Raymarine C80 Chartplotter

[orion]

I have a Sun Odyssey 32i with a Raymarine C80 chartplotter. The display starter to shimmer on my last voyage and now i am left with only black lines moving around the display. Tried the obvious things, connections at the back, powering up and down, factory reset, display reset etc (as per manual) but still no display. Any advise woulbe a help.



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[element]

This is a common problem for the C80.
probably it will be a loose connection between electronics an screen. 
try pushing on de top gray bezel of the screen.
This might solve it, but the problem  will probably come back later.

[Charlie-Bravo]

Hi, when I purchased our SO 35 it had a non working C70, with only 4 days before a bit of a long trip back home it needed a fix, so I just got another off ebay and slotted it into place, .... problem solved .... but £300 out of pocket.

A few days ago I dug out the old defective plotter, I took it apart, it's much the same animal as a C80, it comes apart easily, prize off the front edging, it's just held on with plastic barbs , , the next frame has a lot of screws , pozi no1 , and under that is a gasket. Inside you will see a couple of circuit boards, mostly held in by clips, and a screw.

between the circuit boards joining them together are what are known as ribbon cables, flat things going into a 'block' , and these are the problem areas with all the C series plotters. You need to unplug the ribbon cables to remove the circuit boards, two boards later you are left with the back of the screen, and another smaller circuit board with an electrical plug / socket joint to the screen on the last smaller circuit board, and this plug/socket is the bit that needs therapy, it just isn't pushed in very well.

Push it together firmly and add some hot melt glue to the edges of this small circuit board to stop it coming loose again, replace the two circuit boards you removed earlier, power up, and with the gods with you, you are done.

 The ribbon cable connection isn't immediately obvious as to how you release the ribbon, you should see a black strip on the block, lift it with your finger nails and then pull, wriggle the ribbon out, some later models have a full on plug and socket which pull apart.

Sometimes just the removal of the ribbons and re inserting them makes a better connection and fixes it, but the connection to the screen seems the most common.

This might all sound difficult and technical but it is actually quite simple, a clean kitchen table and a screw driver is all it takes, ...... also, if it doesn't work now, there is no chance of you doing more damage by having a go, and at least if you fix it you won't have to undertake the upgrade you really couldn't afford, ..... well I couldn't.

If you are based in North Wales you can pop it round, it'll only take an hour to fix.

Last thought,..... if you open it up and it's all gone horribly green inside, then the sea has got in there and it's doomed, but it's not usually the case.

Good luck, get the screwdriver out.
CB

[orion]

Lot of information there, thanks. Will give it a go during the week.
O.

[NZL50505]

Mine went from occasional lines and shimmers to dying in a few days. Luckily just before our summer cruise. So I had time to replace it. I didn't trust a repair to last for very long but maybe I would have been pleasantly surprised! 

[renegade27]

Mine did the same, sent into Raymarine for repair and, alas, they no longer had any parts needed to repair the flex-cable attachment.

They offered me a discount on a new GPS.

I've fitted an Axiom7 in a slightly modified hole left by my dead C70 and have never looked back. This thing is fabulous. Has several sailing tools built in that I LOVE playing with.

If you can do it, upgrade. The new equipment is infinitely better than it was 15 years ago.

[NZL50505]

Yes I went for Axiom too (Pro) - it was a leap forward in usability.

[Tafika II]

Our original C120 failed just like you described and we replaced it with the Axiom 12 model. A good upgrade, but not cheap as we had the go from NEMA183 to NEMA 2000 interfaces and replace the old analog radar. The gauges were fine, but we have had two failed since 2017 and they had to be replaced also. If I was replacing the entire system, or installing everything new, I would have gone with Garmin.

[Charlie-Bravo]

I agree that a new plotter would be a better thing, and I know that one day my antique C70 will die,  but I will keep repairing the old stuff for as long as possible, it's the radar for me, even though I don't use it much, when the visibility disappears it's very nice to have, at least I have 2 plotters, so I should get a few more seasons out of one of them, during which time, the lottery might provide some funds.

Replacing the plotter is reasonable, but adding the price of new radar and getting some of the old tech to talk to the new seems quite an expensive operation, and a new set of sails seems better value, ...... but I suppose that's YACHT for you.

'Yet Another Cash Hungry Toy' as they say.

CB

[Syrah]

A firm open handed slap on the underneath fixes ours when it does this. I’m told it’s a bad ribbon cable connection. We tend to use ours only really as a backup, or more often as a fishfinder.