True Vs Magnetic

[B4A]

Originally Posted by jackdale

I am stumped.

So am I! But thanks for trying to help. I'm chasing Raymarine on Instagram, to see if they have more incentives to help me with something more valuable than their CS laconic "reset to factory settings".

Which, as you can understand, I'm not willing to do.

Displaying TWD in true is a very important thing to me.

[Kelkara]

At the risk of stating the obvious ... you have set the Variation correctly? You won't get anything in True without Variation data. The previously linked manual seems to suggest there is an option "User Preferences->Variation" (p76 and p81).

[B4A]

Originally Posted by Kelkara

At the risk of stating the obvious ... you have set the Variation correctly? You won't get anything in True without Variation data. The previously linked manual seems to suggest there is an option "User Preferences->Variation" (p76 and p81).

Thank you Kelkara. You might be on the right track. When I go to Variation I see this:

Variation:

Variation mode Slave
Variation range 15^ W

I can only select Slave, and then I see:

On
Off
Slave

The option selected is: OFF

All options are greyed out and I can't make a selection.

[Kelkara]

I'm afraid I don't have an i70 so my helpfulness has pretty much run out ... but I do find it odd that the "Variation Mode" says "Slave" when the option is set to "Off", I would expect the mode to read "Off".


I presume the "Slave" setting is supposed to get variation data from the Network (your Axiom), and the "On" setting is supposed to let you input a value manually (the 15W in the next option) for when you don't have a network source ... but you seem to be stuck in "Off" ... the greyed out options seem odd.


Good luck with Raymarine tech support, let us know when you find a solution.


[edit - maybe check if there is a variation setting on the axiom that is set correctly too]

[AllenRbrts]

Interesting comments. I checked my variations setting and it was off. I was able to set it ON and then TWD switched from M to T.

[Jim Cate]

If you can't easily correct the instrument's programming, con't you just do t he simple addition or subtraction in your head? It's what we did when using charts and compass courses... not a big deal, really.

Jim

[B4A]

Originally Posted by AllenRbrts

Interesting comments. I checked my variations setting and it was off. I was able to set it ON and then TWD switched from M to T. Attachment 204312

Wow thanks! Is the previous setting set on Slave?

What chart plotter do you have? What software version is your i70?

[B4A]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

If you can't easily correct the instrument's programming, con't you just do t he simple addition or subtraction in your head? It's what we did when using charts and compass courses... not a big deal, really.

Jim

It's the lack of support and accountability on Raymarine side that bugs me. I can easily do the math, but the instrumentation should work as it's supposed to...,

[Kelkara]

Originally Posted by B4A

It's the lack of support and accountability on Raymarine side that bugs me. I can easily do the math, but the instrumentation should work as it's supposed to...,

Since you are dealing with a computer network here, make sure you have properly isolated where on the network the problem exists, at the moment you are blaming the i70 but lots of other devices are feeding the network with the data necessary to calculate TWD and you need to know if they are helping or hindering ... so when you finally do get through to Raymarine make sure you are fully armed ...

first power down the entire network and everything connected to it ... GPS, VHF, AIS, plotter, instruments, heading sensor, autopilot, etc, everything.

next ... power up the network and switch on *only* the i70 and see if you can access the variation setting ... yes/no?

next ... power up the itc5 and see what works now ... wind and boat-speed? (you need both of these for TWD).

next ... power up the magnetic heading sensor ... if everything is working properly these three items alone should be enough to give you TWD in True with a manually entered Variation. (Since the Variation option is useless without Heading, it is just possible that the options will be remain greyed out until this is available).

if it doesn't work you have at least narrowed down the problem to one of three devices.

To get the Variation automatically determined you need some kind of GPS device with a variation model built-in. So if all is working so far, make that (the Axiom display?) the next device you power up on the network.

If you're lucky and it does work then turn on the rest of the network one device at a time and see which one isn't playing nice with the others. Make sure that you leave anything that isn't Raymarine until last (because that is the first place that Raymarine will try to lay the blame).

Sometimes if you're lucky problems can magically go away like this ... and you can be sure Raymarine will suggest you try something like this ... This is pretty basic netwrok trouble-shooting, so you've probably already done it ... but you may not have done it yet while looking at the variation settings ... so make sure you have before calling them ...


good luck.

[B4A]

BTW, my Axiom displays the TWD in True. How come the i70 doesn't?

[Kelkara]

Originally Posted by B4A

BTW, my Axiom displays the TWD in True. How come the i70 doesn't?

The axiom knows what the Variation is ... the i70 doesn't ... either the Axiom isn't sharing that information, or the i70 isn't listening or can't hear ... that's what you are trying to solve.


A hunch I have is that there are two devices on your network trying to supply conflicting Variation data, and the i70 unable to resolve the conflict defaults to "off" so that it can't use the wrong data ... but I don't know it's jsut a guess.

[B4A]

Originally Posted by Kelkara

Since you are dealing with a computer network here, make sure you have properly isolated where on the network the problem exists, at the moment you are blaming the i70 but lots of other devices are feeding the network with the data necessary to calculate TWD and you need to know if they are helping or hindering ... so when you finally do get through to Raymarine make sure you are fully armed ...

first power down the entire network and everything connected to it ... GPS, VHF, AIS, plotter, instruments, heading sensor, autopilot, etc, everything.

next ... power up the network and switch on *only* the i70 and see if you can access the variation setting ... yes/no?

next ... power up the itc5 and see what works now ... wind and boat-speed? (you need both of these for TWD).

next ... power up the magnetic heading sensor ... if everything is working properly these three items alone should be enough to give you TWD in True with a manually entered Variation. (Since the Variation option is useless without Heading, it is just possible that the options will be remain greyed out until this is available).

if it doesn't work you have at least narrowed down the problem to one of three devices.

To get the Variation automatically determined you need some kind of GPS device with a variation model built-in. So if all is working so far, make that (the Axiom display?) the next device you power up on the network.

If you're lucky and it does work then turn on the rest of the network one device at a time and see which one isn't playing nice with the others. Make sure that you leave anything that isn't Raymarine until last (because that is the first place that Raymarine will try to lay the blame).

Sometimes if you're lucky problems can magically go away like this ... and you can be sure Raymarine will suggest you try something like this ... This is pretty basic netwrok trouble-shooting, so you've probably already done it ... but you may not have done it yet while looking at the variation settings ... so make sure you have before calling them ...


good luck.

Very good idea Kelkara, thank you so much for your help.

I did what you suggested and these are my findings:

1) If I turn off the Axiom and leave on just the two i70 and the Autopilot, Inam able to change the Variation from Off to On.



At that point, the TWD in the i70 turns from Magnetic to True, as I like it:



However, as soon as I turn on the Axiom, the Variation turns into Slave and the TWD on the i70 changes to Magnetic:




This is bizarre, because if I add TWD as a new layer on the Axiom, it gets displayed in True. So I don't understand where the Magnetic is coming from:

[Kelkara]

So, something that the Axiom is saying to the network is over-riding the variation setting on the i70 ... The obvious next thing to check is ... Is there a Variation preference on the Axiom? What is it set to? What happens if you change it?

[AllenRbrts]

Originally Posted by B4A

Very good idea Kelkara, thank you so much for your help.

I did what you suggested and these are my findings:

1) If I turn off the Axiom and leave on just the two i70 and the Autopilot, Inam able to change the Variation from Off to On.

Attachment 204372

At that point, the TWD in the i70 turns from Magnetic to True, as I like it:

Attachment 204369

However, as soon as I turn on the Axiom, the Variation turns into Slave and the TWD on the i70 changes to Magnetic:

Attachment 204370


This is bizarre, because if I add TWD as a new layer on the Axiom, it gets displayed in True. So I don't understand where the Magnetic is coming from:

Attachment 204371

I can confirm that my combination of axiom and i70s work the same. No chart plotter, you can select variation on and TWD is true, when the axiom is on, only allows slave and TWD is shown in magnetic.

[B4A]

UPDATE:

After months wasting my time with the Raymarine Customer Support, I posted the issue on social media, and somebody at Raymarine took notice and contacted me.

He was able to replicate the issue and apparently it's a bug. Here is his response:

"I formally reported the bug to our software team along with a detailed description of how to replicate it.

They’ll go in-depth to figure out the root cause, and will correct it in an upcoming update.

I’m not certain if the bug is in the Axiom or in the instrument, but they will find it.

I will report your description and my findings together as a bug to be investigated.

I will update you immediately with any additional findings or information."

It's a pity that Raymarine Customer Support is so useless. They don't have a process and a structure to deal with bugs, and they don't welcome customer's feedback.

A pity that customers need to use Social Media to get issues fixed, but I'm glad that at least we have this as last resort.

Thank you to everyone who helped me!