Aspen Evolution 1000 Pro MFD Chart Data

[Colin G]

I have a 1986 PA-46-310P Malibu that has an Aspen Evolution 1000 Pro Max PFD and Aspen Evolution 1000 MFD in it, which I am really enjoying, however getting those updated (when I bought the airplane they were current to 2016) has been an absolute nightmare.

The card that was in the MFD was corrupt, so it would not update from Jepp (for Terrain or NavData), or Seattle Avionics (for Chart Data).

I spoke to the Avionics department at Sun, and they helped me get the Jepp data updated by grabbing a new card and downloading the Jepp data to it -- even though all the documentation says that you cannot use your own card for, this, it seems to be untrue.

However, I have a subscription through Seattle Aviation for the Chart Data, and I've used the application to download all of the charts to my PC, although the application will not transfer the charts to the card as it says that the card is an "unknown region". Looking in the help files of the application (Seattle Avionics Chartdata Manager) it very clearly says that you cannot use your own card, you have to use a card that was supplied with the device. Here's the excerpt from the help file:

"The Evolution MFD stores these plates and airport diagrams on a special 16 GB microSD memory card supplied by Aspen. You cannot use your own microSD card. Your computer must have a built-in microSD slot (many new machines do) or an easy-to-find card reader connected via USB. Radio Shack sells just such a card reader for about $20. "

When I contacted Aspen, they told me that the card needs to come from Jepp or Seattle, when I contacted Seattle they told me that they are only responsible for the data, and not the card, so I'll have to contact Aspen. Aspen also told me that I could go through an Avionics shop, and they could get a new Aspen card, but the Avionics shop at Sun didn't seem like they were familiar with this at all.

So, it seems that no matter who I contact, everyone is pointing fingers at someone else. I have the Jepp Terrain and NavData downloaded, which is great, but I'd love to be able to have approach plates on the MFD for additional situational awareness.

Does anyone know if there's a trick to getting either a new card for the Aspen Evolution, or if there's a particular file on the SD card that the Evolution MFD is looking for to recognize this? I did try manually copying the Seattle folder to the card, but the MFD just said "init database" for about 45 minutes when I put a card in that had these files on it.

I am attaching a screenshot of the ChartData manager application with my SD card inserted in it.

 

[Colin G]

Well, for anyone that might be finding this post and might have a similar situation, I think I may have solved the problem....

I dug through some of the containers that came with the airplane -- the logbooks, a bunch of documentation, a bunch of junk, and then a bag of cards and Garmin 530 card readers...
In there I found an older SD card -- when I looked at it, it had both the Jeppeson and ChartData folders.
After looking at this, I determined that the key to the Seattle Avionics application recognizing it was creating a very specific folder structure off the root.

Once I created the following folder structure:
\ChartData\Plates\US
the seattle avionics application would recognize this is a US data card, and update it successfully.

I've contacted Aspen, Seattle, and Jepp, and they all said I have to get a new card because it has to have certain files on it. Even the Avionics shop wasn't familiar with how to properly format and create this card.

So, two steps were neccessary:
1) Install the Jepp Navdata which will put the Jepp files on the card
2) Create the folder structure above so that the Seattle Avionics application would recognize this is a US Region card.

I fully configured this card, and then put a second card in (with a second card reader) and just did a full xcopy of data from the first card to the second card, and then both cards were recognized by both Jepp and Seattle as having valid data on them.

Here's what the application looks like now once I've taken those steps.

 

[Tokirbymd]

Well, for anyone that might be finding this post and might have a similar situation, I think I may have solved the problem....

I dug through some of the containers that came with the airplane -- the logbooks, a bunch of documentation, a bunch of junk, and then a bag of cards and Garmin 530 card readers...
In there I found an older SD card -- when I looked at it, it had both the Jeppeson and ChartData folders.
After looking at this, I determined that the key to the Seattle Avionics application recognizing it was creating a very specific folder structure off the root.

Once I created the following folder structure:
\ChartData\Plates\US
the seattle avionics application would recognize this is a US data card, and update it successfully.

I've contacted Aspen, Seattle, and Jepp, and they all said I have to get a new card because it has to have certain files on it. Even the Avionics shop wasn't familiar with how to properly format and create this card.

So, two steps were neccessary:
1) Install the Jepp Navdata which will put the Jepp files on the card
2) Create the folder structure above so that the Seattle Avionics application would recognize this is a US Region card.

I fully configured this card, and then put a second card in (with a second card reader) and just did a full xcopy of data from the first card to the second card, and then both cards were recognized by both Jepp and Seattle as having valid data on them.

Here's what the application looks like now once I've taken those steps.

Am in the same boat with a new plane- would like to make a backup card to load at home and then swap as needed rather than take the one in the plane out everytime I need to update. I tried making the file structure as you have but Seattle didn't recognize the card. So maybe I need to copy the files from the original card over to the new card?

 

[Colin G]

Does the Seattle application recognize the original card that's in the Aspen?
If so, you could copy the full contents of that card to a new card and that should make a working second card.

If that doesn't work, you can try cloning the card. There are numerous commercial applications out there (I think Mac and Linux can do this natively) that will clone one card to another.