Raymarine C120 Classic (or C Series) plotter firmware update

[alexincornwall]

Hi All,

Not expecting an overwhelming response on this as my plotter is fast becoming a museum piece, but has anyone any experience of updating the firmware on now obsolete Raymarine C series plotters?

My C120 Classic is currently running V4.30 (2009) and there is a 2012 version available (V5.16). It doesn't look a revolutionary update (and now almost a decade old), but I think worth having.

I've followed all of the Raymarine advice: Bought a piddly little 512MD CF card especially for the update, copied all files as per instructions, but the plotter refuses to acknowledge the card or boot up in update mode. Am I missing something?

Plotter works fine otherwise so no plans to change the unit at this stage, but would at least like it to be performing as best it can.

 

[pvb]

I did it on my old C120. Think it needed a specific make of card (SanDisk?)

 

[alexincornwall]

I did it on my old C120. Think it needed a specific make of card (SanDisk?)

Interesting. I've not seen anything to that effect in the instructions, but the card I used was a cheapo. May I ask whether the card you used was bigger than 2GB?

I have a SanDisk but it's bigger than the 2GB Raymarine recommend.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

The unupdated plotter will only work with the CF card supplied by Raymarine; I don't know what makes them special, but the original CD card can only be connected to a PC using the Raymarine card reader (Raymarine explicitly warn you NOT to use a standard CF card reader), so I suspect it's a formatting issue. Once it has been updated, this restriction goes away. Your plotter should have been supplied with the appropriate card reader, so I'd try formatting the CF card in the plotter and then using the Raymarine card reader to copy the update files to it.

When I did the update on my C90, I used the original CF card and the Raymarine card reader and had no problems.

Otherwise, try a Raymarine dealer.

 

[alexincornwall]

The unupdated plotter will only work with the CF card supplied by Raymarine; I don't know what makes them special, but the original CD card can only be connected to a PC using the Raymarine card reader (Raymarine explicitly warn you NOT to use a standard CF card reader), so I suspect it's a formatting issue.

I can't see anything on the Raymarine update page about using specific cards or readers, apart from the proviso that cards are sub 2GB. Unfortunately the plotter came with the boat and no such items appear to have been supplied.

 

[pvb]

The unupdated plotter will only work with the CF card supplied by Raymarine; I don't know what makes them special, but the original CD card can only be connected to a PC using the Raymarine card reader (Raymarine explicitly warn you NOT to use a standard CF card reader), so I suspect it's a formatting issue. Once it has been updated, this restriction goes away. Your plotter should have been supplied with the appropriate card reader, so I'd try formatting the CF card in the plotter and then using the Raymarine card reader to copy the update files to it.

When I did the update on my C90, I used the original CF card and the Raymarine card reader and had no problems.

Otherwise, try a Raymarine dealer.

When I updated my C120, I used a SanDisk card and used the card slot in my laptop to load the update on to the card.

 

[pvb]

I can't see anything on the Raymarine update page about using specific cards or readers, apart from the proviso that cards are sub 2GB. Unfortunately the plotter came with the boat and no such items appear to have been supplied.

The C-series manual has a warning in the front somewhere about only using SanDisk cards.

 

[jwilson]

I can't see anything on the Raymarine update page about using specific cards or readers, apart from the proviso that cards are sub 2GB. Unfortunately the plotter came with the boat and no such items appear to have been supplied.

I think the early C-series plotters needed a REALLY small CF card to update - from memory it might have been under 64Mb. I did mine with a 32Mb card formatted on PC with update software loaded and it worked fine. Plotter now long since in the skip though, and I gave the old low-capacity CF card to someone who also needed one for update. Raymarine warning was never to put the original Navionics chart card in a normal CF reader - you would corrupt it and lose your charts. They sold a special expensive CF reader if you wanted to look at the charts on a PC.

 

[alexincornwall]

Thanks for your input. I've been using this webpage which doesn't mention Raymarine specific equipment (unless I've missed something): http://www.raymarine.com/knowledgebase/index-view=3776.html

I'll lay my hands on a small SanDisk and see if that works. Otherwise will continue with current version. You can't miss what you never had!

 

[Deleted member 478]

Alexincornwall, check your private messages.

 

[CLB]

My C120 Classic is currently running V4.30 (2009) and there is a 2012 version available (V5.16). It doesn't look a revolutionary update (and now almost a decade old), but I think worth having.

I've followed all of the Raymarine advice: Bought a piddly little 512MD CF card especially for the update, copied all files as per instructions, but the plotter refuses to acknowledge the card or boot up in update mode. Am I missing something?

I have the update here on a 32mb CF card. I think one of the later updates was to allow the unit to recognise cards bigger than 32mb (or something equally small). It may be that you have missed that update and you are still using a card that is too big for your current unit /software combination. If you can, try a much smaller card.

 

[pvb]

I have the update here on a 32mb CF card. I think one of the later updates was to allow the unit to recognise cards bigger than 32mb (or something equally small). It may be that you have missed that update and you are still using a card that is too big for your current unit /software combination. If you can, try a much smaller card.

Do you really have a 32MB card? The OP is using v4.30 (June 2008). v5.04 (August 2010) added support for 16GB CF cards, as well as a lot of other bug fixes, so is definitely worth getting. The latest software is v5.16 (July 2012), which has minor AIS improvements.

 

[RichardS]

I have the 5.16 update here on a Sandisk card which several other forumites have borrowed over the years and all have successfully updated their C Classics.

If you can't get hold of a very small Sandisk card, please PM me with your address and I'll send you my card and you can return it when you've done the update.

Richard

 

[ZigZaging]

I don't know if this will be the solution for the OP. But I have a Raymarine card reader for sale.

 

[alexincornwall]

I don't know if this will be the solution for the OP. But I have a Raymarine card reader for sale.

Thank you but as a result of the generosity of this forum’s member, the update has been completed.

 

[yourmomm]

I'm loving that you're updating to an 8y/o software version only now

You're motivating me to update my trusty old sl70c after all...

 

[alexincornwall]

I'm loving that you're updating to an 8y/o software version only now

You're motivating me to update my trusty old sl70c after all...

The plotter came with our boat, which we only acquired last season.

 

[pvb]

I'm loving that you're updating to an 8y/o software version only now

You're motivating me to update my trusty old sl70c after all...

Good luck with that, I fear it's far too old now for updating.

 

[Lebendelagny]

I have the 5.16 update here on a Sandisk card which several other forumites have borrowed over the years and all have successfully updated their C Classics.

If you can't get hold of a very small Sandisk card, please PM me with your address and I'll send you my card and you can return it when you've done the update.

Richard

Hello
excuse my basic english ...
i have a c120.
I've spent hours trying to update it.
I bought an 8mb card ... but it still doesn't work. could you help me ?
thank you

 

[RichardS]

Hello
excuse my basic english ...
i have a c120.
I've spent hours trying to update it.
I bought an 8mb card ... but it still doesn't work. could you help me ?
thank you

View attachment 95538

My card is with a fellow forumite at the moment and I can't remember what size it is. However, I think that 8Mb should be small enough.

Is your memory card a Sandisk one? I don't really understand why it should matter but the Raymarine original instructions specifically advised using a Sandisk card so that is what I bought many years ago and it has always work well.

Perhaps try and get hold of a small Sandisk one and try with that?

Richard