NavPilot 300 connection errors

[stevemitchell]

I am having a very frustrating time with my NavPilot 300 system. It has been installed on the boat for about 2 months now, and has worked very well since I upgraded it to the newest version of firmware about a month ago.

The last 2 weeks have been very unreliable, and I believe I have traced it down to two new RD-33's I added to the NMEA 2000 network. It seems if one or more of them are on the network, the NavPilot 300 controller can't reach the processor, and fails on start up.

I've spent over 10 hours troubleshooting this, disconnecting every last one of my NMEA 2000 devices, replacing cables, and generally being frustrated. I am starting to think that either the RD-33's cannot be on the network with the NP 300 or there is a bug in one or the other.

NP 300 software is 1.04/1.06 - new from support a month ago. The RD-33's were added because there were old RD-30s I was replacing, and the upgrade kits for the 33's from the 30's fit in the existing holes.

I have a Maretron N2KAnlayzer system with a USB-100 that I have connected to the network, and have watched the bus traffic while I am starting up the NP 300. The processor unit takes up almost ALL of my NMEA 2000 bus, using 80-90% of the available bus bandwidth, and sits there for 10-20 seconds until the controller reports it can't reach it. If I look at the PGNs it is sending during this time, they are almost all 100% Furuno proprietary, so I assume that it is trying to contact the controller.

Can you tell me if there are any known issues with RD-33s? Can you have more than one on a network without conflicts? Can you set individual IDs somehow for them?

What is the current version of software for the RD33?

 

[Johnny Electron]

If you added two RD33s you MUST change the instance number of one of them so they don't have an instance conflict on the bus. You can make the change with the Maretron USB100 and the Analyzer software. Have you changed the instance?

 

[stevemitchell]

I wish I could, but both with the Maretron USB 100 and an Actisense NGT, neither of the RD-33's will accept an instance change. I've changed instances many times using N2KAnalyzer - pretty simple. I can verify that I can change other instance types, but the RD-33's just never take the change.

This makes sense that it could be causing the issue, but without the ability to change the instance, I'm sort of stuck. Is there a newer version of software I should be using?

Here's what I'm running now:

From first boot screen:
RD-33 Booter(1) ver.01.03 (build:2011/04/25)
Program No: 2651011-01.03

From second boot screen:
RD-33 ver.01.11 (build:2014/06/04)
Program No: 2651010-01.11
Unique Number: 23003(0059DB)
CAN bus Module ver. 01.49

 

[stevemitchell]

Standby, after multiple reboots of the RD-33, I have one saving an instance that is different than the default of 0. Will post soon.

 

[stevemitchell]

This problem is 100% the RD33s and has nothing to do with instance type. I now have both with unique instance types, but any time I add them to the network, not only is the NavPilot 300 affected, but about half of the rest of my devices.

Vesper AIS device has a software monitoring app, and it shows the bus becoming corrupted with rebroadcast PGNs from the RD33s.

Rose Point Nemo Gateway actually gets kicked off the NMEA 2000 network whenever an RD33 is added.

This network has worked flawlessly until the addition of the RD33s.

Is there a software update that could fix this based on the versions I posted above? Otherwise, I don't think these can be used on my boat, which is a lot of $ for nothing.

 

[Pthein]

I don’t know anything about PGN’s so excuse my ignorance but could the RD-33’s have been set to rebroadcast PGN’s vs just receive and that’s what’s clogging the system? Look at chapter 5 in the operators manual specifically
5-3 “how to synchronize data source”

Just a guess...

Phil

 

[stevemitchell]

Hi Phil,
Thanks for the note, but that wasn't it.

I found a device on my NMEA 2000 network that, when combined with RD33s, causes tons of garbage traffic on the network. I have around 30 devices on my network, so it took all day using process of elimination to figure out what device it was. I also used both the Maretron USB 100 and Actisense NGT to capture some of the data.

The device in question is from a manufacturer who I will not name but it is a small company and has had some weird firmware things happen in other testing I've performed.

Eliminating this device and doing 2 hours of extensive testing afterwards trying to break things has shown it was definitely that device. Why the RD33s picked up what it was broadcasting and also rebroadcast is odd, but I don't really care as they are working perfectly now, as is the NavPilot.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Off to write an email to another vendor!

 

[Johnny Electron]

Yes a power cycle is required to change the instance of the RD33 or the GP33 units. I think there are others that require it but those two units for sure. If you change the instance with an TZT2, the units will automatically reboot and change. Glad you found the problem. We have been selling and using the RD33 for many years so I suspected it would be something else. I am glad you found the problem so quickly. I will PM you an e-mail address of the Furuno USA service manager if you are willing to share some of the data you collected. It might help another customer that runs into the same problem. Very nice troubleshooting. :jump :jump