Raymarine E-120

The boat I just purchased has twin E-120s on it which I know absolutely nothing about. Although I am reading the manual & stumbling through it, I wonder how many other TF members have this model & what they think of its capability. I've also checked the Web and gleaned some advice from the sailing community.

I'm sorry about the resolution of the photo below but that is all I have at present.

I had one on my last boat. It worked well. I had it interfaced with satellite radio, radar, autopilot and WX. I found that the non glare coating on the screen was relatively fragile. I replaced the coating with a protector from nushield.

BlueYonder said:

I found that the non glare coating on the screen was relatively fragile. I replaced the coating with a protector from nushield.

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Thanks a lot! That's the kind of info I'm looking for!

Walt,

To really know the capability, plan to spend an afternoon reading the Raymarine manual and sitting at the helm going through them. Things to find out:

a. How many transducers are installed and which units are they slaved to?
b. Is there a heading sensor (probably yes since there is probably an autopilot and radar involved)?
c. How are they networked together? I think that model uses Raymarines SeaTalk Ng, which is more or less NMEA 2000 with a proprietary Raymarine connector.
d. What type of autopilot?
e. With two displays I would say one is probably run as a chartplotter and the other as sonar although they both can do anything. The radar can be run by itself or overlaid on the chart.

One final thing to check is the software in each unit plus the connected devices like the autopilot. If way out of date, updating it may correct some problems before you find them for real.

Tom

tpbrady is spot on, be sure to have the latest software. Latest software for this MFD is July 2012, so you may already have it. Look for version 5.69 when unit boots up. Easy to download from the Raymarine site if you don't. Here's the link.
Latest Software for E-Series Classic Displays (E80, E120) v5.52
I have these on my boat as well. Spend some time playing around with the unit at the dock and you will get the hang of it pretty quickly. Not the latest and greatest, but functional for sure.

tpbrady said:

One final thing to check is the software in each unit plus the connected devices like the autopilot.

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My software is 2.? and the latest rev is on the way. That's a good suggestion that a friend pointed out yesterday.

sum escape said:

. Spend some time playing around with the unit at the dock and you will get the hang of it pretty quickly. Not the latest and greatest, but functional for sure.

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I'm finding that out and am pleased, for the most part, by what I can do with 2 units. I'm not impressed, however, with the aerial photographs of the various ports & the 3D sounder graphics. (Maybe the new software will improve these? Huh?) I can't overstate the benefits of having twin units. With 2 different screens, there's not much else you could possibly want for improved SA. (Situational Awareness) The obvious redundancy is a given.

Take the manual and put it with other manuals that you don't use. Then take ONE E120, they are both the same, and pull down each and every menu. Look at each option and play with it. You can always go back to factory defaults. These units are very intuitive. The only people who say they are not are the ones that never took the 45 minutes to go thru the menus.
When you update your software use the menu to select the memory card BEFORE you pull it.
You have a 6001 autopilot. Make some routes on your E120. Don't name them because it doesn't matter. You select the route you want visually with the screen arrow. If you want to start at the beginning of the route just put the pointer any where on the route line and select follow. If you want to start in the middle of a route just select a route way point and then select "Start From Here".
One catch, the name of the route is on the chart at the beginning of the route. So if you want to follow the route in the opposite direction, before you select the way point, put the arrow on the route line any where and select "Reverse Route" and the route name will go to the other end changing the route direction. Once you tell the E120 to Follow then press the "Track" on your 6001 and you are off on the route. You will have to hit "acknowledge" at each way point or the vessel will just keep on the last leg. One note. The longer you wait to hit acknowledge for the next way point on the route, the Sharper and more dramatic is the turn to the next way point.
I hope I haven't stated more than you find informative. I have a C120 with 6001 autopilot, radome, depth speed of course and I love the unit. And as stated before by others, get the screen protectors put on your two E120's asap. It will save you some serious cash from screen replacements.
Have Fun.

I put one on my bridge as a backup for the main system, PC running CE.
As stated extremely intuitive. Once updated you'll be very happy with the dual screen setup.

I like this thread as I have an E120.

Pura Vida said:

I like this thread as I have an E120.

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I have the same E120 W vintage as yours, one downstairs helm, same on flybridge, and am just now trying to figure it out.

Got radar and fish finder functions working along with the charts of course....but I have video cameras I get "no signal" error. (one in engine room and the other looking aft outside)

Any thoughts on where to start tracking down the lack of video signal ? (FWIW, I am fairly experienced with electronics in other fields, but not with chart plotter interfaces)

Walt, I'd check all connections and make sure the camera's have power to them.

N4712 said:

I'd check all connections and make sure the camera's have power to them.

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I can check the wiring at the cameras I suppose but have no clue where the wires ultimately run to...would there be some sort of video interface box between the cameras and the Raymarine E120 units ?

Caladan said:

I can check the wiring at the cameras I suppose but have no clue where the wires ultimately run to...would there be some sort of video interface box between the cameras and the Raymarine E120 units ?

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Whoops, you're not Walt got you confused with Codger, my bad.


I doubt there's a video inter face box usually it's just some male BNC connectors on the back of the plotter but I'm not familiar with Ray units.

N4712 said:

I doubt there's a video inter face box usually it's just some male BNC connectors on the back of the plotter but I'm not familiar with Ray units.

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I think you are right, just brought up the install manual online and appears video cable goes directly to the Raymarine back. So, no power to cameras might be the culprit sure enough. And yet there doesn't seem to be circuit breakers for them so it's odd they both would not have power.

After a rather long hiatus from this thread, I heeded a lot of the previous advice, updated the software (I was only about 5 releases behind!) and have grown to love my twin E-120s. I realize that there are chart plotters with better resolution, bells & whistles, etc., but to me, these units deliver much more than I ever dreamed they could. I did change out the ER camera to a modern one which really improved that function and installed a new control module for the fish finder. (All my previous problems disappeared with those two changes.) I'm still learning but the E-120 gives quite a lot of bang for the buck.

Codger2 said:

After a rather long hiatus from this thread, I heeded a lot of the previous advice, updated the software (I was only about 5 releases behind!) and have grown to love my twin E-120s. I realize that there are chart plotters with better resolution, bells & whistles, etc., but to me, these units deliver much more than I ever dreamed they could. I did change out the ER camera to a modern one which really improved that function and installed a new control module for the fish finder. (All my previous problems disappeared with those two changes.) I'm still learning but the E-120 gives quite a lot of bang for the buck.

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Your E-120's look so much more "modern" than mine (and Pura Vida's) I wonder if they are none the less the same except for the plastic surrounds and hard buttons ? Anyone here know what year mine probably are and what year they changed the look of the framework ?