B&G: Order to Power-Up Electronics

[Bennyhill]

(I was hoping to figure this out with B&G but their technical support has become non-existent.)
I have: 1/ a Triton 2 instrument and Triton 2 keypad controller (as well as wind & depth sensors, etc) powered from the NMEA 2000 network; 2/ a NAC-3 Autopilot computer; and 3/ a Zeus 3S MFD. All three are on separate breakers. Turning them on in a specific order, and maybe with a specific delay for each to boot up, appears to be critical. I have had the MFD think there is no autopilot, as well as the MFD registering the autopilot but with no "Wind" heading button, presumably because the NAC-3 is not registering the wind sensor. My best plan so far seems to be to turn on the autopilot first; wait fifteen secs., then turn on the NMEA network, then boot up the MFD.
Does anyone know the logic behind these boot sequences, and hence the correct order and requisite delays?


Also, my Triton 2, which is currently running v. 57.3.84, does not accept B&G's latest 57.3.201 firmware upgrade, giving a “Update file not valid for this model” error. Does anyone know the fix?

[lifeofreilly57]

I have complete B&G sutie of electronics, Zues 3 chartplotters, radar (which failed at four years) auto pilot, wind instruments, and an AIS made by another company.
It sounds more like a communications issue, check all the connections on your backbone, I used dielectric grease when connecting them. Measure the resistance of the NMEA 2000 comm backbone first.
It should not matter what order you power up, the system should recognise your hardware and sync. If you recently tried a software upgrade did the issues pop up after?
There's also a page that list your hardware items and has a check box, try going to that page to see if all your hardware is being recognized by the chartplotter.
I had a similar problem with my auto pilot, we hand steered the first 1700 miles
on the beginning of our trip after installing the new system, I was getting confusing info from a tech support guy, which had me running extra cables to no avail. I was confused because the backbone software is similar to Device Net, which was used in the manufacturing industry way back when, and is very similar to the communication backbone used on automobiles. It does have a length limitation which can effect communication quality.
I got hold of s different tech who basically said what I was saying was correct, which had to do with the use of a terminating resistor, and the fact that your wind instrument acts as the other terminating resistor at the end of the backbone. If you look in your manual, you'll find the wire terminations to test the backbone for resistance, which if memory serves me well is 120 ohms, although I'd check that since it's been a few years since I did that install.
Since your backbone cable also has power on some terminals it's important to use the correct pin out when checking the resistance in the backbone. That info should also be in the manual.
I used a long piece of wire to insert in the connector on one end and the meter on the other. Haven't had a comm issue since. My backbone was pretty close to the limit of the allowed length.