Navionics and Raymarine

stu9000

stu9000

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Hi
I bought a boat last season which has some kit on board Im struggling to get to grips with.
Any suggestions most welcome.

The boat has a Raymarine A5 wifi plotter on board. Its a good bit of kit but the screen is quite small.
I want to be able to do passage planning off the boat and then port the routes into the plotter.
The plotter contains a Navionics SD card.

I have use the Navionics Andriod app for years.
I would like to be able to import waypoints and routes from the android tablet app to the on board plotter.

There is something called Plotter Sync which shows this can be done
https://youtu.be/aXTuRygzqFQ
I could not find Plotter Sync to download from Navionics or the Playstore. I think maybe things have moved on.
They have discontinued Navionics HD eve though i have just renewed. My shortcut graphic is the same but in settings it shows my recent renewal has got me Navionics+ (UK Ireland and Holland). I think it now has the sync function built into the app. I will try to export routes to the plotter/sd card via wifi when I am next on board.

The SD card does not have an active subscription.

I looked online and for the LX9 "UK Ireland and Holland" region it costs 118 Euros.
It isnt clear whether this is an annual subscription.
It isnt clear whether an active subscription is required to import waypoints from the tablet.
Seems a bit pricey to be spending this on the SD card and another £30 on the tablet app every year.

I have a "Gold" Navionics SD card that is currently unregistered.
I could register it for "small" regions e.g. Thames Estuary.
This doesn't seem very "gold" to me.
Am I missing something?

Another route to manage this would be to plug the SD card into a laptop and do route planning direct to the SD card.
This seems a bit basic in todays connected world but Id be happy with that for now.
I installed "chart installer" on my PC which can read the sd card map but seems not to have waypoint and route planning functionality. Is there another app that reads SD card maps and allows route planning?

Apologies for the long e mail. I tried to keep it short and will save the headscratching over the autohelm not reading plotter waypoints for another post.
 
I think, you are stuffed.

The problem with Navionics plotter sync is that you get all excited and you check the list and think it will work with your plotter, but it won't.

Raymarine in the infinite wisdom have very similar and totally incompatible model names. I suspect you have an "A50" plotter ... this is A series. It is not compatible with plotter sync as far as I know, "but I'm sure it said it worked with 'a' series plotters" ... well, yes, it does, but that is lower case 'a' not capital 'A' ... two different series.

Same with the 'e' and 'E' series ... plotter sync works with 'e' series but not 'E' series.

There is a way to do it, involving exporting a KML file from Navionics, using GPS Babel to convert it to a Raymarine Waypoint File (.rwf) and saving it manually to a plotter card .. but it is a lot of hassle. In theory, it can be transferred over the NMEA 2000 network, and the E series at least actually have a protocol in their ethernet port that will search for a "raymarine route server" and use routes from that, but as it is closed source, it is a secret and they don't disclose how it might work.

Personally, I am seriously considering swapping over to Open CPN and a couple of Raspberry Pi's as I just cannot be bothered with all this closed-source secret protocols and deliberate incompatibility.
 
Open CPN

Hi

Thanks.
I had a look at OpenCPN a couple of years ago.
I even got it working with a USB GPS dongle and VisitMyHarbour Charts.
I was toying with the idea of setting up a fanless mini pc on board which could double as a media player.

Nothing wrong with OpenCPN but i was more familiar with Navionics and didn't have a fancy cockpit plotter at the time.

I have not given up hope yet but if I cannot get Navionics working across the tablet and the Raymarine a75 plotter OpenCPN might be worth another look. I guess the plotter could read data from an onboard pc. Seems complicated though and I've read lots of threads from people trying to make such things work. And then there is AIS, Radar and the Autohelm to integrate.
 
Re: Open CPN

I have Raymarine plotters and have never got the updates from Navionics to transfer to them either. I had hoped that it would improve now that Garmin own Navionics, but so far no improvement.
 
Re: Open CPN

Plotter sync seems to be rolled out more often, we’ve been using it with our Lowrence plotters for the last 2 years, just make sure you have current subscriptions for both plotter and apps. Still a bit clunky but soon get used to it
 
Re: Open CPN

If you had OpenCPN on a PC you can save the GPX file, convert to RWF and copy by card to the plotter. Bit of a faff, but probably as good as you'll get and you will at least have a backup plotter.

Rather than a mini PC, a laptop is a good solution. I have one tucked away in the chart table, connected to a 24" LED TV on the forward bulkhead, operated by a mini wireless keyboard. It runs OpenCPN as a backup plotter and a nice way to do passage planning. Also makes a very nice media centre.

My plotter is at the helm and is a Garmin, it uses standard NMEA protocols (0183 and N2K) and uses industry standard GPX files (as do newer Raymarine plotters). So, i don't have to suffer any of Raymarines nonsense. I simply email the GPX file to my phone, where the Garmin Active Captain app' syncs it with my plotter.
 
Re: Open CPN

You mentioned A75 in one post and a75 in the next so I am still confused as to which one you have ...

If it is A75 you are stuffed, if it is a75 you should be fine.
 
Re: Open CPN

rszemeti said:
You mentioned A75 in one post and a75 in the next so I am still confused as to which one you have ...

If it is A75 you are stuffed, if it is a75 you should be fine.
Click to expand...

I can't work out if you are pulling my leg.
It ISNT the Axiom.

This is my one

raymarine-a75.jpg
 
You have to have active subscription for both for plotter sync to work, and yes the cost is annual if you want this option to work.

There are a numbe4 if software packages that allow route plannng and then loading to the plotter using the SD card but Navionics is easy but does not have all the functions of PC software such as comparing different departure times and tidal rates.
 
Re: Open CPN

stu9000 said:
I can't work out if you are pulling my leg.
Click to expand...

Not pullign your leg, in your two adjacent posts back there you used a small a on the second one, a big A on the first.

The A series such as this will not work:

a-classic-hero.jpg

the "a" series shown in your post above should work, AFAIK.

same with the E and e series ... E series wont work, e series will.
 
Re: Open CPN

PaulRainbow said:
If you had OpenCPN on a PC you can save the GPX file, convert to RWF and copy by card to the plotter. Bit of a faff, but probably as good as you'll get and you will at least have a backup plotter.
Click to expand...

I'm planning to have a RaspiPi with a suitable display at the chart table, with a mouse etc running open CPN, and possibly OpenSkipper/SignalK, not decided yet ... at the helm, I am torn between my old Raymarine E120 ... and another OpenCPN instance hard to decide. The lack of suitable hardware to run OpenCPN on deck is what worries me.
 
Re: Open CPN

rszemeti said:
I'm planning to have a RaspiPi with a suitable display at the chart table, with a mouse etc running open CPN, and possibly OpenSkipper/SignalK, not decided yet ... at the helm, I am torn between my old Raymarine E120 ... and another OpenCPN instance hard to decide. The lack of suitable hardware to run OpenCPN on deck is what worries me.
Click to expand...

I messed around for ages with OpenCPN on various tablets but was never entirely satisfied with it at the helm, because of the limitations of the hardware. So i went back to a chart plotter. On the laptop/TV below decks it's a really good plotter, anyone with a mobo could easily use it below decks. I find it makes a really good/cheap system for passage planning and is also a good backup for the plotter, as the laptop has its own GPS.

I've also got tide software on the laptop and a Navtex receiver. My battery monitor and solar controller are connected via USB. I can watch TV and use the internet/email, listen to music etc etc. I could really easily feed all nav data to OpenCPN with a N2K to USB convertor and even connect it to the autopilot, but haven't felt the need. So i think the laptop/TV below decks and the plotter at the helm compliment each other really well. The plotter is a Garmin Echomap 95SV plus, which comes with full UK charts which can be found for just over £700, less than a top of the range tablet, that you can't get wet or see in the Sun.
 
Daverw said:
There are a numbe4 if software packages that allow route plannng and then loading to the plotter using the SD card...
Click to expand...

I'd be interested to know what you were thinking of here.


I tried NavigationPlanner which looked very versatile but got an error citing a corrupt sd card map file.

Another way forward would be to use opencpn. Gpsbabel is mentioned as good for converting the file before importing to the plotter.
 
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