Raymarine E120 - Intermittent Alarm very Annoying!

[Calypso52]

We have a Raymarine E120 Classic, has worked well for eight seasons. This season it alarms "Heading Not Available" erratically. If you wait for the alarm to cycle off (10 seconds of high pitched beeping) it gives you a heading and all related functions again. Sometimes it will alarm on and off for hours, sometimes not once in a day. I have examined the connections on both ends of the GPS sensor cable and they are clean and snug fitting. The GPS sensor is blinking green although I have not been up there when it is alarming so I should try that. There is no way to program the alarm off. Here are the questions:
Has this happened to anyone else and what was your solution?
Has the GPS sensor failed for anyone else and what was the symptom? Could the failure be intermittent?
Has anyone opened the case to snip the wire to the alarm?
Thanks!

[chala]

Normally Heading is provided by the flux gate (compass) of the auto pilot or of an electronic compass.

[nigel1]

I have the Raymarine new E Series 125, and get the same intermittent alarm.
As Chala says, the heading input is from a flux gate compass or other similar transmitting compass.
In my case, I know the compass is OK, as when the alarm is sounded on the MFD, I still see correct heading data on the auto pilot head.
Its a pretty new installation in my case, I double checked all connections and found no problems.
Raymarine's response was that it could be just a case of input overload on the MFD.

In your case, as it has only recently started with this alarm, I would check the compass and it's connections.

[atoll]

is the c120 linked to your autopilot via sea talk?

[nigel1]

Hi Atoll

In my case it is not, the 120 picks up the heading data on the B&G Network Loop, via an NMEA to Seatalk 2 convertor.
Cannot control AP from the plotter.

[chala]

Originally Posted by nigel1

I have the Raymarine new E Series 125, and get the same intermittent alarm.
Raymarine's response was that it could be just a case of input overload on the MFD.

For a try, disconnect the data cable that feed data from the autopilot or compass, I do not know how your system is wired, and see if you get exactly the same sentence. If not the same sentence must come from somewhere else if it is exactly the same may be the transmission from the B&G break. Just a guess.

Nice for Ray to admit that their MFD are not up to the task.

Originally Posted by nigel1

In my case, I know the compass is OK, as when the alarm is sounded on the MFD, I still see correct heading data on the auto pilot head.

It is not because you see correct heading data on the auto pilot head that this data is sent to the network.

[Opie91]

Originally Posted by Calypso52

We have a Raymarine E120 Classic, has worked well for eight seasons. This season it alarms "Heading Not Available" erratically. If you wait for the alarm to cycle off (10 seconds of high pitched beeping) it gives you a heading and all related functions again. Sometimes it will alarm on and off for hours, sometimes not once in a day. I have examined the connections on both ends of the GPS sensor cable and they are clean and snug fitting. The GPS sensor is blinking green although I have not been up there when it is alarming so I should try that. There is no way to program the alarm off. Here are the questions:
Has this happened to anyone else and what was your solution?
Has the GPS sensor failed for anyone else and what was the symptom? Could the failure be intermittent?
Has anyone opened the case to snip the wire to the alarm?
Thanks!

More details about the system integration please. Let us know everything you have installed including non Raymarine stuff.

This will help us help you.

[pandw]

Love to know if & how you fixed your issue?

I have a similar issue, just started as we entered Panama Breakwater. 8 very loud beeps with no error messages on the ST6002, or anywhere else.

After we passed Quarantine, and motored into the marina, it occurred again, many times, and also a solid loud alarm started sounding, also intermittently. No other alarms/messages on the dash or engine, etc.

Upon testing, I notice the E80 plotter (don't usually use it) has an intermittent warning "System data alarm - Position fix lost". The Raystar RS125 GPS "hockey puck antenna shows an orange light when the position is lost. but seems to come back with a green LED at other times.

Could this be as simple as a battery in the GPS Antenna? I've read this is a common fault.

I do notice that the power measured at the smartpilot S3 computer is nearly 0.5V lower than actual battery voltage.

Any help greatly accepted - esp in this COVID-19 Panama situation which makes parts and service really quite tricky.

[Calypso52]

Sorry, that was so long ago, I forget what the fix was or if it just went away. Good luck!