Radar wiring

[Craig_b]

I have a radar that was on the boat when we bought it but the wiring is not connected.
Going to run all new wiring.

I have looked at the manual wiring diagram. It looks simple enough. Power and ground.
But it does not show a switch in the diagram.
I would assume a switch should be used otherwise the radar would be on all the time.

Just asking to see if im am correct and the power should be fused and on a switch.

Thanks

 

[twistedtree]

It will depend on the radar. I'd at least put it on it's own breaker. Some are also wired to power, but actually switched on/off my the MFD or control panel. What make and model radar? People might be able to give you more specific advice.

 

[Craig_b]

This is the info i have.
The unit only has two wires, power and ground. Comunicates by wi-fi with chartplotter.

 

[Scottwb96]

You're definitely going to need to wire to a breaker. Those suck up a lot of juice! Also, if you have the ability to run the actual radar network cable I would 100% do that. The wifi network produced by the Raymarine head units is pretty WEAK unfortunately. I use the new RayConnect app and I feel like I am constantly having to reconnect my ipad to the network. Kind of frustrating actually...
On a side note, if you can sell that one for a decent amount and upgrade to the Quantum 2, you will NOT be disappointed!!!

 

[tiltrider1]

You need a breaker to protect the wire. The power switching is done wirelessly on a Quantum.

 

[Craig_b]

So no switch needed.

Thanks

 

[Comodave]

Actually my Quantum 2 radar draws 17 watts on transmit. They draw very little power in contrast to a regular radar. But it should still be on a breaker.

 

[C lectric]

Different unit but I installed an ON/OFF switch on my Furuno. Equipment like this becomes a ghost load. Get enough of them and you will be wondering why you cannot keep the batteries charged.

Definitely there should be a circuit breaker in the + feed. If ever there is a short cct. you and your boat need some protection.

In cases like this the breaker could also be the ON/OFF switch. I would also buy a spare of the same type of C.B. but that is just me.

 

[READY]

My Radar is similar (Raymarine HD+ Doppler). Installed it myself on 48 foot boat with antenna on mast and MFD inside the pilithouse. Have not had any issue with the WiFi connection between Radar and MFD. It would have been very challenging if I had to run the cable.

One thing I learned is that you do need to connect your power cable through a switch. Otherwise if you power down the MFD the Radar unit (antenna) shuts off after 30 minutes if it cannot "find" the MFD. I wired mine through a switch but I left it on after I completed all the testing after setup. Then later in the day i turned on the MFD and it kept saying it could not find the Radar even though I knew it had power. There is a small note in the manual that mentions the Radar will shut down after 30 minutes of looking for the MFD. Wish they would print these in bold red letters!

Anyway I am quite happy with the Radar and axiom MFD.

 

[READY]

To clarify you do need every device that has a wire connected through a circuit breaker. The Radar load is low so you could connect it to the same breaker as you MFD but if you turn off the MFD (chatplotter) via the mfd on off switch but don't turn off the CB then after 30 minutes the Radar will turn off and the only way to turn it back on is either via the CB (turn of then turn on) or using a switch in line with the radar if installed. I would probably put in the switch and just share an existing breaker that powers the MFD. I would not want to have to turn off the CB and thus turn off the MFD just to cycle power to the Radar to "wake it up".

 

[Comodave]

I am currently installing my new Raymarine suite. Waiting on, hopefully, the last cable to connect the 2 MFDs together. I have breakers on everything so I can power things off. I love the cabling for the radar, only needing power. There was a Garmin open array on the boat when I bought it. I tried for over 2 hours to get the Garmin radar cable out of the arch. Finally gave up and cut it. The radar dome is less than 10’ from the MFD so I think the wireless connection will be fine.

 

[Craig_b]

Ok so now im confused.......

the MFD turns the radar on and off so i dont need a switch but if i turn the MFD off it wont reconnect to the radar unless i switch the radar off and on again?

Doesnt make much sense to me.

 

[READY]

Craig, the Radar powers on in a standby mode when connected to 12volts. It is listening and ready to connect to an MFD over wifi.The MFD only puts it into transmit once they connect. The issue is that the Radar times out and turns fully off after about 30 minutes if it does not connect to the MFD. So then the only way to get it back is to recycle the power to the Radar. No matter what you do on the MFD it will never connect to the Radar as the Radar is fully shut down . I had to reach out to Raymarine support to figure this out. In summary if you always leave the Radar connected to power and at some point turn off the mfd after 30 minutes your dome powers off and stays off unless you can cycle the power to the dome. Makes sense now? If not PM me and I can provide my phone #.

 

[RCook]

My Quantum radar has power always supplied to it unless I have turned off the circuit breaker that supplies it and several other electronics (which I do not often do). When I shut down for the day, the radar is powered down by a choice on the Axiom mfd that is connected to it wirelessly. If I do this, the Quantum does not exhibit the 30 min time out that you describe.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Trawler Forum mobile app

 

[READY]

Richard that is interesting. I know mine does shut off and here is the response I got back from Raymarine as I was trying to find the problem. Maybe this varies by model.


Response By Email (Joel Doersam) (01/28/2022 12:18 PM)
Thank you for your inquiry. The Quantum radar, when being used wirelessly especially, should be on a separate accessory switch or breaker. The reason is that the Quantum will go to sleep if powered on and not connected to an MFD. That being said, have you power cycled the radar and tried to connect? You asked if there was a Quantum test. There is a test that may be performed with a smart phone or tablet. Power cycle the radar and go into your WiFi settings> you should see the Quantum_xxxxxxx as a hot spot. If you have the wired version of Quantum, you should see it appear as two WiFi hotspots, Quanum_xxxxxxx and Quantum_W3_xxxxxxx.

Joel

Joel Doersam
Product Support
Raymarine

 

[syjos]

A breaker at the panel to protect circuit and allows switching of the radar.

Or

A breaker for circuit protection and a solenoid in the radar circuit to turn radar dome on automatically when the MFD is switched on. Only suitable if MFD draws 0 power when off.

 

[Craig_b]

Got the radar installed today.
Connecting to the MFD was pretty easy.
Seems to power down and start up again without issue.
I did not install a switch just power, ground and of course circuit protection.
Thanks for all the assistance.

 

[READY]

Glad it worked out. Will be interested if you have some time and can do the following test sometime: 1) Power up Radar and MFD and get them connected 2) power down the MFD (ideally also turning off the breaker) and leave it off for an hour or more (but leave the power on to your RADAR dome). 3) Now turn the MFD back on and see if it finds the RADAR. Mine will not do so unless I then kill the power to the dome and turn it back on again.

 

[Craig_b]

Glad it worked out. Will be interested if you have some time and can do the following test sometime: 1) Power up Radar and MFD and get them connected 2) power down the MFD (ideally also turning off the breaker) and leave it off for an hour or more (but leave the power on to your RADAR dome). 3) Now turn the MFD back on and see if it finds the RADAR. Mine will not do so unless I then kill the power to the dome and turn it back on again.

Ok so I wanted to test this in real world conditions. The way I would normal do things.
I turned off the MFD as i would at the end of the trip. Power stayed supplied to it and the radar.
Left it over night.
Turned the MFD on again in the morning.
Selected radar from the screen.
Message appears to inform me the radar is turned off and gives me the option to turn it on.
I select On/Off. The radar turns on but is in Standby Mode. Now given a prompt to turn radar to transmit.
I select transmit and radar begins to function and display on the screen.

Works just as expected. No switching off power to the radar needed.

Hope this helps.

 

[READY]

Thanks Craig. I am going to have to retest mine with the same conditions but I think mine would not find the radar. The only difference I can think of is in my case I powered off the MFD at the breaker (but power stayed on for the RADAR). I wonder if the MFD is really in some type of standby or sleep mode when you power it off via the touchscreen but leave the breaker on? Then when I turned on the breaker for the MFD and powered up the MFD it could not "see" the RADAR as it had powered off after the 30 minutes. Anyway of course all that matters is you got it working!

 

[Comodave]

Craig, that is the way that I envision it working. But I have not installed the Axiom MFDs yet. Waiting on a cable that is supposed to come today but we are having an ice storm so it may not show up.

 

[Craig_b]

Thanks Craig. I am going to have to retest mine with the same conditions but I think mine would not find the radar. The only difference I can think of is in my case I powered off the MFD at the breaker (but power stayed on for the RADAR). I wonder if the MFD is really in some type of standby or sleep mode when you power it off via the touchscreen but leave the breaker on? Then when I turned on the breaker for the MFD and powered up the MFD it could not "see" the RADAR as it had powered off after the 30 minutes. Anyway of course all that matters is you got it working!

I think thats the case if the MFD loses power it will probably all need to be reset from the ground up.
Only time i shut most breakers off is when boat is in storage.

 

[Newtrawlerowner]

Raymarine Quantum Q24

I'm looking for information on the newest Raymarine Quantum Q24 Wireless radar unit. I DO want to run a data cable. The wireless unit is slightly cheaper and even with the data cable comes in less that the same unit with the data cable. Is there a data connector on the wireless unit?

 

[Comodave]

I have a Quantum 2 wireless unit. It works great on the wireless connection. I do not remember seeing a data connection, but I am not absolutely sure.

 

[Newtrawlerowner]

I'm looking for information on the newest Raymarine Quantum Q24 Wireless radar unit. I DO want to run a data cable. The wireless unit is slightly cheaper and even with the data cable comes in less that the same unit with the data cable. Is there a data connector on the wireless unit?

A little more research answered my own question. Units with a "W" at the end signify "wireless only" Units with a "C" signify wireless or data connection.
Q24W wireless only Q24C wireless OR data

 

[READY]

I use the wifi version and have no issues on my 48FT boat. Radar is high on mast, display in pilothouse.

 

[Comodave]

I really liked not having to run a data cable to the radome. It was way easier to do the install only having to run power. My dome only uses 17 watts but I still ran #10 wire to it. Cheap insurance to get good voltage to the dome.