Raymarine's Customer Support Stinks!!

[Roniszoro]

I have a question regarding the appropriate wire gauge to power my Raymarine Radar and my Raymarine Chartplotter, two separate units. So I called the 800 number for technical assistance. I asked the the person who answered who said that such a question was beyond his knowledge level and he transferred me to the correct area. I have now been on hold for 37 minutes!

This company once had great customer support, but I believe it has been acquired by some investment company which is clearly is not interested in customers once it has your $.

Signed:
Frustrated on Hold

[Roniszoro]

A follow up:

After 63 minutes on hold I got a recording asking me to leave my phone number and saying that someone will call me back. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

[WSMFP]

I have despised Raymarine for a few years now since dealing with them trying to get a 2 month old e7D unit replaced. I'll never give them another cent.

I've found the best customer service in the industry is Furuno.

[Jd1]

..... and they couldn't tell you this after 5 or 10 minutes ???? Yes, that really stinks!
Re the wire gauge - I am surprised the manuals don't state the wire gauge required but surely they will tell you the power draw and/or fuse size ? Anyhow, take the total power draw (I am assuming both will go on one circuit), figure out the length of the power run from the distribution point to the equipment, multiply by two (as you have one run for power and one run for ground for the little electrons to return home) and look up the recommended wire size in a chart on the internet such as https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvis...e-And-Ampacity. Use the 3% chart !

[transmitterdan]

Isn't this data in their installation manual?

[Flyingriki]

Not the first time their customer "service" was shown to be anything but....
Too bad, nice gear usually.

[Roniszoro]

One question I had related to my RL70C radar. Perhaps you gentlemen might have an insight.

When I'm running the engine the radar works, but shortly after shutting it off, the radar gives me a message that the scanner is not connected. The battery voltage is good at the batteries but clearly not has high as when the high output alternator is charging. I'm guessing that there is a voltage problem, a drop somewhere in the wiring to the radar, but I wanted to check with Raymarine before taking everything apart as it is a big job.

Your thoughts?

[toddster8]

I have gotten excellent detailed technical service from Raymarine via email, even if the answer was not always what I wanted to hear. Haven't tried telephone - I don't generally have time for that.

[Jd1]

Originally Posted by Roniszoro

One question I had related to my RL70C radar. Perhaps you gentlemen might have an insight.

When I'm running the engine the radar works, but shortly after shutting it off, the radar gives me a message that the scanner is not connected. The battery voltage is good at the batteries but clearly not has high as when the high output alternator is charging. I'm guessing that there is a voltage problem, a drop somewhere in the wiring to the radar, but I wanted to check with Raymarine before taking everything apart as it is a big job.

Your thoughts?

Having never had the luxury of radar, the following are some WAG's

How many power wires are you running? Could it be that one wire is accidentally connected to switched 12V instead of constant 12V? Is there power to the electronics and a second power lead to the radome to power the transmitter and beam rotator? If you are only running one wire to close to both instruments and then individual wires to each device, is the other device working? Is there anything indicating that power comes into the radar when the engines are switched off ? Is there anything in the interconnect system that requires power that might be switched off?
Have you tried running things while the ignition is on but the engine is not running (and therefore not charging). If everything works in that situation then you know that you are using switched 12V someplace in the setup.

That's it for WAG's for now ... hope it helps!

[sailorboy1]

I've always gotten good service when I've called or emailed.

But then I would never have thought to call them for a wire size as that has nothing to do with their equipment.

[SecondBase]

Local dealer = Hands-on experts.

If you wander into any larger West Marine (one with an electronics floor area) they'll talk you through it and pull apart the display units to show you what they use.

I know I know other outlets are lower cost but you can't really beat West service when you have an actual boating question or problem.

Plus you can always spark up our Great Anchor Debate in person at a store if you get bored of the online version here LOL [emoji23]

Speaking of that - what is the impact of Coriolis on a Rocna with a sand bottom?

[PlumBob]

Roniszoro, maybe this will help w/ your question about wire size - this is also a side comment about R'marine support....

My Story is - (This is a roundabout way to answer your question.)

1) You need to realize up front that the cable that comes with the radome, is the cable that has the connector to plug into the (at least my) chartplotter. That is, it's radome-to-plotter connectors. 2) If you find that cable too short to get from the radome to the plotter (as was my case) you will need an extension cable. 3) The extension cable's connectors are male and female radome - that is, radome-to-radome. There is no way to plug the extension cable into the plotter. So if you already have the radome-to-plotter cable in a mast, it has to come out, and the extension cable run up (as was my case) 4) R'marine's documentation of the fact that the extension cable will not plug into the plotter is very poor, at best. I told their factory rep in SW Florida that, and he argued that is was quite clear. So we agreed to disagree, agreeably.

Now, 5) the power is fed to the radome from the chartplotter end of the radome-to-plotter cable. So ya gotta believe that R'marine has sized that wire to run the radome with at least 1 original, and 1 extension cable in place. (There is some statement in the documentation about how long the entire cable run can be, maximum.)

6) When I brought power to the cockpit/helm for the plotter, radar, and autopilot, I brought 3 circuits of #10 gauge wire from the electrical panel. So the answer from my perspective has to be - #10 wire runs the radar just fine. The #10 from the electrical panel is spliced directly into the radome power wires coming from the R'marine cable.

Hope this helps....

PB

[cottonsail]

5 Raymarine products, 2 worked as advertised. A depth sounder that works intermittently (not trusted), 4000+ autopilot on a Pearson 28 that would never steer a straight course and a roto vector wind instrument that would never read. All 3 products were back to Raymarine multiple times without success.

[CruiseEasy]

Originally Posted by Roniszoro

One question I had related to my RL70C radar. Perhaps you gentlemen might have an insight.

When I'm running the engine the radar works, but shortly after shutting it off, the radar gives me a message that the scanner is not connected. The battery voltage is good at the batteries but clearly not has high as when the high output alternator is charging. I'm guessing that there is a voltage problem, a drop somewhere in the wiring to the radar, but I wanted to check with Raymarine before taking everything apart as it is a big job.

Your thoughts?

Engine off and 100% battery charge is 12.7V to 12.8V at the battery terminals so figure 12.3V max at the unit if you have great wiring. With the alternator charging properly, voltage at the battery should be around 14.3V to 14.5V. Let's say 14.4V is at the battery during engine run periods...that's 14.0V at the radar unit with great wiring. You can see what will happen if there is sub gauge wiring or bad connections anywhere in the run including the ground wire. You can start measuring voltages and find the drops, then redo those sections or connectors or replace sub gauge wiring .

[CHRIS V CLEMENT]

Try Garmin instruments. They are the formerly Nexus, formerly Comnav.
I have one of the first wireless wind wands in this country. The first two failed due to improper or inadequate shielding from near lightning strikes. All were replaced by Nexus at no charge. My current wind wand has been installed for 7 years. I plan on replacing the rechargeable internal battery this fall. Battery cost is $25. Battery was easily ordered on line. Everything is plug and play...No need to speak to anyone...