GPS Antenna won't find signal

[mprime_02]

First off, let me say that when it comes to electronics and wiring and everything else, I'm not what you would call an expert. I'm alot closer to an idiot than expert. I have a 27c on my dash and a 37c on the bow. They are networked together and the system uses a 3000 puck. From time to time over the last couple years, I haven't been able to find a signal. I've just gone to the GPS menu and selected the "initialize GPS" function, and it has kicked in. It was very seldom, just once in a while. I just got my boat out of the shop for some coil problems (which took 5 weeks when I was told it would take 5 days) and took it out for the first time this year on Sunday. I couldn't get my GPS to find a signal at all and I had the boat up and and running for a good couple of hours. I've done some online research but most of it is way over my head. I just got done sitting in the boat staring at the puck, with really no clue what to do next. It kills me to think about taking it back in to get it fixed after 5 agonizing weeks without it so I thought I would throw this out and see if anyone had any pointers for me to try to figure it out. I need a place to start so that I can figure out if it's a power issue, or the puck itself. Any help from you guys would be GREATLY appreciated. Patrick

[geareng]

My first place to start would be how close to the units is your 3000 puck? They cannot be very close, if they are you will get inconsistant results.

[musky3]

I have also had been losing my signal and wondering if my antenna is to close to my unit. I am using the ram mount with a custom bracket to raise it over the unit.

[yarcraft91]

I was advised to keep the GPS puck at least 3' from the display unit.

To the OP- does your installation include a master power switch that shuts off power to the NMEA 2000 network and the sonar/GPS display units? If not, or if you don't use the switch, you could have a corrosion problem in the network connectors and sockets. The network and display units have separate power wires coming from the same power plug attached to the display unit. The instructions also say to power an NMEA 2000 network in only one place, so another thing to check in your rig. Make sure these things are correct.

[mprime_02]

The antenna is mounted on the right side of the boat, at the bow. The 37c is to the left of it, and the 27c is at the steering wheel. I don't know that it is too close, because I would say that up until Sunday, I would get signal 99% of the time. Just once in a great while would it not find signal, until now.

[Burr]

Musky3, I once tried an installation very similar to yours. It did not work for me either.

Two things changed, and it started working perfectly again. I moved the gps antenna away from the lcx, and in that process I also used the gps extension cord - prior to that I was just plugging the short pigtail directly into the unit.

I've often wondered which of the 2 changes actaully effected the fix? I certainly was not going to take the time to move it back next to the unit, and try the extension cord - your in a position to maybe try that?

[perchjerker]

since it worked before I would not think its the location. I have a 28c HD, my antenna is about 1.5ft away, never an issue

I would look into power issues like yarcraft suggested.

What did they do to the boat? Maybe they disconneted the power to the antenna by mistake?

I would get the manual, look at the wiring diagram and make sure everything is proper.

its not that complicated if you take the time to look in the manual

[mprime_02]

I was able to find some directions on the Lowrance website and I do have power to the antenna. If I go to the Bus menu on the 27c, it shows the 37c and the antenna on my network. So, it's not a power issue, and it doesn't seem to be a network issue, so really the only other thing I can figure it to be is a bad antenna. I'll have to do some checking to see if there is a way to check the antenna itself to see if it is working or not. Yarcraft, I went through all of the connections, both power and network, and everything looks good there. No corrosion or bad plugs that I can see.

[mprime_02]

I called Lowrance directly to see if they had instruction as to how to test the antenna itself. The gal on the phone told me that as long as I had a minimum of 11 volts of power coming to the antenna through the network connection, the problem was the antenna. She said you can't open them up to see what is wrong with them, so she is sending me a new one. The LCG 3000 model, which is what I have now, is no longer made. Lowrance will replace it with a 4000 model, for 99 bucks. I thought that was fair. They will ship it out within the next two days.

[JDP]

Good work...
The 4000 antenna will come in handy if you upgrade to HDS units.

Please let us know how things go when you hook up the new antenna!