Connex will NOT boot ?

[WildCatFan54]

Today , after uncovering the boat , turning on the main switch for house and starting battery , then putting key in the ignition , Connex came up to the start up screen as usual (see attached) . Normally after a few seconds the bilge and blower kick on and the screen goes into "Float" mode. Not today ? 5 minutes later and still on the splash screen. I started both engines , no problem but still no Connex ? I switched the key off and turned off both main switches and waited 15 minutes. Repeated the same process that I have done hundreds of times. Still no Connex boot up ? Both the bilge and blower are working per normal. I suspected low voltage on the batteries so put a multi meter on both. 13.1 on house battery and 13.3 on starting battery so NOT low voltage. Guess I will be calling dealer first thing tomorrow AM unless there are some suggestions from another late model E series owner ? thanks

 

[Sean R]

Can you still take the boat out, just no speedo?

 

[WildCatFan54]

a lot more than just speedometer on E series boats. No audio controls , no lights , no fuel gauge , no manual control of bilge or blower , on and on and on !! But yes, the engines will start and the throttles work .

 

[Sean R]

At least you can still get home if it goes down on the water. That's the one thing on my boat that makes me nervous, When it goes down you are screwed.

 

[212s]

At least you can still get home if it goes down on the water. That's the one thing on my boat that makes me nervous, When it goes down you are screwed.

The Connext is not required for basic engine operation on all of the Yamaha models. Sure you won't see anything on the display, but you can always get home to get it fixed. I was concerned about the display too, but after I read about the engines running off the ECM's and the throttles are cable controlled to the sensors which are also ECM controlled, you should never get stuck unless you have ECM or some other problem that affects engine function. At that point, the Connext display wouldn't matter. The Connext is mostly just a display, rather than a control. The real controls are in the ECM and the Connext just interacts with it and displays the data, and controls on the screen tells the ECM what to do such as nav lights, etc.

 

[Plpbecks]

@WildCatFan54 Bummer! I wonder if this had anything to do with the firmware upgrade dealer did on your Connext. I have not heard of this issue elsewhere on the forum.

 

[WildCatFan54]

@Pipbecks , That was also my first thought ? The dealer sent his Yamaha tech all the way down to Lake Cumberland yesterday to see the boat and ultimately towed it back to Lexington. It will be interesting to see what they find. I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that my boating season is over. It took Yamaha 3 weeks just to reflash the Connext back in June so no way they are going to get in any hurry !!

 

[anmut]

At least you can still get home if it goes down on the water. That's the one thing on my boat that makes me nervous, When it goes down you are screwed.

We have the same boat - if the screen doesn't work, boat still will. Screen is just telling you what things are doing and giving you input on change. Boat will still run without a screen.

 

[Sean R]

We have the same boat - if the screen doesn't work, boat still will. Screen is just telling you what things are doing and giving you input on change. Boat will still run without a screen.

My fear is the connext will work flawlessly till the warranty runs out?Have you had any issues with your 212S mine has been perfect. Had port throttle drop at first but I just had to tighten the set screw and was good to go.

 

[anmut]

Not one issue for me with Connext. Nearly 100 hours on the boat this past season.

 

[WildCatFan54]

@anmut , @Sean R , @212s Thanks for your input but respectfully you are not comparing apples to apples when telling me how your boats operate vs. an E series model . I know full well that it will run . See my OP. Everything and I mean Everything on the E series models goes thru the Connext. Even the buttons on the dash (bilge , blower , lights , fresh water shower pump , throttle sync , etc. etc. ) are inoperative unless the Connext starts up. The Connext is NOT" just mainly a display" as previously started. It is a control and in many cases the only control.

 

[Julian]

@WildCatFan54 Probably won't make any difference, but did you try combining the two batteries to see if that made any difference? The only other step I might try is completely disconnecting the batteries then reconnecting. Lastly I wonder if a blown fuse might take out its ability to boot? I'd check them all.

@tek4fun any ideas?

 

[WildCatFan54]

@Julian Thanks , but I did not try combining the batteries . I did totally disconnect the positive and negative from both during the 15-20 minutes that the switches were off. No effect. Yamaha (Kennesaw) is already in contact with my local dealer to determine if the firmware update could be a factor or if the unit will need to be sent to them for troubleshooting ?

 

[Sean R]

How's the Kennesaw dealer treating you? if I need warranty work thats where I would want to take it, they're the closest dealer to me.

 

[WildCatFan54]

My dealer is actually in Lexington , Ky. and they are top notch !!! Stokley's Marine. They are doing everything above and beyond expectations. The Yamaha Corp. at least the division that handles Connext is in Kennesaw , Ga. When My units firmware was updated to v.39 back in June , they had to send it to Kennesaw.

 

[Sean R]

Ok I noticed you were in KY and I was a little confused when you said Kennesaw, That would be a long haul. Trying to be positive, at least its Sep with boat issues and not Apr.

 

[WildCatFan54]

Ok I noticed you were in KY and I was a little confused when you said Kennesaw, That would be a long haul. Trying to be positive, at least its Sep with boat issues and not Apr.

Yep , that's probably the difference between me being furious and just disappointed ? However we still have some nice fall days in Sept. & early Oct. A couple of my favorite months just to go out and relax on the boat. But probably to cold to swim.

 

[Sean R]

I do enjoy the fall boat cruise.
you are correct it is by far the most relaxing no boards, tubes, 25lbs of wet towels, kid screaming its my turn, dumb ass rental boats, etc... That being said I would still rather have boat issues in Sep than April.

 

[212s]

@anmut , @Sean R , @212s Thanks for your input but respectfully you are not comparing apples to apples when telling me how your boats operate vs. an E series model .

Actually it IS apples to apples, they both operate exactly the same way except for the addition of the single lever throttle sensor probably flashed into the ECM. The ECMs are the same on all of the boats that have the 1812cc engines, and the ECM controls everything electronic on the boat.

I have no switches of any kind on my boat for bilge, blower, lights, etc. just like yours - it's all on the Connext display which uses a modified NMEA2000 network to communicate changes to the ECMs. About the only thing it doesn't control is the steering and reverse bucket position. Even on the non-E series, the throttle body that controls throttle position is electronic. The cables merely control the APS sensors which then send signals to the ECM and it then controls the throttle body position on the engine. I would be more concerned that an ECM pops which means that engine is dead in the water. The Connext really is nothing more than a multi-function display (MFD) made by Actia and supplied to Yamaha. Actia makes MFD's for many companies (you can Google them but not much info as they are not an end-user manufacturer, they just supply other companies). If Yamaha didn't have proprietary code, you could probably yank the Connext and put a Raymarine or Simrad MFD in the dash and use it to control most of the features of the boat. Many Simrad owners connect their chartplotter/MFD to their Yamaha outboards for technical display info.

Yeah it sucks when a central component fails. There are many examples of vehicles with large displays that control multiple functions in the car/truck by touch. If that fails, it's frustrating that you lose so much basic control. But it doesn't really happen a lot.

As for Connext screen failures...how many reports of it happening are there versus how many are in service? I'm betting the ratio is so low it's negligible. But there are manufacturing failures from time to time. I know someone who will never use a Garmin chartplotter because he bought one that lasted a season past warranty and thinks they're all garbage now.

Sorry that you had a failure, but most seem to be working fine. Note that Chaparral has had their fair share of Medallion screen failures too. It's frustrating I know (had a similar issue in a vehicle once), but there are some lemons in the basket from time to time. Hopefully you get this resolved quickly.

 

[212s]

Yep , that's probably the difference between me being furious and just disappointed ? However we still have some nice fall days in Sept. & early Oct. A couple of my favorite months just to go out and relax on the boat. But probably to cold to swim.

You have longer seasons than us poor Canadians. This weekend may be the last outing for our boat this season...hopefully not, but probably. If you get your screen in you might still have some time left?