Replacing B&G 4G Halo 20 radar with 5G Halo 20+

[sailing_gal]

Three years after purchasing my B&G Halo 20 4G Radar I discovered that it didn’t work. Note that for 2 years it wasn’t even used due to the COVID restrictions in Europe and I was docked in Spain. Of course, this was 1 year after the 2 year warranty. I contacted B&G and got a knowledgeable technical support person who went through all the testing with a friend of mine who is an engineer and the conclusion was that the unit was sending but not receiving and the dome had to be replaced. Since it was within 5 years of purchase, B&G gave me a “discount” and I paid 1,458 euros for a new Halo 20+ 5G radar unit. After 7 months, it finally arrived. On the advice of the local dealer, I decided to completely replace the radar cable and do away with the old RI10 which is a translation device between 5G and 4G (my Zeus chartplotter system is 5G). The RI10 is reportedly some source of problems and it also avoids having to use another translation device that B&G offers for using the old cable.
My friend and I pulled the old cable, installed the new cable, and mounted the radar. Now I had another problem. The end of the cable for the radar unit terminates in 4 wires, an RJ45 connector and a 5 pin male ethernet connector. The connection from my Zeus that came from the chartplotter to the base of the mast also had a 5 pin male ethernet connector. The new radar came with a cord that was approximately 1 meter long and had a female 5 pin connector and the RJ45 connector.
I called B&G technical support in the US. The woman I got couldn’t understand what my problem was. She also insisted that all Halo 20s were 5G. She said I just plugged in that 1 meter long cord into the back of my chartplotter and then plug in the RJ45 . I tried to explain to her that that cable was not long enough because in a sailboat, the chartplotter is much more than 1 meter away from the base of the mast. Her solution was to have me simply purchase a 20 meter radar cable so it would reach the chartplotter. I explained to her that there needed to be a connection at the base of the mast for the radar, she truly had no clue what I was talking about. I told her I needed a female/female connector to join the two male 5 pin Ethernet connectors and she said there was no such thing. Then she suggested I just reuse the RI10 to make the connection. I really didn’t want to do that because it is another potential point of failure.
So, I got on google and started hunting. I found a part that claimed to be a female/female 5 pin connector by Navico but the photos of it at all the on-line store sites showed a male/male connector.
It is part number Navico 000-10779-001. All the photos of it on-line looked like this:
https://www.simrad-yachting.com/simr...ale-to-female/
That didn’t look right.
So, I decided to try B&G technical support again, but had another friend who had a similar experience with worthless information from U.S. technical support so I decided to try calling B&G Spain.
Wow! No waiting and I got connected immediately to a Spanish technical support agent who spoke excellent English. He said that the RI10 was a 4G to 5G translator and it was best to take it out of the system since it was another potential point of failure, although it could be a solution to the problem. He knew the system very well. He also informed me that the Navico part I cited above WAS the solution to my problem and he told me that all of the photos on-line of the part were wrong. He said they have told B&G repeatedly issue new photos to dealers and have dealers remove that incorrect photo, but they have not.
So, I went ahead and ordered the part. He was right! The actual part looks nothing like the photos of the part on-line. It looks like this:


So, it came in 2 days, and everything is now hooked up and WORKS! My lesson is…. When you get lousy technical support from B&G USA, try another country. I sure hope this radar is a more reliable model. I have read of many problems with that 4G Halo 20.

[Dockhead]

I've had the same kind of experience with Navico tech support. Three or four completely useless people then one brilliant one. I guess you just have to keep calling until you get the brilliant one.

[Nikola]

When I knock on RI10 interface sometimes antenna starts to work. All connectors and wires were replaced, but aoperation of antenna is still very UNRELIABLE!!!
Will investigate my friend's RI10 and report.

[sailing_gal]

I believe the RI10 is the root of many of the problems with the 4G Halo. The Halo 20+ eliminates the need for that connector. Basically, what the RI-10 does convert the 4G Halo 20 to the 5G that then feeds into the chartplotter. Since the Halo 20+ is a 5G instrument, you no longer need that connector.

[Nikola]

Sorry Sailing_gal, RI10 has nothing with 4G and 5G radar technology conversion, but you're right RI10 is trully root to technical issues on radar systems.

RI10 unit functionality is to:
- provide power to radar
- to enable switching of radar antenna power by yellow wire voltage (HI-radar is powered ON, LOW-radar is powered OFF). I found on PCB too weak copper traces for a power radar need to operate properly. It is a DESIGN FLAW from the beginning!!!
- I presume RI10 provide via Ethernet in direction to antenna SIMNET data as heading, COG... Integrated microprocessor in RI10 is combining control commands from plotter (range, gain, sea clutter, rain clutter...) with Simnet data. (I didn't made deep back engineering to be totally sure about details)
- provide Simrad and B&G connection compatibility with round yellow NETWORK connectors
- most probably provide some back compatibility.

Their development is very chaotic in one word. RI10 is a result of INCOMPATIBILITY within same company. If radar antennas 4G would be 100% compatible within same company (but it is not !??) radar could be simply connected via yellow round network connector and external power to all Simrad and B&G plotters.

[sailing_gal]

Thanks, Nikola, I stand corrected- I knew it had something to do with fixing some incompatibility in the system, and that when I switched up to the Halo 20+, which is 5G, I could do away with the RI10 connector.

[smac999]

The ri10 box just allows heading to be connected / added to the radar. For Marpa.

With the 3G / 4g You can remove the ri10 and the radar still works and so does overlay. You just lose arpa / marpa.

The lowrance radars never even came with one. But it could be added.

[Dockhead]

A question about nomenclature used here -- since when was the 4G radar ever called a Halo? I think Halo is a different technology -- pulse compression. 4G (and BR24, and 3G -- very ambitious marketing calling these slight tweaks "generations") is FMCW which is entirely different.

And do they call Halo "5G"? I don't think it's any "G" of the previous types; it's a new direction.

Glad to be corrected if I missed something.


Possible misuse of nomenclature by OP might have contributed to his issues with tech support.