My Raymarine e7 won't recognize my radar.

[Privilege]

I have a Raymarine RD radar connected to my Raymarine e7. I connected them up and everything was working fine. The radar was 'like new'. I shut it down and left it unused for 18 months. When I tried to use it this weekend for the first time in ages, the chartplotter kept on telling me that it did not see a radar source, even after I had left the radar turned on for a good while. I've checked that the 12v power is going up the mast.

Any suggestions?

[Shrew]

Try disconnecting and reconnecting every connection in the system. Sometimes corrosion can build-up on the contacts causing enough resistance to introduce connectivity issues. I've seen this occur on circuit boards connected to motherboards, spade style fuses, even pin style light bulbs.

I would unplug and re-plug several times. The process can scrape off the corrosion and leave a good contact. It may do nothing, but it is where I always start and it fixes things a surprising number of times.

(Kind of like when a small electric motor stops working....Step #1, tap it with a screwdriver handle a few times).

[Minidude]

Hello Privilege.
Did you try this suggestion? Did it work. I am having the same issue with my Simrad. Very frustrating.

[lovinlifebda]

I would go with the advice from Shrew for the first trouble shooting option. My Raymarine radar had the same symptom and it turned out to be the interface card in the radar unit. I have a C120 plotter and it has two possible inputs for the radar, don’t know about other models but this gave me the option of trying a second input on the plotter..neither worked so assumption was the problem is outside of the plotter. Went up the mast and opened up the dome, followed the advice from Shrew and also had a second person power up the radar while I watched the magnetron rotate which told me it had power. I also had my meter to check voltage is good. Still no response on plotter. Had it connected to the plotter I would have powered off the radar and not transmitted while I was hanging onto the thing.
At this point all I really can assume is good is the plotter because of the two inputs. Pain in the you know what but now I unbolted the radar dome and brought it down. I made up a power cable with the proper slip on connectors and attached this to the internal 12V, took an RJ45 cable and attached it directly from the radars interface card to the chart plotter. The plotter still could not see the radar. Raymarine online support gave me the PN for the interface card in the dome and that was the fix. With the radar down you can now do lots of trouble shooting. If it works directly attached you know that you have a cable problem. If any part needs to be replaced in the dome it needs to come down anyway, too many small screws in hard to reach places. Jim

[Privilege]

Thanks for the advice. I had a good look at the connections at ground level and everything is very clean and in good condition. The 12v supply is working but when I turned on the radar power source I don't see any amp usage on the cable. So, hopefully, either the cable has been compromised or there is something wrong at the radar. Up the bloody mast again!