Power to DRS25ANXT radar -- unswitched, or switched?

[crck0848]

What is the best practice for providing power to the radar -- unswitched, or switched? Mine is unswitched, meaning power comes directly from a dedicated circuit breaker to the radar. Should I provide a switch at the helm? If yes, do you recommend using a relay?

Thanks.

 

[TheReaper]

The normal connection is directly to a circuit breaker leaving in the in-line fuse. Keep in mind that the supplied power for that radar is 24Vdc.

 

[ucf_motorcycle]

I have the 25ANXT and will say I sometimes wish mine was switched because the radar goes into Stby mode as soon as it gets power. Meaning it’s ready to transmit almost instantly which is nice compared to other manufacturers where you wait several minutes for a warmup. The slight problem is the cooling fan is constantly running. At times it’s the only thing I hear on the boat. I have flipped the breaker on the radar a few times to turn the fan off.

 

[TheReaper]

Yes, whenever there's power to the radar, it's ON and your "On Time" hours will be going up. So, if you want to turn it off, the breaker could be thrown to turn it off or you can add a separate switch to power it on and off while leaving the breaker on. I think either accomplishes the same thing.

 

[crck0848]

@ucf_motorcycle - In standby, I hear a faint high-pitched tone. Is that the cooling fan? Most of the time the sound is masked by the air conditioners, but I guess I can flip the breaker when I want silence.

@TheReaper - in the long term, does it matter whether the system accumulates 50k or 100k standby hours?

 

[TheReaper]

There's no easy answer @crck0848...With a solid-state NXT radar, leaving it on would probably be a better option because power is applied to all the circuits consistently (system remains in a steady state). Similar to a light bulb supposedly lasting longer if left on all the time vs turning it on/off constantly. Having said that, the fans have moving pieces and may not last as long if always running. In a radar with a magnetron, however, it would be more of a factor because if left in stby, it would degrade the life of the magnetron due to it being warmed up all the time.

With either radar, they should be periodically turned off (maybe once a week minimum) to let the circuits relax.

 

[crck0848]

Thank you! I appreciate the insights.

 

[Quitsa]

I have a separate power switch at the helm for the radar because it makes a fair amount of noise in standby. One thing to note is that if you power off the radar after the MFDs have connected to it, you will get a connection lost error.