Maiden voyage found an electronics issue. Any ideas appreciated

[Captain TJ]

My Furuno Navnet TZ Touch 2 chartplotter kept shutting down completely and immediately when I would hit any wave that caused a jar through the boat. It happened about 5 times in one day. It would turn back on within a few minutes but was quite the distraction and annoyance. I'm also worried that if it keeps doing this it will damage the unit. I'm going to pull it and start looking for loose connections but I'm not sure what else to look for. Any other ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[Bloodweiser]

I think your on the right path loose connection or wire . Make sure fuse is seated correctly .

 

[seasick]

Yup probably a loose connection or fuse. The restarting won't harm the unit.
If you have a stereo, leave it on and see if it also turns off. That will help isolate the intermittent connection. If only the plotter is affected, the wiring issue would be between the unit and the common buss. If both devices or other accessories also cycle on and off, the issue is further back towards the batteries.

 

[Halfhitch]

I had the exact same problem on a previous boat. If there was bad chop it would continually go off. Mine turned out to be a loose spade connector where the plotter picked up 12V at the fuse panel. The spade had just lost tension so it would wiggle just enough when the boat hit hard that the voltage would drop. I just squeezed the jaws of the spade gently with pliers to tighten it's grip and it never did it again.

 

[Captain TJ]

So it is only the plotter cutting out. The stereo was on all day and never cut out. None of the other electronics cut out either. I hadn't thought about a loose spade connector. The prior owner had this professionally installed within the last 2 years and said he never experienced this. I'm guessing he wasn't running in as much chop in Chesapeake Bay as we get in the Pacific. I will pull the dash cover today and start checking wire connections and the fuse.

My worry about damage isn't the restarting it's the abrupt power loss shut downs. This unit goes through about a minute long computer style start up process and I know computers don't like to be abruptly shut down. Any way it goes I have to figure it out.

Thanks

 

[SkunkBoat]

I just resolved an intermittent problem that turned out to be an ATO fuse loose in the fuseholder. I cleaned up the fuse but still had problem Had to move it to an unused slot.
Now I am suspect of the whole original fuse block and will probably replace it.

 

[Blaugrana]

Take a look at both the positive and negative spade connectors. My positive was loose and did this rather frequently on choppy days. Even after tightening up the connection, it still would do it time to time so i just cut the wire and put a new one on. Probably less than two mins to do with crimper and heat shrinking.

 

[Captain TJ]

Tracked it down, loose ground wire on the bus bar was the culprit. Started wiggling wires with plotter on until it cut out and that's how I found it. The boat is new to me so I didn't know where the power was originating from so I took everything apart and worked my way back tracing from the plotter down. Worked out fine but next time I will go directly to the power source first if I have a problem.

 

[seasick]

Nice work!