Airmar speed/temp thru hull transducer

[wizard]

I have just purchased an Airmar speed and temp through hull transducer model ST800/P120 (Raymarine part number E26031) which I want to fit and connect into my Raymarine C70 system.

Having been to the airmar website I have got the outputs of the transducer corresponding to the cable colours.

The Raymarine website is currently not allowing customer support questions over the internet so does anyone know if the output from this transducer is NMEA, seatalk or seatalk2 ?

 

[Twister_Ken]

I suspect, none of the above. I think it is just power in/out plus sensor signals, and it only becomes Seatalk when it has been processed by the Raymarine instrument.

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Edit - I meant the Raymarine log instrument, not a plotter.

 

[pvb]

It's just a transducer, it needs an instrument head or fishfinder in order to produce an NMEA or SeaTalk signal which you can feed in to your C-series. Don't you already have a depth instrument? Most can output NMEA.

 

[steve28]

if its anything like mine its got 6 cores, one for speed one for temp, one for each of the transducers, neg and screen.

i managed to get the info from airmar as raymarine were less than helpful because i hadnt sourced the triducer from them.

steve

 

[wizard]

No, thats the problem I have a simrad system that I am slowly getting rid of so no raymarine instrument head. Bearing in mind I have the C70 I didnt want to buy the instrument head but link it in somehow with an adapter.

 

[wizard]

How did you contact Airmar?

Were they really more helpful than Raymarine?

 

[pvb]

If you can't get NMEA out of your Simrad system, your easiest solution would probably be to buy an ST40 Depth display and use the SeaTalk output to feed the C70. Alternatively, what were you planning to replace the Simrad system with?

 

[wizard]

The simrad system has its own depth and speed transducers which are inaccurate to say the least.

That is why I bought the new speed and temp transducer to fit the Raymarine system as it had a Raymarine part number on the data sheet of the Airmar website.

I have got the C70 + radar + GPS125 +ais and smart heading sensor to stabilize the marpa display.

 

[dukes4monny]

The Actisense DST module will allow you to connect depth and speed transducers and get NMEA output for connecting to various equipment.

 

[Piddy]

I am currently changing from Simrad IS15 to Raymarine.
The Simrad stuff has never worked as well as it should despite several returns to factory: depth readings stopping when less than 10', ridiculous 1000' readings when moored at the Folly etc.


I've bitten the bullet and changed the lot Wind, depth and speed. For the first time the boat won't have more wires than a type 45 destroyer interlinking the instruments!

If anyone is interested, the old Stowe wind speed & direction instrument heads are going on ebay this weekend.

Cheers

 

[wizard]

Thanks for the link - I knew there would be a solution out there somewhere.

I didnt think of actisense despite all the internet searching. I should have done as I already use an actisense multiplexer in the system!!

 

[wizard]

I found exactly the same thing the thermister in the speed transducer was increasing at the rate of 10 degrees C on a yearly basis. After year 3 it was clear that I could cook our dinners in the very hot waters of the Solent!!

The depth was also independent of the tide range.

Friends with dodgy display units gave up after about 3 replacements under guarantee. I dont know if their reliability has improved recently but I certainly wouldnt rush to use them again even with the high prices of the Raymarine stuff.