GPS location on 42ds

[Syrah]

I have all the symptoms of a flat battery in our gps sender unit, but cannot find where it is located. It’s probably a Raystar 120 or 125.

Any thoughts on where to search in a 42ds? It’s not obvious anywhere above deck.

Many thanks in advance

Wayne

[sailor666]

My 42ds has two. Both are fitted in the deck, far aft by the diesel filler and water tank filler respectively.

[rxc]

It is inside the mushroom. You don't say how old your unit is, but the ones they sold in 2003 did not have replaceable batteries. If you sent it in, and paid, I think $150, they would replace the battery, with a six month warranty. It was almost, but not quite, cheaper to buy a new one.with a longer warranty.

[Syrah]

The plotter is a Raymarine C80 and the boat is 2007. I use it mainly as a fish finder and backup Navionics these days, but the “lost fix” alarm goes off regularly and drives me crazy. I can’t see anything mounted above deck near the aft filler locations.

[sailor666]

My boat is 2006. The GPS receivers are mounted *in* the deck. All that is visible are the tops of the domes.

[Syrah]

I really appreciate everyone’s efforts on this. Does anyone have a photo of what an “in the deck” mount looks like? The C80 works perfectly most of the time, but in the 4 years of owning our boat I haven’t seen anything that looks remotely like a Raystar 120 or 125. Were any of these ever mounted under the deck?

[sitara]

The GPS receiver may be mounted in the cockpit table, it only needs a clear non-metallic view of the sky. Good luck.

The GPS receiver for my AIS unit is mounted under the deck by the instrument panels.

Rob

[Syrah]

Thanks everyone. I think I’ve finally found it. I put a GoPro on a stick and put it in all the likely places. Looks like it’s under the deck on the Port side not far from the water filler. Now I just have to work out how to get to it. I think I need to be standing in the Port lazarette locker and will probably need 360 degree swivel arms.

[leehadjiosif]

I had the same issue until I replaced the battery in the antenna. Mine was soldered in but it turned out it was an easy job to resolder the new once I got it on my work bench. Good Luck.

[chuckr]

I actually have 2 on board.  The first is the mushroom on the rear stanchion that came with the the boat and is a Raymarine and feeds a c70, both vhf and ssb radios and my epirp all in the salon.  My second is between the solar panels and feeds my AIS that in turn feeds the C80 at the helm via a NEMA connection.  I do carry a spare mushroom that can easily be plugged into the rear of the C80 if need be if the AIS gps fails.  

[Syrah]

The unit I found was a Raystar 125. It has a battery holder (i.e. it is not soldered in). The old battery read 22mV instead of being 3V. I expected this to be the problem. I replaced the battery with a brand new Cr 2032 battery (which tested at 3V) and reconnected the unit. After a short while of operation, the C80 gave me a position fix loss alarm. This is normally due to a flat battery.

Is it possible that I have another GPS sender unit hidden somewhere? The one I found was connected directly to the Raymarine Autopilot box.

Update: I’m hoping the alarm may have been due to an initial slow acquisition of satellites after being reconnected. I have had the plotter switched on for some time now without any further alarms. Fingers crossed

[Mistroma]

Mine is also mounted on the port side close to the water filler on deck. It wasn't too difficult to remove but your might have been easier as the knurled knobs might be slightly easier to reach. I seem to remember that removal was just a matter of undoing the 2 knurled knobs, lifting it up slightly and unscrewing the connector underneath. I remember reading that some had soldered batteries but don't know if these were older or newer than my 2009 unit. Mine certainly didn't require soldering.

Very simple to undo 6 screws and take apart to reach the battery as you have discovered. Itl is a Raymarine Raystar 125 GPS Antenna E32042. The PCB says 94V-0 HannStar K MV-4 0841


I have 3 GPS units.
1) Raystar 125 on port side beside the water filler
2) Another mushroom model (not Raymarine) on the starboard side on a bracket below deck
3) Internal GPS inside the Raymarine C80W display unit connected to an AIS transponder

The internal GPS was disabled but I did use it briefly when the Raystar 125 wasn't working and disconnected.

I've attached some pictures in case that's helpful (click on them to zoom for more detail).

[Syrah]

Thanks everyone. I’m hoping that it was just slow to acquire a satellite fix the first time I turned it back on (after replacing the battery). I had it running for more than two hours after it acquired a fix, without the alarm going off again.

Re comments from above:

I don’t believe there is an internal gps in the Raymarine C80. I think this was added to the later widescreen models.

I believe the Raystar 120 had a soldered battery. (I had actually soldered wires onto a CR 2032 battery ready to use it, prior to discovering that I had the 125 version with the battery holder)

We are on an extended (months-long) cruise up the East Coast of Australia at the moment, but currently in port for a few days. I’ll get plenty of opportunity to test it out when we set sail again.

[rxc]

You are correct. There is no internal GPS inside a C80. I have one, and it gets its GPS info from the either the Seatalk net (from a mushroom GPS receiver), or from the AIS connection, if you have one.

I would be very interested to hear about how to solder a new battery into an old 120 unit. I have one that does not work, and would live to be able to power it up again, as a spare.

[rene460]

Hi Rxc,

Rather than solder direct to a battery, I would suggest buying a battery holder from your favourite electronics components outlet, and solder that in, if necessary using short wires, or even a separate case, piggybacked on the outside of the unit.  Then this and future battery replacements are easy.

I don’t know if there are any tricks to soldering direct to the battery.  In the early days, Ni-Cad batteries were available with solder tags.  It was difficult to get solder to stick directly to the case.

rene460

[Syrah]

I sat the battery on a wad of wet paper towel and used an 80W soldering iron with resin cored solder. It was easy to solder it to wires that way. I checked the voltage of the battery before and after soldering at 3V. There is a video on YouTube showing this method.

A battery in one of these units seems to last a long time (perhaps ten years). It would be good to use a holder if you can find one (but not so easy when cruising)

[rene460]

Hi Syrah, that damp cloth is a good idea.  Good to know there is a procedure for the soldering which works.

Thanks,

rene460