Navman & C-Map issues

pelorus32 · 09 March 2005, 00:09

We have a Navman 5500 plotter which has had constant problems with losing fix and then regaining and then losing, sometimes displaying false positions and finally crashing. Once restarted it then goes through the whole process all over again until we give up and switch it off.

Navman tech support have been really fantastic and very supportive as we have worked through checking the installation, checking the plotter, replacing the plotter (x2), checking and replacing the aerial.

All to no avail. It struck me that the only thing that we haven't checked is the C-Map cartridge that we use (only 1).

Does anyone on the forum have any experience with problems with C-Map catridges in Navman plotters. Does anyone have any experience of the kind of problems that we are experiencing and how did you resolve it.

I have great hopes of this forum. It was here that I finally found the answer to the NMEA to Navman Repeat problem.

Regards

Pelorus

ribbett · 09 March 2005, 01:18

Check your s/w level is 157. Displays at boot up. Duff cmaps will upset the units. Ribbett

Swifty · 09 March 2005, 09:14

Just a thought, have you turned EGNOS off?
My 5100 kept throwing warnings up all the time.

Brian · 09 March 2005, 09:17

Just a guess.

Surely if you remove the chip completely, wont this still give you a postional fix etc.?? Just no cartography.
If it now works-it's the chip. If it has the same set of problems, the chip can be eliminated.

Or am I reading this thread all wrong again?

pelorus32 · 09 March 2005, 21:44

Hi Brian,

no you are reading it right. I just wanted to know if others had experienced a similar problem and/or whether the underlying problem was a known issue with another cause.

My difficulty is that this fault is intermittent. The plotter will work faultlessly for a time - sometimes quite a long time - and then go off its head.

As an example we left Melbourne at 2100 recently and travelled down Port Phillip and conducted an interesting pilotage down the West Channel to Queenscliff - all ably supported by the plotter. then we left and crossed Bass Strait and went down the East Coast of Tasmania, still supported by the plotter. Then off it went. Despite all best efforts - GPS restarts. Power off, give it a rest, power on etc it steadfastly refused to do anything but gain and lose fixes, crash and give wrong fixes.

I would have thought that if it was the C-Map it would be a steady rather than an intermittent fault.

Regards

Pelorus

Biggles · 10 March 2005, 18:23

This might have nothing to do with your problem but:-

My Garmin GPS had corroded pins on the back of the unit where the plug goes in. It wasn't visible to the naked eye but if the cable was moved it reset the unit. Maybe you have an electrical connection problem.

Worth a look anyway.

gavin · 10 March 2005, 19:37

Is the unit forgetting waypoints aswell , and does it on repower up start at a different zoom level, the reason I ask is we had one with a loose battery which is built onto the circuit board, one of ours and I wont go there was prone to crashing each time we passed a coastal radio station, for instance ships mf or vhf may have upset it

marknj · 10 March 2005, 21:53

Yes c-maps can be faulty and cause this sort of problem .I have not seen any probs with them in navman kit, your local dealer should be able to help you out and perhaps lend you another card to prove the point.

pelorus32 · 14 March 2005, 21:51

This weekend we spent three days away. The plotter started acting up after 10 minutes and finally after half an hour we pulled out the C-Map cartridge.

After that it functioned faultlessly for the whole weekend. We've got on to the dealer this morning to sort out the C-map cartridge.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

Pelorus