Can Raymarine ST60 wind display be fed from converted NMEA2K data?

[stevecray]

I have a hybrid Seatalk / SeatalkNG / NMEA / NMEA2k / Serial data (for laptop) network... maybe not elegant, but all talking happily. The helm position wind display is an ST60 and I see that it has both an Seatalk cable and multicore (5 wires) cable. I believe the multicore cable is the connection to the mast head and the seatalk cable is sharing the wind data with the rest of the network. I am considering changing the masthead unit and if I do that, would like to go with a more modern NMEA2K or SeatalkNG unit. If I go down that path and share the data into the NMEA2K network, which in turn gets converted / shared into the Seatalk network, would the ST60 wind display head still display wind data, but now received over the Seatalk network (rather than the multicore cable from the mast head)? And if that is possible, is there any reason why the wind data input to the automhelm would be impacted? Sorry that seems like a complicated question.... can't thinks how to ask it more simply so hoping someone with much better knowledge than I have will be able to understand / comment.

 

[Ed Sned]

There will be others along who know far more about these things, but I'm sure you can get it to work. All my boats have had a combination of different manufacturers and networks, and with a variety of interface boxes you can get most things to work. My current boat has NKE wind sensor, compass, autopilot, AP remote & multifunction display (to control the AP) feeding into a N2K network that is then translated to STNG to feed into a RM Axiom MFD and various RM analogue dials (I prefer these). I also have AIS and HF GPS from different companies feeding in too. In terms of RM, on the current boat it's all STNG, which is essentially N2K with different plugs anyway, but on my last boat I had similar kit (I like NKE for AP and wind) mixed with STNG and old-ST and it worked fine.

I may be wrong, but I don't think that many wind sensors are STNG/N2K? The system likes drops to be short, and the backbone needs terminations, which generally don't like to be at the top of masts. Hence I think most masthead units are either proprietary or NMEA0183, although I could be wrong.

Are you changing the MHU because your current one is knackered or because you fancy a change? Reason I ask is because I have a 2016-era RM sensor 28171 knocking around my office. PM me if interested

 

[earlybird]

For the ST60 Wind to display Seatalk wind information, ie not directly connected to a MHU, then won't it need a repeater mode of operation? I don't think that it has, though I'm open to correction.

 

[stevecray]

There will be others along who know far more about these things, but I'm sure you can get it to work. All my boats have had a combination of different manufacturers and networks, and with a variety of interface boxes you can get most things to work. My current boat has NKE wind sensor, compass, autopilot, AP remote & multifunction display (to control the AP) feeding into a N2K network that is then translated to STNG to feed into a RM Axiom MFD and various RM analogue dials (I prefer these). I also have AIS and HF GPS from different companies feeding in too. In terms of RM, on the current boat it's all STNG, which is essentially N2K with different plugs anyway, but on my last boat I had similar kit (I like NKE for AP and wind) mixed with STNG and old-ST and it worked fine.

I may be wrong, but I don't think that many wind sensors are STNG/N2K? The system likes drops to be short, and the backbone needs terminations, which generally don't like to be at the top of masts. Hence I think most masthead units are either proprietary or NMEA0183, although I could be wrong.

Are you changing the MHU because your current one is knackered or because you fancy a change? Reason I ask is because I have a 2016-era RM sensor 28171 knocking around my office. PM me if interested

Thanks for the reply Ed, I am guessing my masthead unit is similar age to the boat so 2004 ish. I still have a couple of things to try with the current unit to see if I can overcome its unwillingness to stay calibrated but am also thinking at 20 years old its going to need replacing sooner out later so maybe now is the time and if changing it then considering a more modern alternative. Take the point about the mast drop being challenging for N2K - from long at the newer units I think they typically convert to N2K after the cable comes into the boat. Part of my thinking about changing the masthead unit and feeding that into the network is that it would eradicate the reliance on the ST60 display for calibration, though not sure how I would then calibrate the new masthead unit if that is needed.

 

[stevecray]

For the ST60 Wind to display Seatalk wind information, ie not directly connected to a MHU, then won't it need a repeater mode of operation? I don't think that it has, though I'm open to correction.

Thanks For the reply early bird - maybe that would have been a smarter question for me to ask Can the ST60 wind display act as a repeater?

 

[Boathook]

My raymarine system is around 7 years old and the wind, speed and depth data is analogue and all goes into an ITC-5 that converts it to seatalkNg. This seatalkNg then goes to the ST60 wind and ST50 depth and speed instruments near the helm. All this data can be repeated on the MFD by the helm and the i70 down at the chart table. Any one set of instruments will work with the others disconnected.

@stevecray has your ST60 got the seatalkNg connector on the back ? If so it can act as a repeater.

 

[laika]

Can the ST60 wind display act as a repeater?

The manual would suggest "yes" : Box
Boathook's reply seems to confirm it.
And I certainly hope that's the case because I have an N2K tridata unit waiting to be connected up in place of my old directly-connected depth transducer and am hoping the (now transducerless) ST50 depth will display with data from my existing N2k <-> ST1 converter. Will post the results in the next couple of weeks

 

[Jodel]

Raymarine's E22158 kit will allow you to connect STng to the ST60 and the existing '5 wires' can be connected into the STng system with an ITC5.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

I am sure the answer is yes.

You can use Antisense NGW1 to convert NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183 (ST60). The NGW1 can be bought with converters for the different node sockets, plugs.

NGW-1

 

[laika]

The manual would suggest "yes" : Box
Boathook's reply seems to confirm it.
And I certainly hope that's the case because I have an N2K tridata unit waiting to be connected up in place of my old directly-connected depth transducer and am hoping the (now transducerless) ST50 depth will display with data from my existing N2k <-> ST1 converter. Will post the results in the next couple of weeks

I should have read my own ST50 manuals. No dice with getting the transducer data onto my depth and speed ST50s from the airman n2k tridata. Having dug out the manuals it seems that the original autohelm ST50s explicitly *don't* function as repeaters (except the dedicated multi display). From the manuals on Raymarine's website it seems that repeater functionality was added to the ST50+ series.

 

[melvynpatrick]

I have a nasa mast head unit. It runs to the nasa n2k converter. Then shows up on my st60 multi and on my i70