Garmin Radar Error Code 6 - Inadequate Voltage, anyone have any clues?

Roccus7

Roccus7

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Staff member
Learned Colleagues:

I splashed Monday, hooked up the Garmin GPSMap 4212 and fired up everything, including the radar, and all was good on my trip from the boatyard to home. Went out on Thursday and after things hazed up, I flipped on the Radar and got an Error Code 6. When I got back to the barn, and it was quiet, I powered up the radar, heard the normal spin up groan and then suddenly it stopped before it got to operational RPMs, and the Error Code 6 notice popped up. Battery fully charged and functional, good voltage at the power strip.

Before I start taking apart the assembly on the cabin top, anyone have any clues for things I should test or other help full hints?
 
I'm not familiar with the specific quirks that Garmin radars might exhibit, having had a Raytheon (JRC) radar since '96. But certain constants should be there. I would start with checking the power cable at the coupler for whatever minimum voltage your unit requires to operate.

If that checks out, then perhaps the internal power supply that feeds the radome's motor might be degraded. Check the power feed wire's distal terminal inside the radome - you would need to know what that voltage should be - a call to Garmin should be helpful.

Or for that matter, maybe the magnetron's motor itself is going bad and pulling more current to turn than it should.

Those are the three checks I would begin with.
 
Well found the culprit, less than smart Garmin design, coupled with pretty ignorant mounting. I'm the second owner of this boat and was delighted to have radar on it, something I probably would never had chosen to spend money on. I look at it as a safety system; I won't go out in thick fog, but it's nice to have if the fog suddenly rolls in.

Turns out that the Garmin Radar Domes are SEALED UNITS, so you can't do anything inside them, power and signal cables are attached to the unit in ports underneath it. As @Leprechaun suggested it was sort of a cabling issue, in that with all the rain we've been having, there must have been some pooled water under the unit. After 2.8" of rain on Saturday, we've had nothing but clear, dry skies for the last 36 hours and this AM when I turned on the radar, it work fine. Things must have dried out.

Personally I would never mount a radar unit flush on a canopy, not just for the discovered drainage issue, but the fact that you can't tilt it down so you can see lobster buoys and other things just floating on the water. I've been toying with a radar mast for a while now, and this revelation has moved it to the Winter 2025/26 capital expenditure list.
 
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