Upgrading instrument firmware

[mlthomas]

Our ST70’s display trip would not reset and was diagnosed by Raymarine as requiring a firmware upgrade as it was a known fault on v2.02. This would also mean taking the displays out and sending them down, not something I fancied so here is what I did (not saying it is the right thing to do). All our instruments are linked via SeaTalk – or this won’t work and you would have to send them away.
Download the software programme onto an SD flash card (two parts, boot loader and firmware) and off to the boat
Sorry for all the glare on the images.
ST70 with its ‘stuck trip’

With the power off, replace the chart map flash card with the card containing the software and power up. It does take an un-nerving time to load.

Highlight boot loader and on the bottom of the screen one of the soft buttons will say upgrade unit, in our case we had to do this twice as we have two units requiring this upgrade.

Once this is complete, highlight the firmware version (our case v2.05), select upgrade remote unit, select the head unit and press the soft key for upgrade unit

Your head unit will look like this during the upgrade, which takes a while

Then, all being well the unit will have the upgraded firmware

Power off (at the control panel, not local to the instruments), replaced the chart software and powered the instruments up
And in our case, the trip would now reset

Took me an hour to do both

 

[DogWatch]

Do the ST70s have the same problem as my 435 plotter, in that you can't turn the light off completely. I have to put the cover on at night when I need to save my night vision... I have requested the 'dim' is not dim enough on raymarine Q&A but never had a response..

They have not replied to my 'can we have markers as well as waypoints' to allow skippers to mark moving local channel buoys.. that and 'can we have some pictures of buoys rather than X and skull and cross bones' for waypoint graphics too.

I am amazed you received a response.

 

[NorthUp]

Do the ST70s have the same problem as my 435 plotter, in that you can't turn the light off completely. I have to put the cover on at night when I need to save my night vision... I have requested the 'dim' is not dim enough on raymarine Q&A but never had a response..

QUOTE]

Are you just dimming down the backlight?
Try menu- system setup-scroll down to day/night- press night.
Then dim down the backlight further if required.

Much easier on the eyes at night.

Apologies if you already know this- it does not seem to be in the Raymarine downloadable manual. I have a different model, but the menus appear the same.

 

[DogWatch]

Are you just dimming down the backlight?
Try menu- system setup-scroll down to day/night- press night.
Then dim down the backlight further if required.

Much easier on the eyes at night.

Apologies if you already know this- it does not seem to be in the Raymarine downloadable manual. I have a different model, but the menus appear the same.

Never tried it, yes I have been just turning down the backlight rather than switching night/day on the menu. I will take it with us this weekend and play with that..

bit of a rigmarole if that is what it takes, but a solution will be welcome.

 

[davidwf]

Where did you get the software? I had a rummage around Raymarines site but could not find it.

 

[DogWatch]

Are you just dimming down the backlight?
Try menu- system setup-scroll down to day/night- press night.
Then dim down the backlight further if required.

Much easier on the eyes at night.

Apologies if you already know this- it does not seem to be in the Raymarine downloadable manual. I have a different model, but the menus appear the same.

Cheers for the thought, I had a look through the menus and there is no day/night setting on the plotter.. there is one on my RM radar.

I will try the feedback pages on RM again, but I don't hold out any hope with their current situation being what it is.

 

[jfm]

Thanks for write up. I did the same, about a month ago. I have six of them so it took ages. I was hoping the new version software would also include a dim-all-lights-in-synch function, but it doesn't and Raym say I have to wait for the next version for that, in 6mths time

Davidwf, the software isn't on their website. You have to get a friendly dealer to supply it to you. If you've bought loads of gear from your dealer I expect they will, and Raym don't mind dealers giving the software to customers who know what they're doing with it. Also Raymarine tech support themselves emailed me some updated software, as a file attachment.

mlthomas, it's interesting that you are installing s/ware via the latest W series screen and yet the glitch that you get with the E120s still exists. See your second pic, it shows the EXISTING s/ware on the ST70 as v2.2. That's not correct, as it is (was) 2.02. The machine fails to display the zero. Then you installed 2.05. If you had been using an E120 you'd have got a warning "Do you really want to install an earlier version of the s/ware?", cos the stupid machine thinks you are trying to install 2.05 over 2.2. You have to click "yes", then it installs

Maybe on the C series Wide they got rid of the error message? I now have E140W's so I'll see if it's any better next time I install software

 

[fmoran]

I have to say in Raymarine's defense that I have always found their technical support very good, also willing to step outside the box to get problems resolved. I have a lot of their equiptment on my yacht ( and previous one ) and have had problems. However their support has been so good I have had no hesitation in continuing to purchase their gear. I live / sail in Scotland and have no connections with Raymarine - just a satisfied customer.