Getting wind info to a Raymarine EV100 tiller pilot.

[fredrussell]

I’d like, at some point, to replace the dead Stowe wind transducer on boat with a modern functional one. The main aim being to be able to have the tiller pilot steering to the wind.

I have a Garmin Echomap that is currently not connected to the TP, though easy enough to do so via the N2k network. I have no great urge at the mo to use the TP to steer to a waypoint, so would best plan be to buy an N2K enabled wind transducer and have it talking to TP only, or would it make more sense to get the plotter on the N2k network as well as the wind transducer? I seem to recall that Echomap plotters will display wind info. This would be a positive as if possible I would like to avoid adding a wind head unit due to lack of space at instruments area.

 

[earlybird]

Not really addressing your question, by all means add wind information to your instrumentation but, IMO, don't expect too much from linking to your TP. My Raymarine TP4000+ system response was quite slow. If it was set at an effective close-hauled sailing angle then a small header would stall or even back the genny. To avoid this the course needs to be 10 - 15 deg below optimum, not ideal if you want to get anywhere.
If the wind is free or steady then a compass course is as good or better.

 

[Daverw]

We found the EV100 install we did worked flawlessly with all our gear over N2K, Raymarine taktick wind, DY AIS, Lawrence plotter and DST810. Wind data and wave points and all other data shown on p70 display, the ev100 has 9 axis sensor which is so far ahead of the old units

 

[johnalison]

Steering to a waypoint can be a great boon when motoring, and a function we used to use routinely, but it depends on what sailing you plan to do. Conversely, I never got around to sail-to-wind, preferring to do this myself.

 

[BabaYaga]

I have had an EV100 tiller pilot for six years now, originally used as stand alone. Two years ago I added speed and wind info (analogue RM transducers) connected to the STng network through an iTC-5 converter.
My impression is that this has improved the general performance of the EV100 pilot (which was still a lot better than my old ST4000 tiller pilot even before speed and wind data was added).
Regarding steering to wind/windvane mode, I find that this often works quite well, but my experience of using this mode is still somewhat limited.
No plotter, so cannot comment on that.

 

[KompetentKrew]

… so would best plan be to buy an N2K enabled wind transducer and have it talking to TP only, or would it make more sense to get the plotter on the N2k network as well as the wind transducer? I seem to recall that Echomap plotters will display wind info. This would be a positive as if possible I would like to avoid adding a wind head unit due to lack of space at instruments area.

Once you've got an N2K network, and understand how it works, it's trivial to add additional transducers and devices.

On my boat the hardest part was pulling cables though a narrow conduit, although wiring up N2K connectors can be extremely fiddly and time consuming.

Just think of NMEA 2000 in terms of a backbone with a terminator at each end and all instruments / transducers (inc the autopilot) connected vis T-connector spurs.

So there's no reason why you shouldn't add the plotter, and it'll probably have some screens / options to display wind. N2K-compatible instruments (e.g. Raymarine's i70s) can show arbitrary data - you're not restricted to having wind on one instrument and speed/depth on the other, so if in the future you're able to bring the rest of your transducers onto the N2K network (WARNING! this can get expensive!) that would give you more display options.