nigelmercier
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- Live in Kent, boat in Canary Islands
Autohelm ST50 Plus Fault Finding - Internal Battery?
- Thread starter nortada
- Start date
nortada
Well-Known Member
Yep might just come to that and as you say CactusNav is looking the cheapest source.
But before I jump I am just trying to get as much feedback as possible. Not a Scot but don't like chucking money down the drain (possibly shouldn't have a boat). Additionally there are a further 2 GPSs on board so I don't need this one to get lost but blank instruments irritate.
nigelmercier
RIP
- Joined
- 20 Jun 2007
- Messages
- 16,234
- Location
- Live in Kent, boat in Canary Islands
So what you need is a SeaTalk output from a GPS? How about an NMEA to SeaTalk converter?
prv
Well-Known Member
We don't know what ST50 instruments the OP has, but possibly one of them will accept NMEA directly and bridge it onto the Seatalk?
Pete
pvb
Well-Known Member
I considered that suggestion, but if you look around they're rather rare these days. SeaTalkng seems to be everywhere now!
nortada
Well-Known Member
nortada
Well-Known Member
Autohelm ST50 Plus Fault Finding - Internal Battery? For The benefit of others.
Autohelm ST50 Plus Fault Finding - Internal Battery? - For The benefit of others and possibly me!
I have now dismembered my Autohelm ST50 Plus Nav Receiver and can confirm there is an internal battery.
What is more it is easy to locate by just unscrewing the raydome and the battery is located under the circular aerial.
Unfortunately, in my case this is the good news.
The bad news; water ingress through the raydome has totaled the circuit board so this GPS is beyond recovery.
On advise I am getting a RS130 with a Sea Talk converter but am unsure how to interface this new GPS receiver into the existing Sea Talk System, which is wires routed through cable connections into biscuit board screw terminations.
Can I just cut the termination off the GPS input cable and connect up the 3 wires (Red+, Black-, and Yellow (data) in place of the old Autohelm ST50 Plus Nav unit?
A bit of drastic 'one of' solution so can I configure the Sea Talk converter (supplied) for a more elegant solution.
In Portugal reliable system electricians are very expensive and in rather short supply so and advice would be much appreciated.
Autohelm ST50 Plus Fault Finding - Internal Battery? - For The benefit of others and possibly me!
I have now dismembered my Autohelm ST50 Plus Nav Receiver and can confirm there is an internal battery.
What is more it is easy to locate by just unscrewing the raydome and the battery is located under the circular aerial.
Unfortunately, in my case this is the good news.
The bad news; water ingress through the raydome has totaled the circuit board so this GPS is beyond recovery.
On advise I am getting a RS130 with a Sea Talk converter but am unsure how to interface this new GPS receiver into the existing Sea Talk System, which is wires routed through cable connections into biscuit board screw terminations.
Can I just cut the termination off the GPS input cable and connect up the 3 wires (Red+, Black-, and Yellow (data) in place of the old Autohelm ST50 Plus Nav unit?
A bit of drastic 'one of' solution so can I configure the Sea Talk converter (supplied) for a more elegant solution.
In Portugal reliable system electricians are very expensive and in rather short supply so and advice would be much appreciated.
Last edited:
RichardS
N/A
Re: Autohelm ST50 Plus Fault Finding - Internal Battery? For The benefit of others.
Presumably the ST converter is to convert the STng output to the original ST format? If so, then yes, just connect the red, black/ground and yellow wires from the converter into the same colours on your plotter input or another ST instrument input. If you have exisiting NMEA cables rather than ST then you can just re-purpose 3 wires from the existing NMEA cabling.
Richard
Presumably the ST converter is to convert the STng output to the original ST format? If so, then yes, just connect the red, black/ground and yellow wires from the converter into the same colours on your plotter input or another ST instrument input. If you have exisiting NMEA cables rather than ST then you can just re-purpose 3 wires from the existing NMEA cabling.
Richard
nortada
Well-Known Member
Re: Autohelm ST50 Plus Fault Finding - Internal Battery? For The benefit of others.
Hi Richard.
Many thanks for this info.
The system is very simple (bit like me), no plotter or radar, just basic instruments so hopefully shouldn't be too difficult to sort.
As I am going from new (proper plug/socket) terminations into old bare cable connections, my only problem is identifying the cable colour code within the plugs. Again a bit drastic but I have a spare spur cable lead so I could cut into it to confirm how the club is connected up.
An aside, having read that light aircraft are increasingly using tablets, rather than a plotter, I use a stand alone iPad with GPS/Glasnost data to provide track information.
Early days but seems to work well.
Once again, many thanks.
C
Hi Richard.
Many thanks for this info.
The system is very simple (bit like me), no plotter or radar, just basic instruments so hopefully shouldn't be too difficult to sort.
As I am going from new (proper plug/socket) terminations into old bare cable connections, my only problem is identifying the cable colour code within the plugs. Again a bit drastic but I have a spare spur cable lead so I could cut into it to confirm how the club is connected up.
An aside, having read that light aircraft are increasingly using tablets, rather than a plotter, I use a stand alone iPad with GPS/Glasnost data to provide track information.
Early days but seems to work well.
Once again, many thanks.
C
RichardS
N/A
Re: Autohelm ST50 Plus Fault Finding - Internal Battery? For The benefit of others.
If it's any help, the connectors on the original Seatalk (and possibly STng but you could check on Google) are actually just standard 2.8mm spade terminals. I bought a pack of insulated crimp male ones from Halfords when I re-wired my Seatalk in 2016 and simply crimped those onto the cables and used them instead of the proper Seatalk connector. They just push onto the blades in the instrument port and seem really solid.
Richard
If it's any help, the connectors on the original Seatalk (and possibly STng but you could check on Google) are actually just standard 2.8mm spade terminals. I bought a pack of insulated crimp male ones from Halfords when I re-wired my Seatalk in 2016 and simply crimped those onto the cables and used them instead of the proper Seatalk connector. They just push onto the blades in the instrument port and seem really solid.
Richard
nortada
Well-Known Member
All's Well That Ends Well.
Replacement Raymarine RS130gn GPS fitted and connected to the original Sea Talk net (circa 1998) using SeaTalk-SeaTalk ng converter. Accompanying instructions were not very clear but following some experimenting to establish the functions of the various wires:
The RS130 gn was connected to a white spur plug on the converter using the 10m long spur converter cable (R32120).
To overcome the problem of connecting the original backbone cable to the converter the end was cut off the Sea Talk converter cable and the red (positive power) wire was connected to the red on the original backbone. The yellow (data wire) was connected to the yellow data wire on the original backbone. The un-insulated (negative wire) was connected to the black negative wire on the original backbone.
When powered up the system operated as advertised. The converter green LED flashing - Healthy Status, the GPS LED flashing green - Normal Operation and the GPS meter indicating 11 satellites available and correct position information.
Job done - many thanks to all for the help and advice that made a successful possible.
I hope this thread proves useful to any others faced with patching a new Raymarine GPS into a vintage Sea Talk network.
Replacement Raymarine RS130gn GPS fitted and connected to the original Sea Talk net (circa 1998) using SeaTalk-SeaTalk ng converter. Accompanying instructions were not very clear but following some experimenting to establish the functions of the various wires:
The RS130 gn was connected to a white spur plug on the converter using the 10m long spur converter cable (R32120).
To overcome the problem of connecting the original backbone cable to the converter the end was cut off the Sea Talk converter cable and the red (positive power) wire was connected to the red on the original backbone. The yellow (data wire) was connected to the yellow data wire on the original backbone. The un-insulated (negative wire) was connected to the black negative wire on the original backbone.
When powered up the system operated as advertised. The converter green LED flashing - Healthy Status, the GPS LED flashing green - Normal Operation and the GPS meter indicating 11 satellites available and correct position information.
Job done - many thanks to all for the help and advice that made a successful possible.
I hope this thread proves useful to any others faced with patching a new Raymarine GPS into a vintage Sea Talk network.