Garmin GPS551 Chartplotter advise pleas

[Budgie1]

last time out in some rougher stuff lost GPS signal, when I got home tried factory reset seemed to sort the problem, out today it was fine for 2-3 hours but as soon as I found some rough water lost GPS signal again ........ Any ideas??

[ShinyShoe]

Gotta be a loose connection inside surely?

[Poly]

I once lost GPS signal which I attributed to water ingress to the "external antenna" connection.

[Budgie1]

Haven't got external antenna Poly, it's weird kept doing factory reset on the boat yesterday without success, just cleaned the card wiped the connectors off with bit of rag tried again at home and all seems fine! wondering if its possible bad power connection is causing it?? (Got no transducers etc so only power through the connector)

[Poly]

I don't have an external antanae either but there is a connector with a rubber cover and water got past the cover. Not sure if the 551 is similar?

[jeffstevens763@g]

Battery connections all ok make sure post not broken or green

[Budgie1]

That's very useful info Poly it's quite possible the rubber cap wasn't fitted to antenna socket yesterday or last week, to clarify was it just external water or water egress inside the unit that caused the problem for you?

[Budgie1]

Excuse my stupidity Jeff but what do you mean by 'post'? .... Have had a close look at connector is a bit green but it's only a power source could that cause loss of signal? ....think I will replace anyway just to rule it out

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Budgie1

That's very useful info Poly it's quite possible the rubber cap wasn't fitted to antenna socket yesterday or last week, to clarify was it just external water or water egress inside the unit that caused the problem for you?

Just water on the connector (like a mini coax. Socket) I just dried it off and all seems to have been fine since - I do carry a backup though.

I think the green is a sign you are getting water into that plug. I'd thoroughly clean and check how it seals and you might find problem solved.

[kerny]

Had the same issue with mine, I also got water in the connector and it went green like yours and eventually my 551s stopped working. I bought and fitted a new connector cable off eBay and all was fine. :thumbup:. Dodgy stuff that seawater

[jeffstevens763@g]

Originally Posted by Budgie1

Excuse my stupidity Jeff but what do you mean by 'post'? .... Have had a close look at connector is a bit green but it's only a power source could that cause loss of signal? ....think I will replace anyway just to rule it outAttachment 108255

Sorry mate battery post I have know them snap inside the battery top if you put a volt meter across and give them a good shake any drop in volts would prove also they can go green &white deposits between the connection but that's just a good clean and grease that would show an intermittent loss of power if the connector is green that will be your problem I suspect the green eats away copper especially when current is passing through and damp helps it, you basically have electrolysis depleting the connection happens a lot when people take the unit off for security and leave the connection unprotected water in the female end couple up switch on problem starts new connector required.

[ShinyShoe]

By the description of the fault I doubt its poor power. But that connector does more than power even if the version fitted only does power. The damp is shorting out something resulting in the internal antenna not working and loss of signal.