Topic: Solix Issues...Maybe Nav Data issues not Power Related

[flipinfool]

Well, last night I believe I discovered an issue thats been plaguing me with chart and 2D sonar freezes on both bow and console Solix 12s (networked). Ive been fighting low voltage issues where my alarms come on after startup of the big motor, and I immediately associated that with my freeze up issue. My next step to fix the low voltage issue was pulling the Interstate 31AGM that came from the factory on my boat, and replace it with an X2POWER 31 AGM. That has helped with the low voltage alarms quite a bit, but it didn't completely fix it as I still get the alarms late in the day during startup of my motor (Merc 4Stroke 225).

What I found out last night is that I had 2 big issues with my SD card and Nav Data. The SD card in my console unit came from my 798 in my old boat. The Solix doesn't even recognize the card and wouldn't allow me to download my Nav data (obviously). Second issue was that when I downloaded the Nav Data I found some way points with no name, just blank fields, and one way point with lat/longitude of 00000. After using Humminbird PC to delete these suspicious way points, and deleting all Nav data from both Solix units and reloading the new data set of way points, My units seem to be working much more smoothly and I'll put a full day on them this weekend to see if I can get them to misbehave. Justin Lucas commented that he is running (2) parallel 34 size AGM batteries as his accessories and starting battery to get rid of the low voltage drop at start up and have the capacity in his batteries to last the full day. He saves quite a bit of weight doing this rather than running (2) 31 sized AGMs, but I worry about charging two batteries in parallel with one port on my Precision MK460PC charger. Humminbird says it can be done, but they dont sound confident in it. I got undertones of over temp errors and possible partial charges which doesnt make me feel comfortable with that plan. Maybe I'll try it if I still have issues with votlage drop on the X2 battery.

Moral of the story is, check all of you Nav data before putting it on your new graphs. Better yet, run the new graphs for a few trips without old nav data as this will remove some variables if you do in fact have some low voltage issues or software based issues on your new unit. I had so many possible issues to diagnose that it has taken me months to get to this point that included a 400 dollar battery, 1 trip to the dealer, and 3 calls with Humminbird customer service.

Now that my story is over, Id like to ask a couple questions.

1) Has anyone ever summarized what characteristics a corrupt data point has when looking at Nav data in Humminbird PC? Obviously there's been a lot of comments about weird dates/times, lat/longitude of 000000 that indicate corrupt way points. Anything else you all have seen that ended up being a hidden corrupt file? I want to make sure I have eradicated all bad data.

2) Do you keep an SD card in each of your units 24/7? It seems to me that all Nav data is stored within the internal memory of the graph, so how does the SD card being in the unit help you? I hear guys talk about storing images, recordings, etc. on the SD card, but for the life of me I cant find an option for saving to the memory card rather than internal memory. Maybe this is done automatically by the unit for recording and images?

3) Do you guys upload the same nav data to both of your units (assuming you have a bow and console unit)? My units are networked and always on at the same time, so I theoretically only need to import nav data to one unit and they share that data. Im having a hard time coming up with reasons to have separate nav data files for bow and console units, and my current thinking is that I really dont need to have nav data imported to both units since they are networked. What am I missing here? Shouldn't I be able to get away with one file of Nav data imported to only one unit?

This is a great forum, and I haven't posted to it much in the past, but I hope this thread answers some questions for folks out there scratching their heads like me last night.

[rnvinc]

Corrupt Nav data can be weird dates, weird latitude/longitude, duplicates, or names that have anything except letters and numbers - no spaces, no special characters  ...
-----

An SD in each unit is advantageous if one uses Sonar recordings for review  ... or to use AutoChart PC software (recordings will not save to internal memory)  ...

To select the option of saving screenshots to a SD card  ...:
*Select the "Images" widget at the bottom of the Home page  ...
*Select "Options" in the left pane  ...
*Choose desired Save location in "Screen Capture Save Location" in the right pane  ....
-----

The only advantage to uploading Nav data physically to each unit is the ability to have access to all Nav data on a powered unit while not powering on the other unit  ...

Rickie

[flipinfool]

Corrupt Nav data can be weird dates, weird latitude/longitude, duplicates, or names that have anything except letters and numbers - no spaces, no special characters  ...
-----

An SD in each unit is advantageous if one uses Sonar recordings for review  ... or to use AutoChart PC software (recordings will not save to internal memory)  ...

To select the option of saving screenshots to a SD card  ...:
*Select the "Images" widget at the bottom of the Home page  ...
*Select "Options" in the left pane  ...
*Choose desired Save location in "Screen Capture Save Location" in the right pane  ....
-----

The only advantage to uploading Nav data physically to each unit is the ability to have access to all Nav data on a powered unit while not powering on the other unit  ...

Rickie

Rickie- Thanks for the feedback! I assume corrupt way points wont actually take me to a real location when reviewing the data point on my graph or when using google earth/HB PC. Is that a good assumption?

[flipinfool]

Well I took the boat out last night for about 2 hours and never had an issue with freezing or slow operation of the graph. What I did notice was that the Voltage on my console unit was fluctuating by ~1V (between 12.6V and 13.5V) while I ran down the lake with the big motor. My understanding is that these new outboards put out quite a bit of charge current and I wouldn't think that my graph would deviate that much (if any) while the alternator is charging.

Whats the most voltage fluctuation you see when going down the lake and vary the motor RPM? I wasnt at WOT; probably more like 40%-50% when this fluctuation was seen.

To me this smells like a bad connection or faulty run of wire, but Ive checked the connections and they looked great. I'll check again tonight!

[rnvinc]

One should not trust the voltage display on the HB as being as accurate as a Fluke multimeter  ...

I have no idea about the variation while the big motor is running because I use a separate battery for electronics  ...

Someone else may pop in with info  ...

Rickie

[hollada]

This is inaccurate...” ..., or names that have anything except letters and numbers - no spaces, no special characters  ... ”
the solix units create a unique internal name for every waypoint.  You can see these names in the xml file (gpx).   You can have spaces and special characters. In fact the solix keyboard allows you to use both in the names.

I too have the flakey nav data issue.  About once a month I need to reset my nav data.  I’m not sure you can always see the issue.  I’ve found the flakey waypoints sometimes like a waypoint somewhere off the coast of Africa (I fish in Michigan).  But often there is nothing that I can find even going through the xml code directly.  I’d just like to have my $6k worth of graphs to work without this BS!