Engine Data Disappears from Chart Plotter

[Sweet Justice]

On our 20 R31CB with Volvo 320 hp and Garmin 8616 chart plotter the engine data disappears from the chart plotter display after approx 4 minutes. Turning off the garmin and turning off the house battery, then turning the house battery back on and the garmin back on resets the engine data on the chart plotter for approx. another 4 minutes then the engine data disappears again. I can not keep engine data on the chart plotter screen. This has only been occurring for the last 3 days, prior to that it was fine. I did the latest Garmin software update about 2 weeks ago. I would appreciate any suggestions...

 

[SJI Sailor]

Doesn't sound like your issue, but just in case. One thing I know from ours (Garmin 7612) is that the Garmin systems must all be fully booted up before the Volvo system is booted. I.e., boot and get to main screen of chartplotter before even unlocking the Volvo key (it seems).

Before adopting that startup pattern (which Garmin suggested at 2019 Rendezvous) ours was also unreliable. With this, it has been no problem (so far!!)

 

[BB marine]

My advise is call Garmin. Let them know you did a software update a couple of weeks ago and you are experiencing this issue. They may all ready know about this and tell you what the fix is. They may not know about this and then check into it for you. I have had 2 incidences of after an update I had a failure of communication between my Garmin 7612 and my Volvo engine management. Example : last year I lost part of the fuel usage component GPH and distance to travel before empty. After another update I would be cruising and loose everything the 7612 would freeze up no communication at all. I would shut it down , house battery to off, 5 ,minutes later battery switch on, 7612 power up all is good and it would do it again. Notified Garmin on both issues ( different times ) and they would advise that there may be glitches and a newer update would be available shortly.

Maybe your case. I would advise checking the connection of power to the N2K backbone to confirm you have a good clean power connection to the backbone. Check all you connections to the backbone. Call Garmin they are busy but I have no complaints with there service.

 

[Ralf H]

Hi all,

SJIsailor is right. Let the Garmin system fully boot and then turn on the Volvo system. This should allow the system to work properly. Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Ralf

 

[TMAX31]

I concur with BB marine — give Garmin a call and advise them with your issue. I have a similar problem where my odometer resets to its previous setting after shutting down and restarting the chart plotter. Engine hours accumulates correctly but the odometer always reverts back to the miles I had on the boat at the time just before I completed the last update. I called Garmin and they indicated that they knew about the problem and were working on a fix.

 

[Sweet Justice]

It appears that my problem was just another variation of the same old disappearing data problem. Having all Garmin electronics fully operational prior to turning on the engine battery seems to have been a cure (at least for now). Will be reporting it to Garmin as well.

Thx for the great advice.

Rick

 

[georgesilverman]

This was a common problem on older versions of the Garmin software. Supposedly, it has been fixed in the most recent version. Recommend you update the garmin software to the latest version via Active Captain app if you haven't done so already. Would be interested to know if that fixed your problem.

 

[Sweet Justice]

This was a common problem on older versions of the Garmin software. Supposedly, it has been fixed in the most recent version. Recommend you update the garmin software to the latest version via Active Captain app if you haven't done so already. Would be interested to know if that fixed your problem.

All the software is up to date. I just double-checked today...