Manual

NAVICO Software Upgrade Tool

English sw 1.1.10

Document no: 20222956

Doc Revision: D
Date: January 2010

The original language for this document is English. In the

event of any discrepancy between translated versions
and the English version of this document, the English
document will be the official version.

To the best of our knowledge, the content in this

publication was correct at the time of printing.

As we are continuously improving our products we retain

the right to make changes to the product and the
documentation at any time. Updated manuals are
available from our website www.simrad-yachting.com,
and are free to download.

© Copyright 2009 by Navico Holding AS.

About the Navico Software Upgrade
Tool
This program is mainly used for upgrading the software
of Simrad products/devices. It can also be used for other
purposes like:
Get an overview of devices found on a SimNet
network
Copy device information to clipboard
Export device information to HTML
Perform factory reset of Simrad devices
Verify that the network is well terminated
Yard commissioning with export of device
information to Excel

Content
Installing the Upgrade Software ...................... 3
Installing the Navico USB IO Computer ............ 5
Getting started .............................................. 7
How to verify correct network termination ........ 8
How to troubleshoot connection errors ............. 9
How to copy device information ....................... 9
How to export device information to HTML ....... 10
How perform factory reset of devices .............. 10
How to perform software upgrade ................... 10
Troubleshooting software upgrade .................. 11
How to use the yard commissioning wizard ...... 12
How to use the service report wizard .............. 19
Simnet Diagnostics ....................................... 20
Appendix A – Parameter files ......................... 21

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Installing the Upgrade Software
Insert the USB flash disk into a free USB port on your PC.
The following dialog will appear:

Make sure the Install Navico Software Upgrade

Utility is selected and press OK to start the installation
wizard. In the installation wizard, continue pressing the
Next-button until installation starts.
After successful installation, the program icon will be
located on the desktop.

If Autoplay is switched off on your computer, the

aforementioned dialog will not be displayed when you
insert the USB flash disk. In this case you will need to
locate the setup.exe on the USB flash disk and double-
click it to start the installation wizard.

The software upgrade tool requires that the .Net

Framework 2.0 is installed on the computer. If it is not
installed, the setup.exe will detect this and prompt you to
install it.
You must be connected to Internet to install .Net
Framework 2.0.

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Press the Accept button to start installation of .Net
Framework 2.0.

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Installing the Navico USB IO Computer
1 Plug the output cable from the Navico USB IO
Computer into a free USB port on your PC. The
Found New Hardware Wizard starts.

2 Select the No, not this time option and press

the Next button.

3 Select the Install from a list of specific

location (Advanced) option and press Next.
Make sure that the USB Flash disk enclosed in the
kit is inserted into a free USB port on your PC.

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 The following screen will appear.

4 Check the Include this location in the search

and Browse to find the Driver folder on the
inserted USB flash disk. The following dialog will
then be displayed.

5 Press Continue Anyway to install the drivers.

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 6 Your drivers should now be installed. Click Finish
to close the Found New Hardware Wizard.

The Navico USB IO Computer is now ready to be used.

Plug one end of a SimNet cable to one of the two
connections on the Navico USB IO Computer. Plug the
other end of the cable to a free SimNet connection of the
SimNet installation to be updated.
It is important that the connection of the upgrade
hardware follows the SimNet installation rules and is
limited to a drop cable length of max 6 meters.

Getting started
The Software Upgrade tool supports two different devices
for connection to a SimNet / CAN network:
Navico USB IO Computer
Kvaser Leaf
The device in use will hereafter be referred to as USB-
CAN adapter.
Start the Software Upgrade tool by double clicking the
program icon on the desktop. At startup, the program will
search for a connected USB-CAN adapter so that it can be
connected to a SimNet network running on a CAN bus.
After startup a screen similar to this will be displayed:

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The device list will display an overview of every device
found on the SimNet network.
The connection status can be found in the lower right of
the screen.

How to verify correct network

termination
If the network is not terminated correctly, you will be
notified on the status bar:

The “Network termination problems” message will persist

as long as error frames are detected on the network.
More details on the network status can be found using
ToolsSimnet Diagnostics

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How to troubleshoot connection errors
At startup time, the Software Upgrade will try to connect
to CAN bus using an installed USB-CAN adapter. The
connection status will be shown at the status bar.
This chapter will present some connection errors and
their solution.

This means that an USB-CAN adapter is not installed or

the USB cable of the adapter is not inserted into the
installed USB port at your PC. You need to make sure
that the USB cable is inserted into the same USB port
that you used when the USB-CAN adapter was installed.
Exit the Software Upgrade tool and correct the situation.

This means that an USB-CAN adapter is installed correct

but that it is already used by another application on your
PC.
Please close any other application that can be using the
USB-CAN adapter and restart the Software Upgrade tool.

How to copy device information

Pressing Ctrl+C will copy the device name, software
version and serial number for all devices in the list to the
clipboard. Alternatively use Edit  Copy device info.
Then it can be pasted into any documents (Excel, Word
etc) by pressing Ctrl+V.

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How to export device information to
HTML
Device information for all devices on the network can be
exported to HTML-file using the menu File  Export to
HTML. The HTML-file will contain detailed information.

How perform factory reset of devices

Select the device(s) you want to reset and use Tools 
Factory reset. Please note that the factory reset only
applies to Simrad products.
Performing a factory reset will set all parameters of the
actual device(s) back to default settings.

How to perform software upgrade

This tool can reprogram or upgrade software on all
products supporting the Navico NDP2k1) protocol for
Software Upgrade. At present time it will only apply to
Simrad products produced in 2007 or later. Supported
products (November 2007) are AP24, AP28, AC12, AC42,
SG05, RF25, RC42, FC40, IS20 Graphic, IS20 Combi,
IS20 Analog Compass, IS20 Wind, IS20 Tack and IS20
Rudder.
Before you can start the software upgrade wizard, you
need to open a Sofware Upgrade Package (SWUP) for the
actual product. This can be done by File  Open, or by
pressing the “No package loaded – click here” sign. You
can also select a SWUP from the list of recently used files
found on the File menu.
Select the device you intend to upgrade by clicking on
the checkbox for the actual device. Multiple product of
the same type can be upgraded simultaneously. When a
device is selected, the device icon will change to .
Click on the Upgrade wizard-button. Follow the on screen
instructions in the wizard.
When the software upgrade starts, a progress bar will be
displayed in the wizard:

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After a successful upgrade, the device will verify the new
software by calculating a checksum. If the checksum is
correct, the device icon will change to . In the case of
an incorrect checksum or if the upgrade process was
interrupted or aborted, the device icon will display .
Repeat the above if you want to upgrade other products
on the list.
1) NDP2k: Navico Data Protocol compatible to NMEA2000

Troubleshooting software upgrade

The software upgrade process will normally complete
without any problems. To minimize the risk of failure,
please close down all other PC applications running on
your computer.
In the case of an unsuccessful upgrade, the device may
be in a state where it seems to be completely lost or
dead. To be able to reprogram it again, you may need to
unplug the device from the network and connect it as a
stand alone unit directly to the SimNet connector of the
upgrade tool with separate SimNet power and
termination.

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How to use the yard commissioning
wizard
The commissioning wizard is used to generate an Excel
report of all devices on the SimNet bus, including serial
number and software version.
Press the “Commissioning wizard” button to get started.

The first time you run the commissioning wizard, you will
be prompted to select the folder where the log file and
Excel reports will be saved. Select an existing folder, or
make a new. Press OK to continue.

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Before the wizard can start, we need to determine the
installed Excel language. If this cannot be done
automatically, you will be prompted to select it from a
list.

The first page on the wizard is used to verify that the

connection to the CAN bus is OK. There should only be
green markings. If everything seems to be OK, press
Next to continue.

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On the second wizard page you select the boat type and
enter the hull number. If the boat type is not in the list,
just enter a new type directly in the text field, or click on
the New-button.

Select the boat dealer and destination country from the

list. Press Next to continue.

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Any device not detected on the SimNet network can be
filled in manually in this page. Only devices following the
NMEA2000 standard will be automatically discovered.
Clicking the Next button will create an Excel sheet with
the information provided at Step 2, 3 and 4. Device
information (name, version and serial) from all devices
on the SimNet bus will be added to the sheet.

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Notice that the filename is given automatically and
consists of the boat type, hull number and country code.
The file is saved in the selected log folder.
The commissioning wizard will go to the next page.

In this page you select the devices that should be reset

to factory defaults (see below) after the installation has
been completed. The Plug and Play reset is used to reset
all source selections on devices complying with the
“SimNet Plug & Play” standard.
Plug and Play reset can be useful if for instance a
preliminary wind vane has been used for system testing
and the mast with a final wind vane is mounted later on.
If any of the boxes are checked, the text on the Next-
button changes to Reset.
Pressing Next/Reset button will take you to the next step
in the wizard.

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If the instrument language differs from the language in
the destination country, you will be prompted to switch.

Default instrument units are imperial. If the destination

country uses metric units, you will be prompted to switch
units to metric. The effect would be:
Depth: Feet  Meters
Volume: Gallons  Litres
Temperature: Fahrenheit  Celsius

The next page is the sea trial parameter setting page.

This page can be used to command the autopilot sea trial

settings. If these settings are known for a given boat
type, they can be provided in a parameter file.

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The Yard Commissioning Wizard will search for a file
named “<boat type>_Params.xml” where <boat type>
refers to the boat type entered at Step 2 of the wizard.
Parameter files for different boat types should be put in a
Params folder as illustrated above.
See Appendix A for an explanation of how to make the
parameter files for different boat types.
Clicking on the Set default parameters or Skip button
takes you to the final page of the wizard.

On the final page of the wizard, a summary of the

commissioning process will be presented.

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How to use the service report wizard
The service report wizard is used to generate an MS Excel
report of all installed equipment on the SimNet bus,
including serial number and software version. It is started
by pressing the “Service Report wizard” button.
The Service Report should be used by service dealers
having performed a service of some of the devices
installed on the boat.
The wizard is similar to the first four steps of the Yard
Commissioning wizard, please refer to the previous
section for details.
The generated report is a two page MS Excel document.

The first page is to be filled out by the service dealer.

The second page contains details of the installed
equipment and is generated automatically by the wizard.

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Simnet Diagnostics
You can use the Simnet Diagnostics dialog to get a quick
overview of the status and activity on the network. Open
the dialog using meny Tools->Simnet Diagnostics.

Data Description

CAN Status Read the network connection status of

the software upgrade tool.
Tx Status The transmit status of the software
upgrade tool.
Rx Status The receive status of the software
upgrade tool.
Frames / s Total number of frames
Busload How many percent of the network that
is being utilized.
Tx errors CAN tx error counter read from the
CAN controller in the USB-CAN
adapter.
Rx errors CAN rx error counter read from the
CAN controller in the USB-CAN
adapter.
Rx overflow Number of frames that could not be
received into the software upgrade
tool.
Error frames/s The number of error frames read on
the network last second.

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Appendix A – Parameter files

Parameter files are edited in a text editor like Notepad.

Use the sample file provided in the Samples folder as a
base.

Quick instructions
Copy the sample file from the Samples folder into
the Params folder.
Rename the file to <boattype>_Params.xml
Edit the parameter values in the new file.

Detailed instructions

Copy the sample file from the Samples folder into

the Params folder. The sample file is called
BoatX_Params.xml. The Samples and Params
folders are found in the Software Upgrade
application directory. On an English Windows PC
this will be “C:\Program Files\Navico Egersund
AS\Software Upgrade”.
Rename the file to <boattype>_Params.xml.
Change <boattype> with the actual name you
use as boattype in the commissioning wizard. So
if you have a boattype called 320, then the
corresponding parameter file should be named
320_Params.xml.
Edit the parameter values in the new file. Use a
text editor like notepad. Rightclick on the
parameter file in My Computer / Explorer and
choose “Open with” and select Notepad. When
the file is opened you will see something like this

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Change the value for each of the parameters so
that it corresponds to the sea trial parameter
values in the Autopilot (AP24, AP28 or similar).
In order to know which values to use you need
to perform a real sea trial with this or a similar
boat.

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