for chart loading can a larger SD card be used?

[gordwedman]

After a slightly higher than ususal level of frustration with a boating project I finally got my MFD12 and DRS4D radar and GPS installed and working. Now I need a chart. The one I need is

MWVJNAM035MAP4.1
Pacific Coast and Central America

This has 13 files most of which are greater than 1.5 GB. My question is, do I need to load each file separately onto a 2GB SD card and load each file separately into the MFD? This would be a very slow and painfull process.

Could I use a larger SD card, say 32GB, to load everything?
I have software version 2.05

On a related question, the chart installation manual talks about Copying the file from the PC folder and Pasting it onto the SD Card. What about drag and drop? I almost never copy and paste files.

Would be nice if I could get this going for the weekend.
Thanks :questions

 

[CarinaPDX]

The first thing to do is to upgrade your firmware to version v2.07 (the current version as of this writing). This must be done with a 2GB or smaller SD card. After the update you will be able to use up to a 32GB SDHC card (the new SDHC driver is part of version 2.07). Needless to say there are other reasons to update, so just do it. Also, keep a weather eye out for a long-awaited new firmware update, which should be coming out in the near future.

How you get the files onto the SD card is up to you - I would just drag and drop myself. Using copy/paste seems a bit awkward and definitely slower. Another approach is to download from the internet directly to the SD card and never bother with putting it on the hard drive; this requires changing the download folder to the SD card (and undoing it afterwards) and may not be worth the effort. YMMV

Greg

 

[gordwedman]

Hello Greg and thanks for the reply.
I do recall reading that larger SD cards could be used with V2.07 so I will look into updating the software. I thought of downloading them directly to the SD card as well. I think I will see if I can do that. Once there are on the SD card do I just unzip all of them and then load onto the MFD?

 

[CarinaPDX]

Oops. Forgot about the fact that they are zipped. Best to download to disk, unzip to disk, then copy - or just unzip to the card if your utility makes that easy. The I/O speed of a disk is much faster than an SD card; also doing everything on the card would require twice the size.

Greg

 

[gordwedman]

OK, I got it all done. Updated to V2.07 according to the Furuno USA site instructions. My local dealer, Anchor Marine Electric, Victoria, BC, worked overtime to download all the charts onto a 32GB memory stick which they couriered to me. I dragged them all onto a 32GB SD card (about 40 min for the 18GB) and then used that to load them onto the MFD. Took something like 1 1/2 hours for the MFD to install them from the SD card. Got my unlock code and should be good to go for this weekend. Still a few things to add to the system but got the big stuff done. Thanks again for the help Greg.

 

[CarinaPDX]

Glad to hear you got it all finished.

I do keep forgetting how large those chart files are - 18GB is huge. I downloaded the US charts in the background over several days on the marina's wifi at 64kB/s, which is not something to do in a hurry for the weekend. Having the Furuno dealer do it for you seems like a pretty good plan.

Enjoy the weekend.

Greg

 

[gordwedman]

There was a bit of a panic at first as I could not see any chart detail. I went through all the menus and set everything as I thought it should be and finally I got my charts. I actually think the problem might have been that they started out being zoomed out too far. It seems that If I zoom out to more than 35 miles I just get a gray screen. Is that normal? It made it kind of slow to view areas in Mexico by scrolling down the coast 70 miles per screen. I would have though I would just see North America and then could scroll down to Mexico and zoom in?
Other than this strange operation everything else worked well.

I was surprised and pleased to find that the screen is perfectly viewable even with polarizing glasses. I cannot read my old Standard Horizon plotter while wearing polarizing lenses unless I bend my head at an awkward angle.

 

[Melville]

gordwedman-
It sounds like your worldwide base map for Jeppesen charts is missing.
Look in your catalog for SDVJWWOOMAP02. This is needed when zooming out as you describe. Our part number for download is MM3-WVJ-000 and is a no charge chart.
The file is quite large though, so perhaps your dealer can send it to you on a card for uploading into your MFD.

 

[gordwedman]

Thanks for that suggestion Melville. I did delete some charts before loading the new ones so maybe that was one of them. I will download it this weekend and install.

 

[gordwedman]

Downloaded and installed the Jeppesen world map and that did the trick. Now I can get down to Mexico quite a bit faster, ha, ha. I must say Furuno has done a better job of making charts and updates available than Simrad. A friend wants to buy a Simrad plotter so we were trying to see what charts are available and good luck. All you get from Simrad is a basic description of overall chart contents and then a list of dealers. Cannot find chart outlines or descriptions. Keep up the good work.