Lack of data from transducers

[crieders]

I hooked up my refurbished st60. At first I had data to wind/speed and then I promptly blew a fuse when the screen and red wire on the power cord touched. I replaced the fuse. Then I had power but no data to any of the 3 instruments, just 3 dashes on each screen. Today, I hooked up an old speed transducer director to the back of the speed instrument and for about 5 minutes, it worked. When I spun the paddle, the speed recorded. I then hooked up the cable to the boat and again, it worked. But then about 3 minutes later, just 3 dashes on the speed meter. So why no data to any of the instruments. Could I have damaged something when I blew the fuse? You wouldn't think so and besides the speed instrument worked for about 5 minutes today. I checked all the leads to the back and everything looks ok. Any ideas. PS the boat is still out of the water. Frustrated !!!

[Ron Hill]

Cliff : Give the manufacturer a call and talk with their technical dept.  I'm sure that they can help you.   

[rirvine]

Try disconnecting the Seatalk cable between the instruments to isolate each one and remove any possibility of interference and test them one at a time.  Also test the other functions each instruments - eg timer count down - to determine if there are other isuses beside no tranducer signal.  Also reset each to "factory defualts" to get a solid starting point.

good luck,  Ray

[crieders]

I tired each of the sugggestions except the "factor defaults". I am not sure what that means and did not see that term in the booklet. Thanks anyway.

[Stu Jackson]

Cliff, I think Ray meant FACTORY defaults.  As I recall, there's nothing in our Autohelm manual in the index OR in the Table of Contents about these settings, you have to read the whole manual and find them, each one, in the body of the text.  Also, check the troubleshooting section of the manual.

[rirvine]

sorry - Stu is correct.   Most RM instrument have the ability to reset all parameters to the "factory default"  as part of their set up process.   

For the wind tranducer, you should see the following (measured with a DVM) when the power is on and the tranducer is connected to the wind display:

Red to Screen: 8V
Blue to Screen: Variable 2 to 6V
Green to Screen: Variable 2 to 6V
Yellow to Screen: Variable 0 to 8V

You can measure these at the rear of the display.    Also make sure that the spade terminals are installed correctly (actually on the male connector) and not just wedged between the male connector and the plastic case.

Ray

[tonywright]

Also make sure that all Seatalk connectors are pushed all the way on until they lock: can take some effort. One loose connector will cause data loss all the way down the chain. (voice of experience here...I take mine off each winter: -30 degrees not good for LCD displays)

Tony