Connecting Raymarine to Computer

[GabeF]

Hi, I'm new to the Forum and I hope you can help me out with my problem.

On my boat I have a C70 Raymarine Multifunction Display (that has the common screen-flickering problem and many times can't be used) and some Raymarine devices (Analog Radar, Digital Sound Meter, VHF, GPS antenna, Autopilot).
I have been searching in the last few days a way to connect my Raymarine devices to my laptop (keeping or not the C70) so that I can use the PC as a replacement of the MFD and I can see all the data coming from the onboard devices (Radar, DSM...).

I have seen ShipModul's multiplexers but as I understood I can't use my Radar with it. Is this right?

My second idea was to leave the C70 and connect it to the computer with a USB > NMEA 0183 Cable. Would this work out for me? Would I be able to see the data coming from the radar, GPS and DSM?

If none of this methods could work, how could I solve my problem?

Br,
Gabe

 

[cliveshelton]

The usual way to do this is by using a multiplexer with a suitable usb or wifi output. Actisense do a range of these. You will have to re-jig your connections and possibly filter the names sentences so that everything is visible by the pc and there are no conflicts. If you plan to control the autopilot too, then you will need some software for that. We use PCPlotter although we maintain control of the AP with the MFD. Good luck with the install.

 

[RichardS]

If you're thinking of buying an AIS transceiver you could buy one like the VM XB8000 which will give you AIS and also rebroadcast all your NMEA data over wifi. I don't know whether Radar data is also NMEA though as I don't have one.

Richard

 

[apollo]

VM XB8000

jeez these are £700 plus, for that i would buy a new MFD!

 

[prv]

There is nothing you can plug in that will let you operate the radar. It's a completely proprietary connection involving some serial communications, some dedicated signal wires (eg, one that pulses to mark the antenna revolutions) and an analogue video signal. It's just possible that you might be able to piggyback an analogue screen off the video cable, leaving control to be done via the plotter, but unless you know how to drive an oscilloscope I don't rate your chances.

I know less about the fishfinder module, but again I doubt you can easily connect it to something else.

Better to fix or replace the plotter. I've not looked inside one myself, but I'm told the problem is due to a separate video board. Either the contacts that connect it to the main board corrode, which might well be fixable with a little cleaning, or the traces on the board itself go which means a replacement board. Spare ones are still available.

If you're not confident opening it up yourself, http://theservicecentre.eu/ do this particular repair all the time (no connection, just a customer). It's a known weakness.

Pete

 

[bitbaltic]

You need to tell us much more about how all of this is wired up in order for someone to comment meaningfully on what will or won't be posible.

First of all any connection to PC software is going to be via NMEA0183 and you are going to be limited by a) what data the software will be able to display and b) what can be bridged out of your system.

Looking at the Raymarine installation manual I see that the suggested installations have most of the items you list above either in the Seatalk network or making dedicated connections to the C70. If the 0183 port is free it could be used to bridge out basic data (including a couple of the radar sentences) as below:

APB, BWC, BWR, DBT, DPT, GGA, GLL, MTW, RMA, RMB,
RMC, RSD, TTM, VLW, VHW, VTG, WPL, VHF/DSC and ZDA

This would only need a single connection to the PC e.g. a Digital Yacht NMEA to USB cable or homemade equivalent.

An alternative would be to use a Raymarine seatalk to RS232 box to get NMEA out of the Seatalk network. You would have to look at the specifications of such a box to work out what NMEA could be got out, but it is not likely to be much different from the output from the NMEA port. A more useful purpose for a RS232 box could be to patch anything currently occupying the NMEA port (e.g. VHF?) into the Seatalk network. However I am not familiar with Raymarine and Seatalk at all, hopefully someone who is will be along to help.

As far as the multiplexer road goes, according to the C70 installation manual the radar and the DSM (I assume this is a fishfinder) make specific connections to the plotter. These are not likely to be easily compatible with anything non-Raymarine so are not likely to connect to a multiplexer directly.

At the end of this will be whatever PC software you choose to use to display data from your system and the ones we are familiar with here (e.g. PC Plotter as Clive mentions) aren't going to receive many more relevant NMEA sentences than those which can be bridged out of your 0183 port anyway. In particular, you are unlikely to be able to replicate your radar or fishfinder displays very easily, but I will not suggest a definitive opinion on that as I'm unfamiliar with either bit of kit.

You will also need to consider whether you will use your existing charts or not. I see the C70 uses CF cards (Navionics?). You may at the least need a special card reader to get the charts into something like PC plotter. If you needed to buy new vector charts to make it work, you could save a lot of money by choosing a PC plotting package using raster (e.g. vist my harbour) but you may find the software which displays raster charts lacks some of the functionality (depth, speed etc) of more feature filled packages like PC Plotter. Check out NavMonPC, which is a very good (free) data display program which can run alongside, and complimentary to, a budget raster chartplotting application.

So- in the first instance take a look at some of the PC charting packages out there and see if they fulfil your needs, if they do, check their NMEA sentences received against your 0183 port's sentences out to see if you will get full functionality from a direct connection using the C70 as a data bridge, and then buy the chosen plotter software and a single 0183 to USB cable.

If you go down the raster plotter route then you could be spending, say, £250 on the laptop, £50 on the cable, £50 on the plotter software and charts and be done. If however you want to go vector, you could be looking at £250 laptop, £200 new charts, £150 plotter software, £50 cable- ie getting on for the cost of a new plotter, or at least a ?reconditioned/sh working C70 on ebay, perhaps.

If it is more complicated than above and you need to start breaking any seatalk network apart and multiplexing into a whole new network configuration, you are probably going to find things getting very expensive indeed, so take time to consider all the possible costs of this system, versus just replacing the C70 perhaps with a new dedicated plotter, before you start.

As I say perhaps somebody with more Raymarine experience will now be along with some extra options I'm not aware of. Good luck with whatever you do. [Edited to add: I see Pete has already been along ]

 

[AntarcticPilot]

You will also need to consider whether you will use your existing charts or not. I see the C70 uses CF cards (Navionics?). You may at the least need a special card reader to get the charts into something like PC plotter. If you needed to buy new vector charts to make it work, you could save a lot of money by choosing a PC plotting package using raster (e.g. vist my harbour) but you may find the software which displays raster charts lacks some of the functionality (depth, speed etc) of more feature filled packages like PC Plotter. Check out NavMonPC, which is a very good (free) data display program which can run alongside, and complimentary to, a budget raster chartplotting application.

The Navionics CF cards for the old C-series Raymarine plotters definitely need a special card reader, and Raymarine advise that putting them in a normal card reader will destroy them!

There's no way you can duplicate the screen display of the C-classic series plotters on anything else; they simply don't have the outputs required. As others have said, you can break out the NMEA sentences for display in another system, but that requires another navigation system to use the data, and there's no way that radar or fish-finder data can be transferred. The E-series can do this, I think - but only to drive another Raymarine screen. Don't know about the capabilities of more recent ones.

 

[prv]

The Navionics CF cards for the old C-series Raymarine plotters definitely need a special card reader, and Raymarine advise that putting them in a normal card reader will destroy them!

Given that I update mine annually by plugging it into a standard card reader attached to my computer, this is at best outdated

Pete

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Given that I update mine annually by plugging it into a standard card reader attached to my computer, this is at best outdated

Pete

Well, I am merely quoting Raymarine's advice. But experience trumps theory!

 

[laika]

Well, I am merely quoting Raymarine's advice. But experience trumps theory!

It changed, I think around the time they started doing the online updates. Prior to that you needed the special card reader to use your chart card with raytech rns.

To add my agreement to what others have said: the OP is out of luck with the analogue radar: Even the venerable raytech will only display their digital radar (not, I'll wager a lot, the new quantum). If the "DSM" is indeed a fish finder, that too will be proprietary transmission over ethernet, so no conversion to PC. If on the other hand it's just a depth sounder then those data, like the GPS, can be converted to NMEA-0183 and bridged to a PC.

 

[GabeF]

Thank you very much for the answers!

First of all thanks for the explanations about the connections, I think that (as some of you said) it would come to cost too much to do this system.
The reason why I wanted to do this instead of buying a new chart plotter is that the radar is analog and most new ray marine MFD don't support it, so I would have to change it and it would cost me about 2000€ + to buy both the MFD and the Radar.

I will try to open the C70 by myself on Saturday and I'll let you know what I find out and decide to do.

Thanks again to every body,
Gabe

 

[prv]

If the "DSM" is indeed a fish finder, that too will be proprietary transmission over ethernet, so no conversion to PC. If on the other hand it's just a depth sounder then those data

Digital Sounder Module - it's a fishfinder. The bottom window in this promotional shot:

It has a dedicated round socket on the back of the plotter with four pins - I suppose it's possible that it's actually ethernet under the covers, but I doubt it.

Pete

 

[Slipstream 34]

The classic E-series will drive a remote vga monitor.

 

[prv]

The classic E-series will drive a remote vga monitor.

The OP's C70 won't, though, and if he replaces the plotter then he doesn't need the remote monitor anyway.

Pete

 

[Slipstream 34]

The OP's C70 won't, though, and if he replaces the plotter then he doesn't need the remote monitor anyway.

Pete

I never said the C series would connect to a monitor. I was just clarifying Antarctic pilot's comment that the E series would only talk to a raymarine monitor.

 

[prv]

I never said the C series would connect to a monitor. I was just clarifying Antarctic pilot's comment that the E series would only talk to a raymarine monitor.

Ah, I see. Probably should have quoted that post, then, otherwise it looks like you're replying to the OP or just throwing out a general comment.

Pete

 

[laika]

It has a dedicated round socket on the back of the plotter with four pins - I suppose it's possible that it's actually ethernet under the covers, but I doubt it.

I was forgetting that the C-Series classic didn't have ethernet (i.e. seatalk HS). The DSM400 was Seatalk HS. The C-Series classic lists compatibility with the DSM300 (which seems to have seatalk HS and this special DSM plug) and the DSM250. The special DSM plug here is "hsb2" ("high speed bus"...errr..."2") and, according to a mate who did some electronics design work for raymarine, is based on ARCnet.

Still not going to get that onto a laptop easily though

 

[RichardS]

I was forgetting that the C-Series classic didn't have ethernet (i.e. seatalk HS). The DSM400 was Seatalk HS. The C-Series classic lists compatibility with the DSM300 (which seems mohave seatalk HS and this special plug) and the DSM250. The special plug here is "hsb2" ("high speed bus"...errr..."2") and, according to a mate who did some electronics design work for raymarine, is based on ARCnet.

Still not going to get that onto a laptop easily though

My C80 Classic has Seatalk (3 pins) and Seatalk2 (5 pins) along with Radar, DSM and NMEA. I only use Seatalk and NMEA so I've no idea what Seatalk 2 is or what you can do with those extra 2 pins!

Richard

 

[PaulRainbow]

Given that I update mine annually by plugging it into a standard card reader attached to my computer, this is at best outdated

Pete

This recommendation has always been a lie, a ploy to stop people copying the data.

 

[PaulRainbow]

It has a dedicated round socket on the back of the plotter with four pins - I suppose it's possible that it's actually ethernet under the covers, but I doubt it.

Pete

I agree, it's highly, highly unlikely to be ethernet. Seatalk HS is ethernet, as is Garmin marine network and a few others. They'll all sell you a fancy sounding "network switch" for about £250, when a cheap used ethernet hub/switch works fine (as long as you don't get it wet).