New Furuno TZT12F touch 3 screen went dark

[Fish-a-Palooza]

I have been installing my new Furuno TZT12F system and everything was coming along well. I had the NXT Radar operational, the SCX20 satellite compass is operational, BBWX4 weather is working, Even the nmea0183 output from the MFD to my VHF radios was sending GPS coordinates. I had everything running for about 2 hours with the radar in standby and was working on the final clean up when I noticed the MFD screen had gone blank. There was no response from any of the controls and resetting the power had no effect so I removed the power cord and checked power. I have 13.24 volts going into the unit which is plenty.

The unit did feel a bit on the warm side so I figured it had shut itself down due to overheat and would reset after it cooled down. I went home, taking the MFD with me. The next day I reinstalled the unit and still no response, I didn't get the familiar beep beep when you power on the unit, but I could hear the internal fan running. I called Furuno tech support in Camas and spoke with Mike. We went through several things it might have been and came up with sending the unit in to the service center.

Tech support had me disconnect all connections including power to see if one of the external hookups was causing the issue and nothing changed. He had me tap the screen and the power button repeatedly to see if I had accidently turn the brightness down.

So, all that said I thought I would put it up here to see if anyone else has had this problem and the possible solution before I send the unit in.Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[scotch_bonnet]

same happened to me on same day; stripped every connection off brand new TZT12F except for Power connector and chassis ground, got 1/4 of the way across the 'progress bar' of booting up, then:
- screen went and stays dark
- unit just sits there and beeps every 2.5 or so seconds

Not a great start; my original equipment Raymarine stuff has lasted for 16 years, Furuno won't even boot up on Day 2, just finished install Friday night and on Saturday on startup de nada.

now the waiting for email tech support to respond next week to see if I have to wait the same interminable months of backorder time to find out what is wrong... there goes the early season.

 

[gtstang462002]

Had a similar issue. Turns out for me it was a user error. Boot the unit up. When the unit has had sufficient time to boot, press the power button, then press it one or 2 more times and see if the screen starts to brighten up.

By design, if you touch the power button more than once it will start dimming the screen with each press until it is dark, then it will start brightening the screen. Hope this is the simple answer that resolves your issue and it is not something more intense that requires service.

 

[Johnny Electron]

If the screen goes black like that it is normally because the local time offset isn't set correctly and someone has put the unit into Automatic DAY/Night mode. When the sun starts going down in Europe (GMT time) the unit will auto dim into night mode. If using the automatic mode, it is very important to setup the unit with the correct local time offset.

 

[Fish-a-Palooza]

I believe the time offset was set correctly. We tried the hit the power button as well with Tech support. I hooked it back up to power this morning, tried hitting the power button repeatedly and still had the same issue. When I apply power the internal fan starts running but it's unresponsive to any of the controls and to be clear that's with only the power cord hooked up.

At any rate I sent the unit in this morning so hopefully I'll know something soon.

 

[Johnny Electron]

I would seriously check the multi conductor cable to ensure none of the wires are shorting or touching something. That cable is directly to the main board and nothing that you want shorting out. That and bad boat power/ground system is about the only thing I have seen cause something like that with exception to running the unit in hot areas without good ventilation behind the unit. I saw this with a boat in Brazil where they kept smoking the unit due to excessive heat with no air movement behind the unit. If the hardware is a problem the service center will resolve it.

 

[Fish-a-Palooza]

So I got my unit back stating "Replaced faulty main board". Kudos to the Tech service center for the quick turnaround. I came back here and read your post so I haven't plugged it back in yet. I went back and looked at the multi cable as well as the cable I used to connect my two VHF radios and I haven't found anything I could say for sure may have caused the problem. I have sealed all the unused ends of the multi cable and the connector cable with liquid electrical tape.

So now I have a question please...I was looking at a Furuno NMEA0183/NMEA2000 converter cable that appears to hook into the n2k network and then directly to my 2 NMEA0183 VHF radios. Looking at my installation book for the MFD it appears that it only sends NMEA0183 info via the multi function cable. Will a converter cable via the n2k be able to receive GPS data for my VHF radios?

 

[Johnny Electron]

If the radio puts out both DSC and DSE (both must be transmitted) the plotter can plot a direct call or DSC target. As you note, the TZT3 has 0183 but only output. To input you would use a NMEA 0183 to 2000 converter and put it on your 2000 bus. Yes, the IF-NMEA2k2 device is bi-directional when wired with all four NMEA 0183 wires (2 in (hot & cold) and 2 out).

 

[Aaronn78]

hi guys
If your screen suddenly goes black like that, it's usually due to an incorrect local time offset setting, especially if the unit is in Automatic DAY/Night mode. The unit tends to dim into night mode when it perceives evening hours in GMT time, which can be problematic if the local time offset isn't configured correctly. Free Fire Name