Fusion MS-RA70N USB Flashdrive issue

[Bizywk]

@HELP Has anyone else had this issue or have an idea of where I should focus to solve this problem?

Problem: I want greater flexibility for a very large selection of music available while boating, but the USB solution is unreliable.

Symptom: Unfortunately, the USB flashdrive doesn't seem dependable in all the directories. My daughter's playlist directory, for example, will often play just one or two songs of the 54 files, then stops playing any more songs inexplicably and the connext screen stereo controls appear to just freeze. Exiting the subdirectory and going out to main disk often gives me an error that indicates that it can't even find the disk anymore. Its probably important to note that the integrated player plays until the end of a song, then seems to have trouble moving on to another song file regardless if it is set to shuffle or not so it probably isn't a file read issue, but rather a transition error.

Any ideas why?

Troubleshooting steps already taken:
1. I am using a higher end name brand USB disk.
2. I checked all the ripped music to ensure that it all was the correct .MP3 file format with the same compression and tested it by playing all the songs from my computer. The manual says that the disk must be formatted to FAT32 (which I confirmed), that the files must be .MP3 (which I confirmed), and that each directory can only hold a maximum of 250 song files. I have confirmed that the largest directory only has 54 songs.
3. Since all other radio functions work well, and some of the flashdrive directories don't seem to have an issue working correctly, I made a second USB flashdrive and got the exact same result.
4. The boat dashboard USB jack is clean and dry. Just to eliminate that as a potential cause, I went into the helm, disconnected the jack output where it connects to the USB line feeding the stereo and connected the USB flashdrive there directly to test the system. Same issue.
5. Thinking that the head unit might simply have it's programming or internal .mp3 player corrupted, I updated the stereo with the latest firmware. It may by my optimism, but it appeared to work better for brief moment then resumed it's same symptoms.
6. Thinking that the head unit's internal USB hardware interface may be going bad, I bought a new head unit, hooked it up for a brief moment and immediately had the same symptoms.


Background: We frequent a lake with poor cellphone or radio station connectivity. We share our boating gifts with as many people as possible from neighbors, friends, co-workers, and extended family of all ages, and they have a very wide range of musical tastes. Downloading Amazon Music playlists and either sending the signal via bluetooth or the Fusion app works very well, but it requires that I download and store a wealth of songs to my phone prior to boating day. Additionally, it works my cellphone and battery pretty hard over a long day. Another downside is that if I leave the boat for whatever reason, I either have to leave my phone or the party stops for everyone. The USB flashdrive method seems like the best solution to provide a better ability to cater to whatever music tastes our guests, so I created a respectable library with many different music genre's on a large USB flashdrive as the perfect solution that takes zero additional resources and always stays with the boat.

 

[flyingnugget]

So,
I'm not sure if this will help but I have a fusion and tried to use the flash drive for the updates after I instaled it and couldn't get the updates to process. Talking to fusion, they said I had too big of capacity flash drive (64GB) and needed a smaller one (16GB) or the head unit will have a problem reading. Said there was too much empty space on the larger drive.

I was also using a Mac for the updates and that's apparently not compatible so I had to find a PC. Once I got both those issues cleared the updates work fine.

Maybe this will help steer you in the proper direction.

 

[TimW451]

Try looking at the file names for characters other than letters or numbers, or if the total length of folder and file are too long, over 250. These were both once problems with media on USB.

 

[Bruce]

I use a Raspberry Pi running RuneAudio - Embedded Hi-Fi music player to play music on the water.

We have a large music library loaded on the Pi and can stream to it from our phones when desired. I connect a phone via WiFi to create and start playlists.

I have used this setup since at least 2015. I have needed to replace the Pi once in that time. I am using an older Pi with a USB WiFi adapter. I recommend a newer Pi with built in WiFi.

There are three+ similar software packages to play the audio. I have switched a few times to try other features.

 

[TimW451]

@Bruce do you have a build thread or post on this. I’d like to replicate. It seems silly to me to spend money on a head unit if all I’m going to do is stream or play digital files, I’d rather spend the $ on amps.

I use a Raspberry Pi running RuneAudio - Embedded Hi-Fi music player to play music on the water.

We have a large music library loaded on the Pi and can stream to it from our phones when desired. I connect a phone via WiFi to create and start playlists.

I have used this setup since at least 2015. I have needed to replace the Pi once in that time. I am using an older Pi with a USB WiFi adapter. I recommend a newer Pi with built in WiFi.

There are three+ similar software packages to play the audio. I have switched a few times to try other features.

 

[tdonoughue]

I have had similar wonkiness to the OP with my Fusion. I traced it to bad mp3 files and bad filenames (too long, funky characters, etc.). My workaround while doing that, tho, was that I carried 2 sticks. Once one stick hit the bad file and would not play anymore, there was nothing I could do to make it play. I would swap it out for the 2nd stick and that one would play fine (until it hit a bad one--at which time the first stick would work again).

 

[BigAbe75]

I use a Raspberry Pi running RuneAudio - Embedded Hi-Fi music player to play music on the water.

We have a large music library loaded on the Pi and can stream to it from our phones when desired. I connect a phone via WiFi to create and start playlists.

I have used this setup since at least 2015. I have needed to replace the Pi once in that time. I am using an older Pi with a USB WiFi adapter. I recommend a newer Pi with built in WiFi.

There are three+ similar software packages to play the audio. I have switched a few times to try other features.

I was just going to suggest this. I used a Pi media player for the kids movies in Shelbyville. It worked great for movies and would also play a music library.

 

[BigAbe75]

I was just going to suggest this. I used a Pi media player for the kids movies in Shelbyville. It worked great for movies and would also play a music library.

Here’s what I used.

Download - OSMC

osmc.tv

 

[Bruce]

@Bruce do you have a build thread or post on this. I’d like to replicate. It seems silly to me to spend money on a head unit if all I’m going to do is stream or play digital files, I’d rather spend the $ on amps.

I thought I did but can not find it.

I plan to rebuild it with a Pi 3B or Pi 4 and a 3D printed case in the future.

I have USB BEHRINGER UCA202 DAC connected to the Pi for better audio output than the built in sound controller. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KW2YEI

The DAC is connected via an optical Toslink cable using an adapter similar to this one to connect to the RCA inputs of the head unit. I had a ground loop issue that I cleaned up by isolating the Pi from the Fusion head unit.

The Pi is in a cheap plastic Pi case. I have not tried to waterproof it at all. The cables and components are held down in the head with velcro tape. I got about 6 years out of the first Pi before the network port failed.

Other than WiFi configuration installing RuneAudio is just a matter of writing the image to a SD card. WiFi setup may have become easier in later versions. I have always written the image to the SD, connected the Pi to an ethernet network, booted it up, logged in to edit the WiFI config then rebooted. I use SCP to transfer new audio to the Pi.

I have considered removing the head unit and installing a Pi touchscreen instead.

 

[BigAbe75]

Just saw this
for Raspberry Pi 4 Touch Screen with Case, 3.5 inch Touchscreen with Fan, 320x480 Monitor TFT LCD Game Display Amazon.com: for Raspberry Pi 4 Touch Screen with Case, 3.5 inch Touchscreen with Fan, 320x480 Monitor TFT LCD Game Display : Electronics

@Bruce what are you using for a display?

 

[Bruce]

@Bruce what are you using for a display?

I just use my phone. I set the Pi's hostname to ProplessPi and have a WiFi network named Propless that my phone connects to. I go to ProplessPi.local in a browser to create and load playlists.

I have a boat music playlist set to play. The Pi power is switched with the stereo. Most of the time it starts that playlist as soon as it boots up. Occasionally I have to get my phone out.

I would keep my Pi in the helm and look at how large of a display I could work into the dash if I added a display.

 

[jamesk]

I have a newer aftermarket fusion ra-670 and run into similar problems with certain files.
I like having a USB with ton's of songs and I prefer the quality over bluetooth and I like that it is easy to use.
I had 5 files out of maybe 1000 that every time I tried to play them it would lock up the entire unit, I had other files that had "name" issues and they are easy to see but these all "looked" fine to me.
Had to pull out the stick or restart the unit, really a pain in the ass.
I actually contacted fusion about it, they asked me to send them the files....but they were never able to figure out what the problem was.
Still happens every once in a while.....but I still like have my music on the USB sticks.

 

[brucemac]

Apologies for resurrecting this thread, but I'm very intrigued. I am in the middle of an audio upgrade on my boat and recently purchased a Fusion MS-RA70NSX, which is a similar model to the OP. I also discovered a product called a PICAN-M which is a Raspberry Pi HAT that supposedly allows for a NMEA2K bus-powered solution. The PICAN-M has a NMEA2K C-connector and attaches to the Pi with 4 screws & offsets.

I'll get to the point of my inquiry:

Do you think that I can simply run a NMEA cable from the back of the RA70NSX to this solution and have it power it?

Here's a Seabits write-up on the board I'm referring to:

https://seabits.com/nmea-2000-powered-raspberry-pi/

The goal here would be to improve audio quality (over bluetooth), provide an elegant solution for leveraging a large music library (Rune OS) and potentially have a solution that would kick-off music as soon as you powered on the head unit (versus futzing with your phone).

Do you think this would work? @Bruce, how are you powering your Pi onboard? Inverter?

This could be pretty cool if it works. I'm hesitant to reach out to Fusion because I'm sure the answer will be "it's not supported".

Thank you in advance and please advise.

 

[Bruce]

Do you think this would work? @Bruce, how are you powering your Pi onboard? Inverter?

Mine is powered via USB. I have a dual 12V to USB converter connected to the stereo power switch inside the dash. The Pi is connected to that.

The cleanest sound that I found whole using RCA cables was with the Pi plugged into a portable USB charger. My eventual solution for clean sound was to use an optical audio link between the Behringer
UCA202 and the head unit.

 

[brucemac]

Interesting, so then that dual 12V to USB converter you mention actually powers both the Pi as well as the Behringer DAC I'm assuming?

Does your head unit have an optical S/PDIF input then, or are you running optical out of the PI to the DAC and then RCA to the Head Unit?

Couple more questions for you if you don't mind sharing:

If/when you ran RCA's from the DAC to the HU aux input, did you have any noise or ground loop hum? Is the overall sound quality better with this setup versus Bluetooth? In other words, is the juice worth the squeeze.

After more reading of the Fusion manuals, it would appear that my model (the RA70NSX) does not support a feature they coin as "NRX", which simply means my HU will NOT power their fancier wired NMEA remotes. All this means is that I would have to install a NMEA network starter kit or backbone drop, but if I've got to connect something to 12V now anyway, I may as well go with USB since I will likely not be leveraging any of the other NMEA 2000 features on this boat. The RA70NSX also has a USB port on the back, which I believe is powered, so that may give me what I need for the Pi, but probably not enough for both the Pi and the DAC.

Any additional advice or input is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Bruce]

1. The dual 12V to USB converter powers the Pi. The USB DAC pulls power from the Pi.

2. The DAC has an optical output. I used a cheap optical to RCA converter to feed the Fusion IP600.

3. When the DAC was connected directly to the head unit with RCA cables there was an annoying ground loop. I tried various filters before using the optical link to break the loop.

4. Sound quality is much better than Bluetooth. Flipping the switch and having a preconfigured playlist start is really nice.

I tried WiFi audio / AirPlay as an alternative to Bluetooth before adding the Pi. Shifting playing from a phone to the Pi was much better for my usage.

5. I would not be surprised if you can power the Pi and DAC from the USB on the head unit.

What boat are you installing in?

 

[brucemac]

Okay, makes total sense. Thank you so much for your time and responses. Couple more quick questions and a sanity check on my shopping list:

Which model of Pi are you using? Is it a Pi 4? Guessing probably not. I want to make sure I buy the most recent revision while still remaining within USB power supply spec. I will not be using this for anything other than a media server with Rune OS for serving up audio, so power draw should be quite low I would think.

shopping list:
1. Pi (not sure yet which model)
2. Case
3. 12V to USB Converter or Buck DC Step-down device with USB wired to 12V power & ground. *this would only be necessary if the USB out of the back of the Fusion doesn't power the Pi and DAC.
4. USB Cables
5. DAC
6. RCA Cables
7. optical cable
8. optical S/PDIF to RCA converter

 

[Bruce]

Mine is likely a Pi 2 of some sort.

Doing it again I would suggest a Pi 3B+. You do not need the speed of the 4 and those have more issues with cooling.

 

[212s]

I also had trouble getting music to play via USB and just put the 1k songs on my phone. I also stream Amazon music and use the radio sometimes, but streaming from my phone is easy and I can control what's playing, volume, etc. all from the Fusion and Amazon apps. I no longer keep the Connext on for this either, just power up the radio from the head unit at the stern and control it from my phone when we're docked or anchored. I also have a 10ft cable for charging if my phone is low, but I charge it every night so I'm usually good for the day.