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Explorer 538/538i
Chartplotter
Installation and Operation Manual
www.northstarnav.com
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IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION Please read carefully before installation and use. This is the safety alert symbol. It is used to alert you to potential personal injury hazards, Obey all safety messages that follow this symbol to DANGER avoid possible injury or death. WARNING indicates a potentially hazardous situation which, if not avoided, ! WARNING could result in death or serious injury CAUTION indicates a potentially hazardous situation which, if not avoided, could ! CAUTION result in mino
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Important It is your sole responsibility to install and use Northstar’s instrument and GPS antenna in a manner that will not cause accidents, personal injury or property damage. Always observe safe boating practices. The choice, location, angle and installation of the instrument & GPS antenna are critical to performance of the system as intended. Follow instructions in this manual carefully. If in doubt, consult your Northstar dealer. Ensure that any holes cut are in a safe position and wi
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Contents Important ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Quick reference ........................................................................................................................................ 6 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 7 1-1 Overview . . . . .
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8 Gauges display ..................................................................................................................................... 30 9 Data display ......................................................................................................................................... 31 10 Fuel functions and display .................................................................................................................. 31 10-1 When you add or remove fuel . . . . .
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Appendix A - Specifications ..................................................................................................................... 56 Appendix B - Troubleshooting ................................................................................................................. 58 Appendix C - Glossary and navigation data .............................................................................................. 61 Quick reference Feature Type See Requires General How to use the
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1 Introduction 1-1 Overview The Northstar Explorer 538 is a compact, rugged, SmartCraft engine functions require a highly integrated marine chartplotter. It is easy to SmartCraft system to be installed. For use and has a Color display. Complex functions information on using SmartCraft, see can be performed with a few key presses, taking the SmartCraft Gateway Installation and the hard work out of boating. Operation Manual. This manual covers: The Explorer can send data to other instruments
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Changing the plug-in card Handle plug-in cards carefully. Keep them in their protective cases when not plugged into the Explorer 538/538i. Keep the holder in place in the Explorer 538/538i at all times to prevent moisture from entering the card compartment. Gold contacts under here 1 2 3 Card Holder Turn the Explorer 538/538i off (see section 2-3). Push new card into holder. Ensure the gold contacts are on the outer edge and underneath Pull the card holder out of the Explorer 538/538i (see
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2 Basic Operation Overview of the keys Go back to an earlier menu or display. Any changes made are ignored. In chart mode, centres chart at boat’s position. Show a menu of the main displays. To go to a display, select it from the menu (see section 2-8). Cursor keys, to move the cursor or the selection highlight. Show a menu of the options for the current display. Press again to display the Setup menu (see section 17). Start an action or accept a change. Zoom in or out to display diff erent ar
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2-2 Using the menus Operate the Explorer 538/538i by selecting items from menus. Items can be submenus, commands or data. Selecting a submenu A after a menu item indicates a submenu, for example Chart . Press or to move the c) To change a name or number: highlight to the submenu, then press . 1 Press to display the name or number: Starting a command Press or to move the highlight to the command, for example Goto cursor, then press 2 Press or to select a letter or digit to . c
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2-4 Backlight and night mode To go to the Backlight display, press briefly. Night mode When you have finished, press . Night mode sets the palette for all displays. Backlight Normal palette, for daytime The display and keys are backlit. To change the A palette optimised for night time. backlight level, select Backlight, then press To change mode, select Night mode, then press to dim or to brighten. . To change only the chart palette, see section Tip: Press twice to give the brightes
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2-7 Simulate mode To start and stop Simulate mode, and for more In Simulate mode, the Explorer 538/538i ignores data from the GPS antenna and other transducers information, see section 14-12. In simulate mode, and sensors and the Explorer 538/538i generates Simulate or Demo flashes at the bottom of this data itself. Otherwise, the Explorer 538/538i the display. functions normally. There are two simulate modes: Normal: Allows a user to become familiar Never have Simulate mode on when the
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Other menu and displays Note: Press to go from an Other display back to your last chart display. Northstar Explorer 538i/538 Installation and Operation Manual 13
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2-8-1 Dual displays If Chart is the active display: press to The Explorer 538/538i can show two displays at once, for example Chart + Gauges. One of the display the options for Chart; press displays, called the active display, has a yellow twice to make Gauges the active display. border and is controlled by the user. To change If Gauges is the active display: press the active display, press twice (Highway wto display the options for Gauges; press cannot be the active display). For e
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Tip: If less than the maximum number of lines of data are used, the data will take up less of the display area. 5 Press to return to the display. 2-8-3 Compass The chart and highway displays can show a To turn the compass off or on: compass at the top of the display. 1 Press and select Data header. The compass always shows the boat’s course over 2 Set Compass to or . ground (COG), a red symbol in the middle. When the boat is navigating to a point, the compass also shows bearing to the d
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3 Navigation: Chart The chart display shows the chart, the boat’s position course and navigation data. 3-1 Overview of navigating The Explorer 538/538i has two ways of navigating, going straight to a point or following a route. 3-1-1 Navigating to a point B D When the Explorer 538/538i is navigating to a point, the chart and highway displays show C navigation data: A The boat position . B The destination point marked with a circle. A D C The boat’s plotted course to the destination. D Two C
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Going to a point on the chart Navigating 1 Switch to a chart display. The Explorer 538/538i navigates to the point as described in section 3-1-1. 2 Move the cursor to the destination point: either use the cursor keys or use Find (see Cancelling navigating section 3-2-5). Go to a Chart display, press and select 3 Press and select Goto cursor. Cancel goto. Tip: Before starting, create waypoints at points of interest. Create a waypoint at the start of the trip for you to navigate back to (s
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3-2 Chart display To go to the Chart display, press , select Chart, then select Chart. A typical chart display shows: A B C D K E J F I H G A Data header. To turn the data off or on or to change what data is displayed, see section 2-8-2 B Compass (see section 2-8-3) C Chart scale (see section 3-2-3) D Boat position (see section 3-2-1) E Boat track (see section 3-5) F Boat course and CDI lines (see Appendix C, CDI). The boat is going to the waypoint called FISH06 G Distance and bearing of cursor
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3-2-1 Chart modes The Chart has two modes: Press midway between two of the cursor keys to make the cursor move diagonally. Centre on boat mode Hold a cursor key down to make the cursor To switch to centre on boat mode in the chart move continuously across the display. display, press . The boat is at the centre of the chart. As the boat moves through the water, In Cursor mode: the chart automatically scrolls to keep the boat The distance ( DST) and bearing ( BRG) of in the centre of
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3-2-5 Finding places To see places near the boat’s position, press 5 Select the place and press . The chart to switch to centre on boat mode. display changes to show the selected place in the middle of the display. To see places near a different point, move the cursor to that point on the chart. 6 To see stored information about the selected place, press and select Chart To find and display places of interest: info (see section 3-2-4). To display a tide 1 Press and select Find. chart
