Airmar Tri Data again........ 4 in 10 years!!!!!!

[Impavidus]

Hi guys. We have another Airmar tridata that has failed. Specifically the temperature reading from the internal thyristor. This is now the 4th Airmar Tri-Data sensor that has failed in ten years. The first two were replaced No 1. By Garmin under warranty No 2. By. Garmin under warranty again. Then No 3 By Garmin as a "good will gesture" and No 4 when when No 3 failed a year later and we emailed their "top media jock". We now we are looking at a forth needing replacement if we are to use the water temperature feature that enables us to see if we are in a warm or cold water spot. OK it's not that important but we use it alot. At £285 for a replacement one would expect a longer lifespan than the 2.5 years or less we have had. Have any of you had the same issues with these Airmar products which are used by most of the boat electronics providers including Raymarine Garmin B&G etc etc. We would like to know. All the best, Ant.     

[Happysailor]

Hi Ant, AI found this possible cause for you:
"Temp on my DST800 stopped working after 6 months. Speed and depth still work. I heard that it is very easy to damage the temperature sensor even with a stuff plastic brush."

Also Airmar published another potential rootcause, being voltage spikes in the NMEA network:
https://assets-7484b3de52.cdn.insitecloud.net/94856545bfec4e0/Customer-Bulletin-Voltage-Spikes-Damaging-Smart-Sensors.pdf