Chartplotter Will not load chart

Bucksribster · 25 May 2013, 10:10

I bought a Lowrance 5150c chartplotter off ebay. It seems to work fine except that it does not seem to load the chart off the SD card. When I zoom in, there is no detail in the chart, just the default high level chart.

I have a NauticPath NP-Europe West card, and I have looked at the card on my PC, and there are definitely files there.

Any suggestions?

Dhf · 25 May 2013, 10:48

I had simular issues with my 5150c, the card that came with mine only gave fine detail of NW France, no good to me, so I purchased a Navionics Gold sd card, which is great and covers all of the UK and Ireland, in admiralty chart detail.
Bit of a ripoff price though, considering it's just an sd card.

j.i.wilson · 25 May 2013, 12:55

If its just an SD Card - why didn't you just buy a cheapo from Amazon?

Oh- because you needed the data - perhaps that's why it was pricey?

Just imagine how much it costs to survey and then maintain that data.....

Cheap I say

Chris · 25 May 2013, 21:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bucksribster

I bought a Lowrance 5150c chartplotter off ebay. It seems to work fine except that it does not seem to load the chart off the SD card. When I zoom in, there is no detail in the chart, just the default high level chart.

I have a NauticPath NP-Europe West card, and I have looked at the card on my PC, and there are definitely files there.

Any suggestions?

Go into the menu system and make sure you have the chart selected. You have to tell it to use a chart on an SD Card I think.

9D280 · 27 May 2013, 10:18

As Chris says, The plotter can only hold so much in "live" memory. You have to select the "display" area..... assuming the card you got wit hthe machine even has your area on it? Where that option sits in your menu structure you'll need to read the manual, but I'll hazard a guess at press "menu" twice & it's in the "setup" option.

Other thought - does a 5150 even read Nautipath charts? (I may be wrong here - Not got my manual to hand - but I think mine will only read Navonics & Lowrance's own format? Having said that if you get the "basemap" on screen then I'm probably talking rubbish.)

And yes, cost of charts - go buy a paper one from a chandler - at £30 odd / sheet and a hundred & something sheets to cover the UK waters suddenly that SD card looks cheap!

9D280 · 27 May 2013, 21:11

Well, talk abut coincidence.... I just tried to change from West to East areas for the Forth Cruise and just got the same problem.

Pull the SD card, clean the contacts! (worked for me).

Bucksribster · 29 May 2013, 19:35

Sorry for the delay in reply. Following the wonderful Ribnet day out going round the IOW, I had to dash off to Riyadh for work, and so communications have been a bit fitful. it is a lovely 35 - 40 degrees here and sunny. Shame there is no beer though.

I did try cleaning the contacts on the SD card and plotter with a cotton bud and meths. This did not seem to make any difference. I wondered if the SD card had moisture ingress, and so I have left it in the airing cupboard while I am away. I'm back at the weekend, and so I'll try it again.

I'll also follow up on the suggestions of menu options, although none was immediately obvious. I have not yet found any setup options, and so this might prove more fruitful. The manual does not seem to be any help :-(

Thanks again for all the help.

9D280 · 30 May 2013, 08:20

I had a quick read of my manual - looks like the Nauticpath charts just appear without you having to tell it which ones you want to look at (which knackers my theory above nicely).

I guess you have gone -<men> - <map data> - and chosen <Nautipath> from the "map choice" menu? (I guess if it doesn't show up there it might hint at a comms problem with the card or corrupted data.)

I did read somewhere that the 5150 has 2 SD slots? - could it be your card is in the wrong one?

Hows about downloading the simulator for the PC & see if it works on that? It might at least prove the SD card integrity. Even without the simulator I would imagine you would see a good 1Meg's worth of files in Windows Explorer (or whatever your computer uses) ....

Bucksribster · 01 June 2013, 15:42

back in the UK now, and bought some warm weather with me from the middle east.

Drying out the card does not seem to have made any difference. When I look at the menu item on map data, it only has "Lawrance' as an option. No option for NauticPath. And I can only see one SD card slot.

When I look at the SD card on a PC, I can see three files there. The largest is called NP-EURW.at5, and is around 95 Mb. Then there are two other smaller files, called International Transas Currents.at5 and International Transas Tides.at5. All the files date from 2008.

The Navionics web app on their website seems to give detailed charts without having any card plugged in. I have Navionics on my iphone and Nexus 7, and it works really well.

A real mystery. I don't want to buy a new SD card, and then find out it is the plotter unit. Don't suppose there is anyone local to Thame / Aylesbury that has a known good SD card I could try in the plotter.....