1. Always prepare a suitable area to work in.  This includes space, tools, DOCUMENTATION, and attitude.  Documentation is important so that you can retrace your steps exactly.  This also helps if someone has to be called in later.
2. Have a damage control plan.  Ensure that people are safe while working (Proper grounds, nothing is hanging into machinery, etc).  Prevent damage to machinery or loss of information on electronics.
3. Document Symptom description.  Get information on the equipment (make, model, other equipment that is attached, etc), describe any error messages or indicator lights etc, is the problem consistent.  Does the problem happen when you repeat a certain set of actions or it's the intermittent? 
4. Reproduce the symptom.  You can't fix what you can't see.
5. Narrow it down to the root cause.  This is called a binary search.  You will run simple tests to narrow down components until you find the problem.  For example, if your radar does not appear on the monitor, check the radar and then the monitor.  Isolate which component is causing the problem.  If it is the monitor, start checking the components of the monitor.  Does it have power?   
   • A good rule of thumb is that the simplest things are generally the cause.  Don't assume it something complex, just check to ensure that the plug is properly connected.  You will save a lot of headache in the long run with a fix like this.
   • If possible try substituting a working component.  If there is not power to the Monitor try replacing the cord with one that you know is working.  Of course on a boat you may be limited by the tests you can perform.  However when you call the office you can report that there is no power getting to the monitor.  This tells the technician that he will need to bring an extra power cord
6. Repair or replace the defective component once you have confirmed the problem
7. Test.  Always test the system with the new component.  Ensure that the symptoms went away and that it did not create any other problems

Most manuals have a troubleshooting section to help guide you.  With your knowledge and a little help from the manuals you can fix most problems on your boat.  Just remember to keep thinking "what if".

FURUNO MU-170 monitor is the primary radar screen on about ½ of the boats in our fleet.
 
Let's look at the basic operations of this screen.
 
The FURUNO MU-170 is a stand alone screen similar to a computer monitor.  It is attached to FURUNO 1954/1964 Radar/Chart plotter units with a SVGA cable....the same type of cable you use on your home desk top computer.  It has its own power source, thus its own power button.
 
Here are the controls you will use:

• Power Button...Located on the right side of the unit.  Remember it is independent of the Radar/Chart Plotter power button.
• DISP...located above the PIP button.  This controls what input is displayed on the screen.  Like the remote on your TV at home were you can display your DVD, Video recorder or TV picture etc., this has the same concept.   On our units, only one input is used and will be RGB1 or RGB2.   One of these needs to be selected to see the radar/chart plotter picture.
  • You will also see  a VIDEO 1, 2, and 3 selection which we do not use
  • You will also see a PIP 1, 2, and 3 which we do not use
  • Press the ▲ or ▼ key to select a signal....keep it on RGB1 or RGB2.
• PIP... this button allows you to display a picture in the main picture.  This function is not used in our operation since we have only one signal input.

Adjusting Display Brilliance
The brilliance can be adjusted to almost black for night operations. The display brilliance can be adjusted as follows.

• Press the BRILL key on the display unit to show the BRILL adjustment window.  This window disappears if there is no operation for five seconds.
• Press the ◄ or ► key to adjust the brilliance (available range: 1 to 50).
• Press the ▲ or ▼ key to close the window.