Glass dashboard isn’t starting/lighting up

[Bwilford]

Recently my dash is remaining dark when I start the boat. So I have no view of my instruments at all. If I restart 5-10 times it will eventually wake up and work fine until I shut off the motor again. I’m afraid that sooner or later it will go out permanently. Has anyone else experienced this?

Btw, I have a 2019 R5 Surf

[Krob1114]

We had a small problem but with ours, probably wife touched something wrong while in a docking crisis.
Screen was so dark, we couldn't read it. At the end of the day, I was able to see enough of the screen to find out how to change the settings.
I even made it brighter than it's ever been so it really stands out in bright sun.
Did you try the manual power off switch?

[rabiddawg]

How long has Cobalt been using such screens?

It’s been at least 5 years since I sold my Malibu but I remember people have many problems with the electronics on their Malibu’s.

[lespaulrob]

It seems like the display has been dimmed down. Go into the settings (when it fires up) and turn off the Auto Dim stuff in the display settings. That should fix you right up!

[katoom450]

He said it eventually “wakes up” so it’s not a dimming issue.
My 2020 R5 surf started doing this so we just traded it in on a new one! Easier than trying to get the service dept to replicate the issue

[Bwilford]

Thanks you to be for your replies. No idea what is going on with it - dealer said it may have something to do with the wiring harness. This is my third cobalt and it’s been a real lemon.

[Lifelongbtr]

Confirm if they are not powering up or not displaying. Try to see if the WiFi is transmitting, if so you can connect to it and view the dash screens on your phone with active captain app, which could be very useful in a pinch. Unfortunately I couldn’t tell you if the WiFi broadcasts at all before you hit “I accept”.

[br7]

Confirm if they are not powering up or not displaying. Try to see if the WiFi is transmitting, if so you can connect to it and view the dash screens on your phone with active captain app, which could be very useful in a pinch. Unfortunately I couldn’t tell you if the WiFi broadcasts at all before you hit “I accept”.

This is a great idea, thanks

[jhnmdahl]

There’s a setting on my Garmin whether to power itself in automatically as soon as there’s power - maybe check that to make sure it’s on. Then, get behind the dash (through the back of the seat in front of it), find the power and ground connectors from the glass cockpit displays, and wiggle them around a bit or plug and unplug them before making sure they’re tightly plugged/screwed in. If that doesn’t do it, you might have a bigger problem.