Raymarine E120 very dim

[Calypso52]

I have a ten year old Raymarine E120 MFD. Was working fine when put to bed in the tropics six months ago. Unplugged and stored below. Now very dim, essentially like night mode. Readable but barely. For the past year or so, can take one to several cycles on initial power up to get to the OK page. Have unplugged and replugged with a bit of dielectric grease. No luck. Any ideas? Many thanks in advance. Battery voltage does not seem to matter

[svmobert]

A common failure for the E80 and E120's is the backlight. either the light itself or the backlight power supply.. The power supply is most common.

Obviously you probably tried switching it back to Day mode, and turning up the brightness, so if both are set correctly and it's still dim, my first suspect would be the backlight power supply. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do about it. You "might" be able to find a used but working power supply board on Ebay or something and replace it yourself. But last I heard Raymarine no longer has the parts so they can't repair.

On our boat, I have two E80's, 12 years old, and the backlight does crazy stuff anytime it's not in Day mode AND also full brightness. As soon as I dim it or switch to night mode it periodically goes bright, off, then back on. This is the backlight power supply failing and restarting. It acts *better* (but not perfect) when the battery voltage is high, so I inserted a voltage regulator to power the electronics and set the voltage output to a constant 13.1V. It helps but the problem still happens.

If voltage is good, and you aren't willing to tear it apart and try to repair yourself, there's not much you can do but replace it with a working used unit, or a newer one along with a SeaTalkNG to SeaTalk1 converter to maintain connections to your existing instruments. If your radar is Digital (connected by an ethernet connector, not an old round connector with lots of pins) then you can keep using your Radar with even the newest Raymarine MFDs.

[Calypso52]

Richard, thanks very much for the detailed reply. I will skype Raymarine tomorrow and post what they tell me. Jonathan

[timeout2]

Known problem with backlight power supply. Article on repairing located at: Interesting Repair Of the Day – Raymarine E120 classic back light repair.

Personally I would upgrade. Latest technology is a big improvement. But you can find used units on EBay.

[KeithB]

I don't think you will get much help from Raymarine but there are now quite a few marine electronic technicians offering a long term repair solution.
In Australia it costs about $400 and in my opinion well worth it, I have see similar deals in the USA.
Nothing wrong with the old E120 and a modern replacement is not cheap.
Google is your friend.

[Calypso52]

Found two outfits on Ebay who replace the original flourescent tube with LED for $300. I used the one in New Jersey. Very fast turnaround. In my opinion, much more cost effective than replacing entire system. I'll post again in a couple months when I get it back to the boat to let you know how it works.

[svmobert]

Originally Posted by Calypso52

Found two outfits on Ebay who replace the original flourescent tube with LED for $300. I used the one in New Jersey. Very fast turnaround. In my opinion, much more cost effective than replacing entire system. I'll post again in a couple months when I get it back to the boat to let you know how it works.

Look forward to hearing how it turns out! Did they also repair/replace the backlight control/power supply board as part of the retrofit?

[PhilC]

I have the opposite problem to most posting on this topic. I have two E120’s both will not dim at all. Presumably still related to some kind of failure of the floerescent tube controllers. Anyone know of someone doing repairs of these backlights in NZ?

[wingless]

There are two methods to fix the backlighting in the E120 classic.

One is to swap the failed parts, a pair of small transformers and a FET transistor. The other is to change from flourescent to LED array.

Another common display problems is for the purplish anti glare coating to get funny. On mine I just polished off that coating.

The polarizing film also deteriorates, requiring removal / replacement, as shown in this topic.