[TG11] DragonFly 4S Will Not Power Up

[[email protected]]

I just installed my DragonFly 4S after using it last fall and it will not power up. After troubleshooting the connector, I can find no pin with 12VDC on it. I have verified there is 12VDC input on the red power lead and can identify the ground in the connector. Is there a pin out for the connector to know for certain which pin should have 12VDC on it? Is it possible to get a replacement wiring harness?

Tom

[Tom - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hello Tom,

The power supply is the bottom two pins in the connector, when plugged into the back of the display; on the green connector of the Dragonfly 4's power cable, this is the two pins between the two close-together keyways, furthest from the third, isolated keyway. Looking at the cable connector with the single keyway at the top and the two close-together at the bottom, positive is the left-hand.

If you're getting 0V there, the problem is probably the inline filter on the power cable. If this has failed, the likely cause is high battery charging voltage. The charging output on many outboards is not as well-regulated as we would like and can have peaks as high as 100V. These won't show up on a multimeter (the sampling rate is far too low, and will only show an average voltage), but an outboard mechanic's DVA meter should show the true peak voltage.
If the inline filter is getting high peaks in the charging voltage then it will last for a time and then eventually fail, leading to 0V reaching the display. In this case, it's a good idea to have the charging checked before fitting a new transducer/power cable in order to prevent further failure. As I say, a multimeter is not a useful check, it will not show the peak voltage.

Regards,
Tom

[[email protected]]

Thanks Tom. Is the purpose of the filter to reduce noise coming into the unit? If so what would be the result of bypassing it?

Tom

[Tom - Raymarine - Moderator]

I suspect that the filter's part noise, part input protection; as far as removing it goes, the display should operate normally, but if you have an unstable charging voltage then you'd be putting your display at risk. It might be something to do as a quick test or get-you-home measure, but not something to do long-term.

Regards,
Tom

[JJL]

I had a problem with my unit Dragonfly 7, I thought is was the power. I got oxidation on the terminals and the unit wouldn't power up. I tried to measure the output at the connector pins 4 & 5. The probes on my meter did not actually contact the sockets on the connector, I had to use paper clips to actually make the connection. I measured the voltage at 12.4 volts, unit still didn't power up. Turned out to be high impedence due to the corrosion at the fuse box. Cleaned the terminals well at the fuse box to fix the issue.

Before removing the filter you can cut the black case of the filter carefully and remove it and then cut the opaque potting off the bottom to access the pwb and measure the output side of the pwb on the bottom at the access points.

I thought that my unit was broken but confirmed that the unit was good by brining it back to Raymarine to check it out. The folks there are great, they put my Dragonfly on their test station confirmed it was good and undated my software. I can't say enough good things about those folks!

[Tom - Raymarine - Moderator]

That's great to hear, JJL, thanks very much for the feedback, and we're really glad to hear that the Dragonfly's working well now.

Tom