Raymarine C90W, You Have a Problem

[gungner]

I very disappointed with my e90w, I use to have a c70 earlier which from time to time had display issues (display going all striped) Many of the features the c70 had (like having two windows one with north up and one with course up) is not included in the e90w. There is a fan inside which makes noise, you can't upload routes with NMEA, reboots from time to time, etc, etc. I've a handheld Garmin always as a backup, I'm not confident using Raymarine alone. Why did I buy Raymarine, I really don't know and I'm regretting it so much now. I've tried Raymarine's support a couple of times which for me has been a totally wast of time, no help what so ever.

[cruiser6003]

Jumping in late to a thread but wanted to add my own experience with C90W.

Not sure the issues of the original posted, nor his friends, but my C90W has been operating flawlessly since day one. In fact, through carelessness my C90W became COMPLETELY submerged in fresh water for several hours. All connector plugs were also submerged.

Was terrified but dried off as best I could, blew out the connectors with LP air and fired it up... to my amazement it was as if nothing had happened. Completely functional...

I bought this unit after several very positive experiences with E120 and E80 units on others boats and must say, to date I am EXTREMELY pleased with RayMarine chartplotters.

Joel Wilkins
m/s Miss Magoo
Columbia 451
Treasure Is, FL

[chala]

I am a Nitendo sailor too. I own 2 C70 since 2005. Never had a problem and Raymarine support is excellent.

[Olorin]

I installed a Raymarine C90W last December. I've sailed from the Exumas to the Chesapeake and it has worked properly.

The only issue I have is that occasionally I lose the GPS fix for a few seconds, never more than 2 minutes though. That may not be caused by a problem in the C90W unit, my AIS or anything on the boat though.

[bazzer]

Have you tried installing the latest firmware?

[Greggegner]

I installed a C90W last year and like it. It has locked up a few times with the new software loaded. I have two issues:
1.) Can't upload from the card routes converted with GPSBabel software (data was exported from Nuno)
2.) When I hook the Seatalk network to a Brookhouse multiplexer the chart plotter shows the boat moving sideways.

any ideas would be appreciated

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Greggegner

I installed a C90W last year and like it. It has locked up a few times with the new software loaded. I have two issues:
1.) Can't upload from the card routes converted with GPSBabel software (data was exported from Nuno)
2.) When I hook the Seatalk network to a Brookhouse multiplexer the chart plotter shows the boat moving sideways.

any ideas would be appreciated

Why would you expect GPSbabel to work. Rays format is proprietary.

The brookhouse nmea to seatalk multiplexor is based on reverse engineering of Seatalk which is a closed proprietary format. Raymarine do a dedicated Seatalk to NMEA 0183 convertor.

Dave

[DeepFrz]

What is it with the hate Raymarine thing. I've sailed twice this year with boats fitted with C 80W. They were fine.

Isn't this thread about the C90. What does the above statement have to do with this thread?

I installed a C90W last year and like it. It has locked up a few times with the new software loaded.

You like chart plotters that lock up?

[overboard]

We have travelled from Los Angeles to Panama and back again, then another 8,000 km tour across the south Pacific. We were hit by lightening in Panama and have been thru gales and through-out it all, the only instrument I truly trusted was the c90w. The main problem with any device is the connections. Keep them dry. Having said that, I'm not keen on Raymoneymachine and think they design everything for obsolescence way before it's time. The plastic buttons are all falling apart and there are no spares available. Garmin?

[transmitterdan]

Chart plotters that lock up frequently are often not installed correctly. Many people don’t follow the instructions supplied by the manufacturer. For example, Raymarine says not to use the seatalk power wire as power for the C90W. But a lot of them are so powered because it’s easier to do it that way.

Power is the main cause of MFD lockups and strange behavior. Often installers use too small wire and they don’t take care about the negative return. They connect a bunch of negative wires together many dozens of feet from the battery. Then when other devices such as VHF radios or radars are operating they cause the negative bus voltage to jump around. That can cause the 12V to drop below minimum specifications and hang or reboot the MFD.

I would guess that 90%+ of MFD issues are due to poor installations that don’t follow the manufacturer specs.

[transmitterdan]

Chart plotters that lock up frequently are often not installed correctly. Many people don’t follow the instructions supplied by the manufacturer. For example, Raymarine says not to use the seatalk power wire as power for the C90W. But a lot of them are so powered because it’s easier to do it that way.

Power is the main cause of MFD lockups and strange behavior. Often installers use too small wire and they don’t take care about the negative return. They connect a bunch of negative wires together many dozens of feet from the battery. Then when other devices such as VHF radios or radars are operating they cause the negative bus voltage to jump around. That can cause the 12V to drop below minimum specifications and hang or reboot the MFD.

I would guess that 90%+ of MFD issues are due to poor installations that don’t follow the manufacturer specs.