . . . . I've got one of those weird feelings that Murphy might be circling around my head 'bout now . . .:S

[Guest]

Those older raystar gps antennas dont have a user serviceable battery. They started with the replacable on the RS-125 and newer.

[SprinterX]

Had the same problem with my RL70C with RS120 GPS antenna. I thought I read some where at the time there were guys replacing the bats in them. Either way, I found a used RS125 on ebay and installed it. Glad to hear it has a replaceable battery.

My RL70C is my backup chartplotter and primary radar to my A97 plotter.

[Checks_Five-Oh]

Thanks for that, I am on the boat this weekend and will check it out! Is the battery installed in the antenna itself?

[Guest]

yes the battery is inside the antenna itself. If you open the antenna you can see the battery. Its a CR2032 or similar. You will see why it is not replacable as it is soldered into the pc board in the antenna

[Checks_Five-Oh]

Thank you all fo rthe comments. As it turned out, it was SeaTalk input from the depth sounder causing havoc. Once disconnected from the network, everything else fell in to place. Now looking to replace the sounder display unit. Power to the switch but no worki-worki.

Appreciate all of the comments.

Cheers - Checks