bAsshole

;? Anyone good with troubleshooting radar issues? Seems my furuno 1741 radar is not working right. I would say 1 out of 20 times i turn it on it is displaying correctly...The targets are very thin and kinda grainy...land shows up very thin also... Was wondering if anyone had this problem and new how to troubleshoot....i have had battery issues lately, could voltage or something to do with the batteries effect the display ability of the radar?

troll

o turn off all A/C (sea and rain)
o set to highest range (36 or 48 in your case IIRC)
o turn up the gain until noise appears
o back off gain until just a small amount of noise remains
o set range to the LOWEST setting (1/8 nm)
o cruise at idle or otherwise position yourself in a channel with some targets such as markers, etc
o add A/C sea until the clutter cleans up and the targets become very distinct
o fine tune A/C sea until you have distinct targets and only slight ghost echos from nearby, hard targets

I *never* adjust gain but will adjust A/C sea if I get to many false echos. Don't use more then necessary or you will lose nearby targets.

bAsshole

thanx for respondng to my question...but its not that i cant tune in the radar its a def a technical problem with the unit somehwere it will display coreectly 1 out 25 times i turn it on and is gettign worse......thin and deteriated taregts and echos i mean....where could problem be and where to start troubleshooting

RichardB

Have you inspected to ensure the the connections at the antenna and the display unit are tight and clean without corrision and/or contamination?

troll

If that is the case then I concur it is likely a connection or voltage problem. You can check the later with a digital VOL. You may want to clean all connections with CRC.

bAsshole

Hey thanx i am going to check all connections and do the voltage tests in the manual...much better idea then sending the 8-10 year old unit into furuno like they say to only to have them just look at it for $75 bux...

Sea_Dad

A Digital Volt Ohm Liter?

bAsshole

I checked all connections, they seem good, reading 12.2 volts at the back of the display...unit is a 1731 MK 3 with open array scanner...i wish i didnt have to call a tech n pay him to hook up a simulator and run tests i could do myself ??? anyone else offer insight?

troll

Since you said it is only on occaision that it misbehaves, you might try spraying the controls with tuner cleaner (if you can get to the back of them). When you see the weak returns do the gain or a/c have any effect?

sigfla

Is it shimmed correctly or are you just painting sky?