Zero Off antenna failures

[bfreeski]

I am running an informal poll to see how prevalent Zero Off antenna failures are.

 

This week I found out the hard way that unlesss you regularly check your diagnostics screen you may have one antenna that has failed. In and of itself not a big deal, until the other one fails. I suggest everone make a habit of periodically checking your diagnostics. Our neighbors have been kind enough to let us use their boat in the meantime, ('13 TXI) and on a whim I looked at their diagnostic screen and sure enough gps1_fail. So out of four antennas on two boats less than two years old, three antennas have failed.

 

The worst part is that the manufacturer has still not been able to replace them despite being contacted three days ago. Today I found out thry have parts in stock now, but are not interested paying for Saturday delivery.

 

 

[ForrestGump]

@bfreeski It's a known issue. They don't actually make the pucks themselves. They are a part OEM'd from Garmin. They got a big run of bad pucks from Garmin. It's likely that the stock is low because they've had to replace so many.

[chris_logan]

Had the same issue with Star Gazer... Got replacement puck and all is well.

[JC McCavit]

How much are the replacement antenna pucks for the Star Gazer? I am thinking I would like to have a spare.

[chris_logan]

They are all the same Garmin pucks...I want to say it was about $100 or so, but can't remember right off the top of my head

[ForrestGump]

I now keep a spare.

[JC McCavit]

I have often wondered if the guys having problems with their StarGazer system should replace the antenna. I like the redundancy of having two like ZO even though you only need one.

[Jody_Seal]

Just keep in mind that the receivers (pucks) from the star gazer are the same as the ZO units, However the ones from PP are not programmed to communicate with the ZO system.

[bfreeski]

My new pucks should have arrived yesterday. But the fedex man decided he didn't want to drive all the way out here and gave a delivery exception. The best part is I was in my driveway brewing beer all day with a couple other people.....he never showed up. So now I have to waut until Monday.

 

I am definately ordering a spare.

[TDET]

I also have a bad puck but have not taken care of it yet.

Number 2 will probably go bad tonight.

[Onside135]

Not trying to derail the thread, but I think the garmin pucks are common in both Zero Off and PP GPS systems...

 

I was installing the Stargazer and ZBox upgrade in an '05 MC 197 this weekend, and may have experienced a puck failure too. I installed everything at the house and got it all working with a good GPS lock, and everything seemed good to go. Took it to the lake and all it said on the screen was "No GPS data." Can these pucks go bad overnight after the first use. After much effort, I've yet to get the thing working again!!!

[ForrestGump]

They can go bad at any time.

[east tx skier]

Had to replace my Stargazer puck last year. Not inexpensive, even at the out of warranty discount I got. $180.

[mwetskier]

anyone have a garmin part number for the pucks?

[ForrestGump]

Garmin doesn't sell ones to the public that will work on zo or pp.

[skinut]

What are the symptoms of a bad puck?

[ForrestGump]

One bad puck on zo and you probably won't realize it unless you go to the diagnostic screen. With only one, though, you lose differential gps.

[east tx skier]

@mwetskier I found it or something comparable after I heard what PP wanted (at cost). Turns out, $180 wasn't a bad deal at all. I think the one I found was upward of $225 or so.

[skinut]

@ShaneH I must have a bad puck since I my ZO screen tells me no ZO differential lock. It would also explain why my gate indicator beep is delayed when I enter into the course. On one end it beeps at the appropriate gates. On the other end it is delayed by about 20 feet.

[BRY]

When I was in WA both pucks worked fine. When I got to FL a few months ago I got NO GPS on power up a lot. Flipped the pucks and all good, both live. Next power up, NO GPS, so flipped back, all good till next p-up. Flip, flip, flip, very weird. After a few weeks of this I found going through the <> options with short pause at the timing screen fixed it. Now for the last few weeks seems to pick up GPS just fine, diag screen says both good. Anyone else have ZO behavior like this?

[skierjp]

If you have a Nautique with the Link system and puck 1 is out the clock in the Link will read 8:00. You do not need 2 pucks to run Zero Off. You can switch the plugs and and the clock will work.

Skinut needs to remap his course at the other end, It's a good idea to remap from time to time.

The reason for 2 pucks is in case one fails.

[bfreeski]

I think Zero-Off would be able to change the startup process/screen in the next revision to tell you if one of the antennas failed. It would be nice not to find out that one antenna was bad only when your other one fails and now you have no speed control for several days. The downside of this for ZO/Garmin is that a lot of people may find out they have bad antennas that need to be replaced.

[Stejcraftben]

Thought I'd start this old thread up again instead of starting a new one. I've had zero off in my lxr since new (18 months old). I've only ever ran one puck and never had and issue which we all know is ok to do. So last week it started surging and sure enough the puck had failed. I put a new one in which fixed it but as of tonight it started surging and dropping out again. I went into the diagnostics screen and sure enough this puck had failed too! Tried to clear the code but it's active so it stuffed for sure. Is there any reason for this happening so fast? Or are the pucks just crap?

[LeonL]

Switch the plugs, left for right. Sounds crazy but it works sometimes. I've never heard of a faulty puck causing surging. Either they work or they don't. If one is good you don't notice anything as far as function. If both are bad ZO doesn't work at all, just says "no GPS". At least on my experience.