The store is filled with marine electronics. You stare blankly at the array of products. The packages are designed to win you over and inspire confidence. It’s your decision, but you can be sure that your life on the water will be full of sunshine and lollipops once this baby is installed.
Not so fast, buddy. Bad installation habits can cause serious damage to your electronic equipment. We interviewed tech support staff from major electronics companies to learn how they cook their units. This list contains some useful tips and tricks that can help you avoid getting stuck in a cyber creek with no paddle.
1. Too much juice: This is the most common way to ruin electronic devices. No matter if you are hooking up a GPS or autopilot, depth sounder or radar, too much power can cause damage to electronic devices. You can avoid this by checking the power requirements on the device’s label or in the owner’s manual. Also, double-check your wiring. You should also ensure that you don’t reverse the polarity. Red is generally positive while black is negative. However, there are exceptions so make sure to check the manual.
Many units can accept a variety of voltages. They also have protection built in, such as a replaceable fuse to protect them from excessive power. The device’s overvoltage protection will protect your electronics from damage if you add too much voltage or reverse the polarity. However, it won’t turn the unit on if the voltage is too high. Try again by rewiring the power and replacing the fuse.
If there is a black cloud hovering above you, and the circuit protection is not in place, you might hear crackling sounds or see smoke rising from the case. It may smell and look like burnt cheese. If this happens, send it back to manufacturer for repairs.
All of the tech support professionals from the companies we interviewed had heard stories about customers wiring incorrectly. Most cases were stopped by the fuses. Some customers were too hurry and omitted the fuse. Can you spell ZA-P? You should always check your wires and power supply.
2. Have you crossed your wires? Electronic devices usually come with connectors or cables. These are a group of colored wires that is enclosed in an insulator and can be connected to the boat’s power supply and other electronics. Two wires connect to the power. Some wires connect to NMEA ports that allow the device to exchange information with other units. Others connect to external speakers, transducers, alarms and alarms. You can mix these wires together and send power to parts of the device that aren’t designed to handle the surge. Your unit will stop working and you will have to return it back to the manufacturer. The manual’s schematics will help you a lot.
3. The Battery Twist: Any electronic device that is portable, such as a GPS receiver, will use batteries. Even panel? Deck-mounted electronic devices and panel? You may have been installing batteries since childhood, but not paying attention to details can lead to trouble. It is a common mistake to place them upside down. Many devices come with a label or imprint to indicate which direction the batteries should go. Pay attention, these images can often be faint and small. You can reverse the direction of all your batteries to reverse the polarity. This can cause serious damage. You can damage your device by incorrectly installing more batteries. This is the same thing as changing the polarity of an existing device. Your unit might not turn on, blow its power protection or become smoking junk. According to one tech support representative, reversing batteries can lead to batteries exploding or leaking. The corrosion can prevent new batteries from connecting to the battery.
Alkaline batteries are recommended by manufacturers for a number of reasons. Alkaline batteries do a better job at shutting down devices in low-battery situations. Low-quality batteries might not have the voltage required to save data before the device turns off.
4. What leaks out: Many manufacturers advise you to take the batteries out of a portable device if it is being stored for a prolonged period of time. Why? The batteries corrode. The batteries can corrode. Do you remember the flashlight that you used? This can also happen to electronics on your boat, which are more expensive than a 5-and-dime flashlight. Most cases, the gunk from the batteries dries on the contacts of the battery compartment. This causes them to corrode and not make contact with the battery. The circuitry can also be affected by batteries leaking into the compartment. This could happen with waterproof devices. The batteries may be in a compartment that is watertight next to the circuitry. If you have backup batteries, make sure to replace them according the manufacturer’s instructions. You could lose all your waypoints if you forget to do so.
5. How you splice it: Cutting and splicing cables or wires can pose a danger to your installation. Manufacturers will give you more cable than what you need to connect to an external antenna or transducer. If you have 50 feet of cable, but only 10 feet to go, your first instinct is to cut it and splice. Wrong. For example, GPS cables require the impedance of a long cable. Reduce it and the unit’s sensitivity may be reduced. When possible, coil long cables. Some people don’t want a large hole in their deck to route a bulky connector. A hole that is the same size as the cable will work. Clip the connector and run the wire. Then, reinstall it. Advanced splicing techniques are required for many cables, especially coaxial cables used in antennas and transducers.
You expose the cable’s inner workings to moisture and other elements, which can cause internal corrosion. You can also shorten the wires of the cable by putting it back together. This can lead to the transducer or antenna malfunctioning. Even if the splice is successful, it can change the impedance characteristics. The length of the cable is meant to optimize a device’s performance. Changing its length can affect that device’s performance.
Manufacturers of GPS antennas that are powered (“active”) often run into length problems with their cables. Customers often cut the wires of their antennas and then don’t put them back together properly, either because of space or aesthetic reasons. This results in shorts. Sometimes, the customer is able to simply buy another cable from the manufacturer. Depending on the unit, miswiring or shortening may cause damage to the antenna, receiver, or both.
6. Too close for comfort: An antenna from one device can interfere with an antenna on another, especially when they are in close proximity. An antenna for a radar can interfere with the operation a radio or a GPS receiver. Interference is most likely when two products are operating at the same frequency. You can minimize interference by giving each antenna as much space as possible. You should also route each cable from each device in a different direction. If cables come from different devices, you can try to run them from opposite ends. While interference will not cause permanent damage to electronics, it can make one device inoperable. What was the tech support report? Radar interference is a common problem with older loran and GPS receivers. This can be avoided by checking the manual of your radar for the beam-width angle. Mount the antenna above the radome, and not within the imaginary lines that this angle defines.
7. It’s easy: Connecting cables isn’t difficult. Connectors won’t mat if you force them together. The pins will need to be manually bent back. The worst case scenario is that bent pins could touch the device and cause it to shorten or make incorrect connections. The tech support representatives revealed that the connectors have more pins, so the wires are thinner and more susceptible to being twisted if they’re not properly assembled. The wires are also thinner so it’s easier to bend them back. But what’s the downside? The downside? You can bend pins in connectors with needle-nose or tweezer pliers. Before you try this, make sure that the power is off. It is important to ensure that the pins are not bent.
8. Retire the plug: When connections are being made while they are still operating, changes can cause them to shorten. You could endanger one or both of your units if you try to fix the GPS using the portable device. You also risk damaging pins by allowing them to contact a connection that isn’t necessary. This could cause power surges through lines that are meant to receive data. One company shared the story of a user who connected a GPS receiver to a plotter and damaged a component so it could not display charts accurately. The manufacturer of the plotter had to replace the entire circuit board.
9. It’s all well: Although an electronic device might claim to be waterproof, it can still float if dropped. However, there is no reason to test those claims. Splashproof means that a device can be submerged in water, but it will not let water get inside. Waterproof is a device that can be submerged to a specified depth, but it will not allow water in its housing. A device may be labeled waterproof but it will still get wet if it is placed in an environment that is constantly exposed to the elements. The contacts of the battery can corrode. Water can also seep into circuitry and cause damage to components. Electronics manufacturers love to tell stories about how their devices have been accidentally thrown overboard and submerged for days, and they still work. It does happen. However, it is important to keep your gear dry.
10. Water behind the ears: Don’t turn on your unit if water gets in. In extreme cases, you can shake the unit to hear the water seeping inside. The electronics can become shortened if there is water inside. For instructions, contact the manufacturer. If you are unable to reach the vendor, wait for the unit to dry before turning it on.
11. Waylay in Transmission: You can upload and download waypoints to and from your computer using some devices such as GPS receivers or chartplotters. If you are using an electronic device to transfer information to your computer, do not interrupt the session. An interruption will not cause the session to be stopped, but it will allow both the computer and the electronic device to continue working normally. The electronic device could lose its memory. It all depends on the device. Some units can be connected to a computer to receive data. This allows the device to have the information it requires to function. Some chips may need to be replaced and the device should be returned to its manufacturer. Never allow a device to finish uploading or downloading.
12. Do not connect to any port in a storm: If you connect an electronic device to a computer, disable all software that uses the same ports (usually the serial,COM1 or COM2 ports). A program that allows you to upload and download waypoints has its own configuration screen. This screen lets you choose the port and activate or deactivate conflicting software. You can ensure that no strange code is sent by the software to an electronic device by separating the program and device that operate on each port. The device may be unable to recognize the source of incorrect information.
13. These instructions are important: You know this stuff! You can avoid most disasters by reading and following the instructions in the user’s manual. It’s a big investment and you want convenience. Make sure you take care of how it is installed and used.
