Help Needed - Communication Errors

[J3rd]

Our 2018 242 limited S E series is showing multiple communication errors. Joystick, gps, spu 25-15, stereo, depth transducer and something referred to as NMEA0183 connection. The pages on my Connext screen will also change randomly as we are moving. It seems to only occur at speeds over 15MPH and is very random. We had one of these errors pop up last season, and once we restarted the engines after shut down, we never saw it again.
My local service folks said they found nothing at my service visit before this season. I have checked connections as well as pulled the joystick plug and re-inserted the plug firmly. My voltage on both batteries is above 13.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thx in advance.

 

[Weeb]

Maybe try disconnecting and reconnecting the batteries to reboot it.

 

[swatski]

SOmetimes battery main terminals and connections may be lose, COnnext is extremely sensitive to electrical gremlins.
If you do not have the "voltage reading fix" some boats with Connext show misleading voltage readings as there is continuity on one of the SPUs.
Maybe temporarily switching to "combine both batteries" - after a complete disconnect clearing the codes?

--

 

[J3rd]

Weeb and swatski,
Thx so much for the ideas. I'll post back if this does the trick. If you think of anything else, please let me know

 

[Julian]

In my boat the gateway control module is in the battery compartment and has a strange type of connector plug on it. Make sure you pull those connectors apart and check for moisture intrusion and good seating of the pins. Other than that, double/triple check the fuses in the battery compartment....that is what caused my gateway errors (no fuel reading, no GPS, no stereo).

 

[jjmparsons]

NMEA Codes showed up on my boat (2011 242 Limited S) recently as well and I could not get the port side engine to start at all. Turn of the key cause the screen to quickly dim as if it was trying to engage but it wouldnt do anything.

A quick search on Google pointed the main issue to being the boat was getting too hot. I had left it in the water a day or two with the new solid black cover on and I have to say it was sweltering!

In the end we left the boat open for a bit, got in and started it up and hasnt thrown any codes since. I offer no solution here, just my own experience with the NMEA codes that randomly popped up one day. Your boat is certainly quite a bit more advanced than mine so I hope you found some resolution and assistance from the great members in this forum.

JJ

 

[J3rd]

In my boat the gateway control module is in the battery compartment and has a strange type of connector plug on it. Make sure you pull those connectors apart and check for moisture intrusion and good seating of the pins. Other than that, double/triple check the fuses in the battery compartment....that is what caused my gateway errors (no fuel reading, no GPS, no stereo).

Good idea, I had not thought about the other potential gateway closer to the battery, but combined with the previous advise, of the Connext being so sensative to voltage changes in the battery terminal, I should have thought to look at that as well. Thx!

 

[J3rd]

NMEA Codes showed up on my boat (2011 242 Limited S) recently as well and I could not get the port side engine to start at all. Turn of the key cause the screen to quickly dim as if it was trying to engage but it wouldnt do anything.

A quick search on Google pointed the main issue to being the boat was getting too hot. I had left it in the water a day or two with the new solid black cover on and I have to say it was sweltering!

In the end we left the boat open for a bit, got in and started it up and hasnt thrown any codes since. I offer no solution here, just my own experience with the NMEA codes that randomly popped up one day. Your boat is certainly quite a bit more advanced than mine so I hope you found some resolution and assistance from the great members in this forum.

JJ

JJ,
We had run for a while with no codes, but I sure hope it wasn't the heat as that would be bad for future outings. The increased heat could sertainly make moisture and bad connections show up easier after a bit of running though.
Thx!

 

[jjmparsons]

JJ,
We had run for a while with no codes, but I sure hope it wasn't the heat as that would be bad for future outings. The increased heat could sertainly make moisture and bad connections show up easier after a bit of running though.
Thx!

I agree completely! Here I was thinking frigging melting ignition grommets and the oozing black tar of death all over the boat was my only issue..... LMAO!!!!!

 

[J3rd]

To All,
No luck on the resets so far. Ran into a new piece of info today. Had the boat out today and the codes came back. An interesting development is that the codes went away when it went above 6200 RPMs, the code errors stopped? I thought the alarms came above 2500 RPMs because of vibration maybe affecting the battery connections based on thoughts from the forum, but the connections are rock solid now.
I initially thought the error codes going away as we increased engine RPMs was just a coincidence, but it was repeatable multiple times.
Any thoughts on this crazy development?
Thx in advance

 

[tomthebomb690]

Our 2018 242 limited S E series is showing multiple communication errors. Joystick, gps, spu 25-15, stereo, depth transducer and something referred to as NMEA0183 connection. The pages on my Connext screen will also change randomly as we are moving. It seems to only occur at speeds over 15MPH and is very random. We had one of these errors pop up last season, and once we restarted the engines after shut down, we never saw it again.
My local service folks said they found nothing at my service visit before this season. I have checked connections as well as pulled the joystick plug and re-inserted the plug firmly. My voltage on both batteries is above 13.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thx in advance.View attachment 97587View attachment 97589View attachment 97591View attachment 97592View attachment 97593View attachment 97589View attachment 97590

dealer fixed mine today same problem..it was wire with to much srink wrap on it at the dual battery set up …wires were tight but had bad connection from factory ..

 

[J3rd]

Tomthebomb690,
Thanks for the info. We have had better luck this season after literally pulling all connections down and re-connecting. I did run into several connections that were not something I would consider to my standard, but admittedly, I'm retentive like that about my stuff. We have only one brief error since then with the boat actually starting when it was in gear despite it reading neutral on the display. Thank goodness that has not repeated so I have not taken down the throttle by wire communication system just yet.
Congrats on the 27. Those like very nice.

 

[jonesw67]

I had a whole series of errors keep coming up randomly, from no fuel (when full) to no battery voltage, communication lost, shallow water when in 20ft etc. took a while for dealer to correct it working with Yamaha Techs..... eventually they identified a bad ground wire, that when fixed, all errors went away.

 

[zuwenhe]

Tomthebomb690,
Thanks for the info. We have had better luck this season after literally pulling all connections down and re-connecting. I did run into several connections that were not something I would consider to my standard, but admittedly, I'm retentive like that about my stuff. We have only one brief error since then with the boat actually starting when it was in gear despite it reading neutral on the display. Thank goodness that has not repeated so I have not taken down the throttle by wire communication system just yet.
Congrats on the 27. Those like very nice.

Hi. J3rd, did you get rid of all the problems? I just had the same issues on my boat last saturday when i went out to the sea. the BCU was beeping crazily (and scary as I am a new boater).

When you said you pulling all the connection down, where are those connections? I mean that everything is connected to each other on boat. I can not just pull everything off, and the space is tight in many locations. Thanks in advance.