OpenCPN 5 can not connect to USBserial device (virtual COM port) in Windows 10

[ManekiNeko]

Good news!

We have managed to send YDNU-02 to OpenCPN developers, and it seems they have found an issue and provide a working version for testing.

All affected Yacht Devices customers are free to contact our tech support to get the fixed OpenCPN distribution for testing.

Dear Dave @Dsanduril! Thank you very much for your help and patience. Hope the new OpenCPN version will be released soon.

[rgleason]

Here is another title "Opencpn cannot...."
Gets kind of repetitive and often is not true. Please see Post #11 at this thread.

[spirare]

Originally Posted by ManekiNeko

Dear forum members!

First of all, thank you for your fast replies.

@CarCode



Sorry, but we can not fix the problem this way.

@transmitterdan



I do not think so.



No, our device does not expect any COM-port input to start the data transmission.


@Dsanduril



I suppose you are close to the truth.



With those setting the situation gets worse: OpenCPN debug window shows that it outputs data to the port, but it shows no received data, device LED indication shows there is no COM port connection.



I confirm that this solution works, tested it with VSPE (virtual serial port emulator).
However, I find it more elegant to just write a .bat file which opens the port with PuTTy, closes it and then starts OpenCPN.

@bdbcat

I have received your PM, and will contact you via an email.



Thank you!

Had the same problem... solution requires to enable RTS, CTS and DTR in Virtual Port (more details in this thread: OpenCPN 5 does not connect to virtual COM ports). Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[Ben S]

Originally Posted by ManekiNeko

Good news!

We have managed to send YDNU-02 to OpenCPN developers, and it seems they have found an issue and provide a working version for testing.

All affected Yacht Devices customers are free to contact our tech support to get the fixed OpenCPN distribution for testing.

Dear Dave @Dsanduril! Thank you very much for your help and patience. Hope the new OpenCPN version will be released soon.

Yes, the new version works fine
No more need for putty script

[mackerel man]

Hello Cruisers, I've been using Opencpn on and off for around ten years and love it. Until recently I was happily using V4.8.4 but recently decided I'd like to add the Weather fax plugin.

The procedure to add the plugin for that version of Opencpn was beyond my capabilities despite several attempts but a friend advised I update to the V5. Version of the software so I did and sure enough the plugin was a added easily.

Trouble is, the new version (V5.0) won't accept any signal throughput via either of two Com Ports on my Laptop!

I'm running Windows 10 Core i7 8th Gen.

Remember, there wasn't a problem with the older version of the program AND other programs access the Com Ports immediately.

Another interesting observation is that if I plug in my GPS/USB Puck there's no problem! Opencpn gets GPS from that immediately!

So your wondering what are the NMEA sources I'm having trouble getting the program to run? One is a USB cable out of my McMurdo AIS (worked fine on older version Opencpn) this is the preferred input as unlike the Puck it's not only giving me the GPS but also my AIS overlay.

Another completely different input is GPS signal from my SSB Radio via a Pactor Modem (SCS PTC-llex Pro). Again, this second option worked fine with the older version of Opencpn AND my other programs work with this input (ie MscanMeteo Wx Fax).

Another observation, Opencpn is definitely"seeing" ANY device I plug in to either Com port as they will appear in the drop down for Com Port in Connections!

I've tried every baud rate going.

I've updated Drivers (despite all other programs being able to work the Com ports).

No I'm not plugging in devices to both Com ports at the same time.

No I'm not running any other program while running Opencpn.

So I've taken a look at what's been posted here and see others have been having problems too! The question is, has a solution been found!?

Currently I'm sitting in front of the Laptop aboard my boat awaiting a weather window to sail solo non stop from the southern Caribbean to Wales UK, so far spent all day, every day for nearly a week trying to figure out what the problem is as it would be nice to have the weather fax's during my five weeks in the Atlantic.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, Thank You.

Best Regards.

[mackerel man]

Originally Posted by TheOffice

I'm not a tech guy, but I do have a YD working with my OpenCPN in windows 10.
Sorry if these seem too basic.

Do you see the data in the browser?
Did you go to settings/plugin and enable the Dashboard and set the preferences?

Sorry for my ignorance but what is meant by "Did you see the Data in the Browser"? Thanks very much.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by mackerel man

Hello Cruisers, I've been using Opencpn on and off for around ten years and love it. Until recently I was happily using V4.8.4 but recently decided I'd like to add the Weather fax plugin.

The procedure to add the plugin for that version of Opencpn was beyond my capabilities despite several attempts but a friend advised I update to the V5. Version of the software so I did and sure enough the plugin was a added easily.

Trouble is, the new version (V5.0) won't accept any signal throughput via either of two Com Ports on my Laptop!

I'm running Windows 10 Core i7 8th Gen.

Remember, there wasn't a problem with the older version of the program AND other programs access the Com Ports immediately.

Another interesting observation is that if I plug in my GPS/USB Puck there's no problem! Opencpn gets GPS from that immediately!

So your wondering what are the NMEA sources I'm having trouble getting the program to run? One is a USB cable out of my McMurdo AIS (worked fine on older version Opencpn) this is the preferred input as unlike the Puck it's not only giving me the GPS but also my AIS overlay.

Another completely different input is GPS signal from my SSB Radio via a Pactor Modem (SCS PTC-llex Pro). Again, this second option worked fine with the older version of Opencpn AND my other programs work with this input (ie MscanMeteo Wx Fax).

Another observation, Opencpn is definitely"seeing" ANY device I plug in to either Com port as they will appear in the drop down for Com Port in Connections!

I've tried every baud rate going.

I've updated Drivers (despite all other programs being able to work the Com ports).

No I'm not plugging in devices to both Com ports at the same time.

No I'm not running any other program while running Opencpn.

So I've taken a look at what's been posted here and see others have been having problems too! The question is, has a solution been found!?

Currently I'm sitting in front of the Laptop aboard my boat awaiting a weather window to sail solo non stop from the southern Caribbean to Wales UK, so far spent all day, every day for nearly a week trying to figure out what the problem is as it would be nice to have the weather fax's during my five weeks in the Atlantic.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, Thank You.

Best Regards.

This is a known problem. I am not sure what is your best option. There is a test version available that will likely solve the USB problem. But this new test version may not work with all plugins as of yet. It is a work in progress. What plugins do you need to use?

[mackerel man]

Thanks for the response. The Primary plugin I need to use is Weather Fax, secondary would be the AIS plugin then the Celestial Navigation but just Weather Fax if anything. I'd be happy to use the earlier V4.8.4 if that works? but to install the Weather Fax plugin there is need assistance. Thanks for any help and advice.

[rgleason]

Mackeralman

I would do a parallel install of v4.8.8 and get weatherfax and celestial nav installed now for your voyage.


If you have room to keep Opencpn v5 on the machine with weatherfax, then good, do that as there will be upgrades later, which will hopefully include weatherfax and cel-nav, but it will certainly be a beta version with plugins being added slowly for awhile.


Make sure you download the most current weatherfaxinternetretrieval.xml file from the CF thread as a portion of it has been updated recently by David Burch.

[mackerel man]

Thanks rgleason, Thanks for your response but as I've already mentioned the procedure for adding the Weather Fax plugin for the V4.8.4 is very different than for the V5.0 folks have differing levels of computer system knowledge...the procedure for adding the Weather Fax plugin on V4.8.4 was beyond my ability (btw I had installed other plugins there like Grib Viewer and Anchor Watch as they were easy to install). I tried following the instructions putting the three files into where other Opencpn plugin files were...unzipped etc but it wouldn't work for me. V5 Weather Fax plugin on the other hand was child's play.....ie simple. Is there anyone reading this who'd be willing to msg me through the Weather Fax plugin installation procedure for V4.8.4 I'd be delighted! Thanks again.

[rgleason]

I am puzzled because the Windows Weatherfax exe for both Opencpn v5 and v4.8.8 work exactly the same way. However if you have Opencpn5 and weatherfax working, you are all set.

BTW you probably did not install grib viewer because that is an included plugin.

https://opencpn.org/wiki/dokuwiki/do...all_and_enable
https://opencpn.org/wiki/dokuwiki/do...her:weatherfax

Don't forget to get the newer version of weatherfaxinternetretrieval.xml
from David Burch.
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3072802

[mackerel man]

Hi rgleason, Thanks again. I'm missing something here....what makes you think I have the Weather Fax plugin working? The sole reason for my post here is to get the Weather Fax plugin working.
Let me explain...With V.4.84 my Com Ports are recognised by the software and AIS/GPS inputs are accepted, the problem is when I try to add the Weather Fax plugin it's too technical a process for my limited computing skills.
So I overwrote the V4.8.4 with V5.0.0+9065270
Only then could I easily add the Weather Fax plugin...but this version of Opencpn will not accept inputs via Com Ports for my AIS, GPS or HF Radio so No Weather Fax. I e looked at other Weather Fax providers...Mscan meteo gives a poor interpretation of the Fax, FLdigi and Black Cat are too Techie, JWX32 looks good but the Author/Owner/Licencee hasn't responded to my enquiry about registering...etc

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by mackerel man

Hi rgleason, Thanks again. I'm missing something here....what makes you think I have the Weather Fax plugin working? The sole reason for my post here is to get the Weather Fax plugin working.
Let me explain...With V.4.84 my Com Ports are recognised by the software and AIS/GPS inputs are accepted, the problem is when I try to add the Weather Fax plugin it's too technical a process for my limited computing skills.
So I overwrote the V4.8.4 with V5.0.0+9065270
Only then could I easily add the Weather Fax plugin...but this version of Opencpn will not accept inputs via Com Ports for my AIS, GPS or HF Radio so No Weather Fax. I e looked at other Weather Fax providers...Mscan meteo gives a poor interpretation of the Fax, FLdigi and Black Cat are too Techie, JWX32 looks good but the Author/Owner/Licencee hasn't responded to my enquiry about registering...etc

Installing the weather fax plugin for OpenCPN 5.0 is quite easy.

First, shut down opencpn.
Download the Windows installer file from here: https://opencpn.org/OpenCPN/plugins/weatherfax.html
Run the installer: weatherfax_pi-1.9.001-ov50-win32.exe
It will install the plugin. Then when you start OpenCPN next time visit the option->plugins page and enable weatherfax plugin.

If you would like to try the latest development version of OpenCPN, which should solve the USB serial problem, you can download from this web page:
https://cloudsmith.io/~david-registe...able/packages/
Click the link that begins with opencpn-msvc_5.0....
Then click the "Files" tab and there you can download the windows setup file.

[rgleason]

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

Installing the weather fax plugin for OpenCPN 5.0 is quite easy.

https://cloudsmith.io/~david-registe...able/packages/
Click the link that begins with opencpn-msvc_5.0....
Then click the "Files" tab and there you can download the windows setup file.

Dan, I had not considered using that because I have not tested it yet, and I am not sure that it installs properly, but now is a perfectly good time to try. It does need to be updated again soon.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Dan, I had not considered using that because I have not tested it yet, and I am not sure that it installs properly, but now is a perfectly good time to try. It does need to be updated again soon.

It is automatically updated when in any new commit to github master is pushed.