autopilot compatibility

[jason -and the arguenauts]

has anyone got a raymarine C series plotter and ST60 instruments connected to a modern simrad autopilot and steering by the wind?

I have modern raymarine instruments and an old Robertson autopilot but with an excellent hydraulic ram. So I need to replace the pilot instrument head and corepack but am uncertain about using the raymarine corepack to drive the simrad ram. On the other hand I am nervous about relying on NMEA 0183 to work between different makers system - it isnt always compatible.

 

[bendyone]

Your pump and ram should be matched so any core pack controlling the pump should work.

 

[jason -and the arguenauts]

ram incorporates the pump but even then there are questions of the max amperage taken by the motor (10 amps) and by the clutch (1.5 amps).

but thats not the only question that concerns me. as the alternative toi a raymarine computer, I want to know if the NMEA out of a C series will be received by the Simrad computer in practise.

 

[s/v moondancer]

I have Raymarine everything, instruments, head and hydraulic pump but the ram is an industrial one we got out of an industrial parts catalogue.

It has just steered us from Nova Scotia to Trinidad. A total of 4,000 miles with all the side trips and worked flawlessly.

 

[goboatingnow]

Actually as I understand you have asked two questions

Will the raymarine autopilot controller control your pump. Yes in general, once you dont exceed the rated current ( or else use elctronic relays etc). I have replace my old Cetrek system with a raymarine , keeping the cetrek pump.

Will the C series talk to your existing autopilot over 0183, yes , it will bearing in mind that waypoints in seatalk can be longer names then allowed in NMEA 0183. But NMEA interfacing with Raymarine can be a bit of a dogs dinner.

 

[ShaunG]

Hi Jase, still having problems then. Same here now, 2 weekends of raymarine to NMEA interfacing have been nothing but a pain.

Might be worth checking the voltage of the inbound data to the raymaine NMEA interface. I have a SPX5 and could not get NMEA to work. After much testing, my tacktick NMEA interface provides less than 5v when data is on and 0v when data is off. The raymarine interface uses an opto isolater and does not appear to work with less than 5v (raymarine tech). Might be something worth checking, never occured to me on your previous thread. All NMEA should now be RS422 which references current direction down the wire pair, it seems not everyone is or has followed this!!