Furuno AIS- not working

[Mickeyrouse]

My Furuno FA-50 just went non-functional after 4 years of glitch-free performance. First the system stopped transmitting ownship static data, then it stopped displaying targets on my Furuno 1724 navnet radar/plotter.
The Furuno forum says ownship static data may have been lost- how? I don't find any mention of an on-board battery in the manual. The orange "receive" LED blinks as usual, indicating(?) that it is acquiring signal, but it is not appearing on the plotter. I have visually checked the ethernet cable connecting to the plotter, it is visually okay, but it appears something special may be required to check the electrical integrity of that cable. The impedance to the AIS GPS antennae reads 489 ohms, apparently within acceptable limits. I have swapped the receive VHF anntena input with that of my VHF radio which has worked almost as well in the past as the AIS VHF anntenna; no change.
Since the vendor entered static ship data into the system at time of purchase, I have no experience of that. Though the manual gives a step-by-step procedure for updating such data by PC connected via ethernet, the computer options resemble in no way the steps and options called for in the manual. Thus no access.
I'm at a loss about what to do next. Service Techs are two hours away, and by the time I pay for four hours drive time plus a minimum two service call, I'm getting close to what I paid for the unit new- and they won't bench-test.
Where do I turn? What do I do?
Need Help from Texas
(Mickey Rouse)
"Bluebonnet"

[aluijten]

No experience with this model but I do have some Furuno stuff. These units have small button-style backup batteries in the display unit. Maybe you have a similar setup and is the button cell empty?
Just a suggestion...

[smac999]

connect to it via laptop and you can see what's going on. instructions should be in manual. same way it's setup when first installed.

it's been a while since I connected to one but I image you'll see gps info, own ship data etc. you'll need to setup your computer with static IP.


or if the fa50 has a nmea 183 output you can connect that to a laptop and see if your are getting data that way.