Raymarine GPS Slow to get a fix

[Marc14857]

My Raymarine GPS unit connected to the E80 MFD via Sea Talk has worked well for many years. Recently however it takes the unit about 5 minutes to acquire a fix where previously it took a minute or less. Once it does acquire the fix everything appears to work fine. Nothing has changed with the installation or physical location of the unit or the boat. I did upgrade the MFD software recently and I am not sure the timing coincided with the GPS fix problem nor would I expect the MFD software to impact the GPS ability to get a fix. Is it possible that the GPS unit is starting to fail?

 

[seadaddler]

Ray

I would call Raymarine tech support and ask them,they have alwaybeen very helpful to me and maybe a problem with the software update and them will help.
Nick

 

[AXEL]

I've been having intermittent problems with an older Garmin handheld GPS over the past several weeks. One day it works fine, the next it cannot find satellites. Then the following weekend it's working fine again. I plan to upgrade (today actually), but I'm wondering if the satellites are being a little flakey?

 

[Marc14857]

Spoke with Raymarine and they seem to think that the GPS Unit RS 125 is on its way out and will need to be replaced. They also told me that I will need a new cable as the new replacement unit is NEMA and can not tie directly into the MFD without the new cable. (UGH)

 

[Marc14857]

I did get this very good information from the Raymarine Tech Forum. does anyone have any experience replacing these batteries?

Permalink Reply by Moderator - Raymarine, US 2 hours ago
Welcome to the Raymarine Technical Forum Marc,

The Raystar 125 GPS Sensor features an internal memory battery (I believe that it is a standard CR2032 Lithium Button Cell) which is responsible to retaining data associated with the last position determined to more rapidly acquire a GPS position FIX than would be possible without this data. With this data, the sensor will typically acquire a GPS position FIX within approximately three minutes. Without this data, the GPS sensor will typically acquire a GPS position FIX within approximately 6 minutes.

It is generally, not recommended that this battery be replaced, as disassembling the GPS Sensor may adversely affect its sensitivity. Disassembling the Raystar 125 GPS Sensor may also adversely affect its waterproof integrity. However, should you decide to disassemble your sensor, you will find that that button battery housed in a socket permitting it to be removed and replaced with a new battery.
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[Deadhead]

Been There, Done That

It is generally, not recommended that this battery be replaced, as disassembling the GPS Sensor may adversely affect its sensitivity. Disassembling the Raystar 125 GPS Sensor may also adversely affect its waterproof integrity. e

Last summer my Raystar 125 finally gave up the ghost. It had been getting progressively worse at finding satellites over the previous couple of seasons. I took it apart, found there was a battery, tested the battery & noted low voltage, ran to Walmart & bought a replacement, then reassembled the unit, thinking how easy that was. Too bad, so sad. Sensitivity must have been affected!

I ended up getting a new Raystar 130 and the Seatalk NG converter to connect to my older Seatalk network. Of course this all happened the week before our scheduled 2 week summer cruise. I bought the equipment from Defender and received it the next day. Raymarine tech support was very helpful throughout the installation process and the new unit works great. We left on the cruise as scheduled and all was right with the world.

 

[Chief RA]

Marc: CAREFULLY replace the battery. Don't touch anything inside and clean off battery with alcohol on lint free cloth as you put it in. Reseal lip with silicone as you close unit. What have you got to lose? Chief

 

[Brian D]

I found that when I was having issues locking on my Garmin handheld, it was due to WAAS changing state. Not sure how, but it changed. After I reset the unit to factory default, it all started to work again. I know this is too simple a fix but worth mentioning. Sometimes the fix is simple, sometimes not.

Good luck.

 

[Maine Sail]

Some of the early Raystar 125 antennas did not have adequate drain/weep holes in the base of the antenna, a manufacturing blunder. As such they filled up with water and.......:cussing: Check that your base is not filling with water. Slow acquisition does sound like a bad memory battery though...

This one was completely full of water and eventually shorted out....

 

[Skip Gundlach]

Spoke with Raymarine and they seem to think that the GPS Unit RS 125 is on its way out and will need to be replaced. They also told me that I will need a new cable as the new replacement unit is NEMA and can not tie directly into the MFD without the new cable. (UGH)

This is a bit late to the party, but Chuck Anderson, at Raymarine, suggests the GPS105 by Digital Yacht, ~$150 and up, as a plug-n-play replacement for the RS125 in NMEA configuration. Same fit on the base, too, he sez, which means only having to twist-lock the new one on the existing base, if you'd rather not use the 105's, if that's how yours is installed (mine is a bulkhead-style mount, so N/A to that).

Hope that helps - if not you, then someone else...

L8R

Skip

 

[Bill Roosa]

these units us a type of antenna that has a ground plane made of aluminum. the ground plane is VERY important to maintaining the sensitivity of the antenna. unfortunately aluminum has a nasty habit of forming aluminum oxide when exposed to air for long periods...... the antenna has a limited life unless you can polish the ground plane. Not an easy task as the active part of the antenna is glued to a ceramic spacer which is glued to the ground plane plate. Course if you don't have anything to loose......

 

[Bill Roosa]

I would also note that brass does not have this problem and epoxy glue is widely available
FWIW