Supplying diagnostic data in support of investigating a problem with your system

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Supplying diagnostic data in support of investigating a problem with your system

Supplying diagnostic data can be very helpful, and in some cases is required, to support investigation of a problem with your Raymarine system. Systems featuring Raymarine's a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs permit customers to inspect and save information about the system's components, their configuration, error logs, and communications via the MFD's NMEA 0183 and SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 ports. In some cases, a system diagram may be requested to support an investigation.

- ETHERNET & SEATALKNG / NMEA 2000 DEVICES LIST - a list of all devices which have been interfaced to the Data Master MFD via Ethernet (SeaTalkHS / RayNet) and / or SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 to be listed along with their respective method of interfacing (SeaTalkHS or STng), serial numbers, and software versions.

- ERROR LOGS - The a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs continuously log system performance data (found within the chronologically latest MFDPP_xxxx.log file) and should the system encounter a failure, then an additional log file will be created each time that such a failure is encountered.

- SYSTEM CONFIGURATION SETTINGS - It is considered a best practice to back up your system's configuration settings on a regular basis to prevent accidental loss. It is also considered a best practice to our system's configuration settings and data prior to updating the software of the a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs. Information concerning your system settings may also be beneficial in supporting investigation of a problem.

- WAYPOINT / ROUTE / TRACK DATA: - It is considered a best practice to back up your system's waypoint, route, and track data on a regular basis to prevent accidental loss. It is also considered a best practice to backup this data prior to updating the software of the a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs. Information concerning your system settings may also be beneficial in supporting investigation of a problem.

- SCREEN CAPTURE: As the saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words" in describing a problem with your marine electronics system. Accordingly, it is recommended that a screen snapshot be executed on the a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFD exhibiting an on-screen issue which you are seeking assistance with.

- NMEA 0183 BUFFER: Should one of the MFD's NMEA 0183 ports be interfaced to a NMEA 0183 talker or listener and there be a suspected communications issue between the devices, then examining the MFD's NMEA 0183 port buffers may be very helpful in determining whether the MFD is transmitting data to or receiving data from the device supporting NMEA 0183 communications protocol.

- SEATALKNG / NMEA 2000 BUFFER: At the time that this FAQ was posted, the SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 diagnostic buffer of the a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs was limited to displaying and logging raw, untranslated (hexadecimal) data received by and transmitted by the Data Master MFD. Accordingly, if seeking to investigate a problem regarding SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 communications within a system, it may be necessary to interface a NMEA 2000 bus analyzing tool (ex. Actisense NGT-1-USB w/Actisense NMEA Reader PC software, etc.) as a spur device to the SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 backbone to monitor and obtain detailed information concerning the system's SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 communications. As many NMEA 2000 bus analyzer products (ex. NMEA Reader, Maretron N2kAnalyzer, etc.) convert the raw SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 data into translated data, such analyzers can be quite helpful in analyzing and identifying problems, and should be part of a properly equipped installer's / troubleshooter's tool kit. This is particularly true for SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 communications problems involving third party devices (ex. engine system gateways, tank level sensors, fuel flow sensors, etc) having a NMEA 2000 communications interface. As Raymarine products are neither designed to calibrate nor assign NMEA 2000 Instance Numbers to third party sensors having NMEA 2000 communications interfaces, it may be necessary to perform such calibrations or assignments using a third party display or a computer which has been interfaced to the SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 backbone and is running software from the sensor's manufacturer.

- SYSTEM DIAGRAM: In some cases, a system diagram (hand drawn will generally suffice) identifying the makes and models of each of the marine electronics devices within the system (including computers / tablets running navigational planning / chartplotting applications) may be be requested to support an investigation. The diagram should additionally identify how these devices have been interfaced to one another.

- CHART CARD(S) DETAILS: While Raymarine's a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs will support LightHouse, Navionics, and C-Map cartography a chart card which has been populated with such cartography must be present within the memory card reader of one of the MFDs within the system of a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs and that MFD must be in the ON power state. As one of the most common causes for chart plotting related issues involve confusion over type of cartography which is actually present within the system's chart card(s), those requesting assistance with chart plotting related issues should identify the type of chart card(s) which is present within the system of a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFDs.


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