NMEA & Raymarine

[emnick]

Hi all,
I hope to get a DSC VHF soon (Icom 505), I also want an AIS (Easy AIS) engine to run through the Raymarine C120 plotter. Will I have a problem driving DSC and AIS NMEA from Raymarine unit. I also use the Raystar GPS which has NMEA out?? or is this the same NMEA that comes out the back of the C120.
Thanks for any help here.

 

[PembrokeshirePromise]

Short answer is yes - possible problem I'm afraid - without extra black boxes

C120 has one RS232 port - and the VHF will want GPS position to be output from your plotter NMEA at 4800 baud (unless by chance VHF it allows for a faster speed ?)

Easy AIS will output data at 38400 baud (though http://www.easyais.com/lang/en/easyais.php does suggest that there is a jumper setting that could allow you to set this to 4800 - which might solve your problem)

C120 can be set for one speed or the other !

Otherwise you need some additional multiplexer / seatalk to NMEA box (Raymarine do one as do others e.g. Actisense)

Good luck

 

[Fr J Hackett]

If you configure the GPS to feed the C120 with NMEA data you could take this on the C120 NMEA data out put and feed it to the VHF and AIS however you then need to feed the AIS output which is NMEA to the C120 and whilst tha baud rate on the Easy AIS can be set to 4800 you may still need a multiplexer to accommodate the two NMEA inputs ie GPS and AIS. I think a better solution would be to use the Raymarine data convertor and set the GPS to transmit in Seatalk put the seatalk data into the converter which has two seperate NMEA outputs one of which can go to the VHF and one to the C120, if the GPS is set as NMEA this could be feed to the converter on the NMEA input. The Raymarine web site Q & A section covers most of this and the manuals for the products can be downloaded so you could work out a wiring schematic prior to the job.

 

[RestlessL]

The AIS will need to feed the plotter at 38000 baud, whereas the VHF will need to be fed at 4800 baud. If the plotter does not have enough ports you will not be able to do this.

However, there is nothing to prevent you feeding the VHF directly from the Raystar unit - it gives the correct NMEA sentences (RMC), and will run at the correct speed. You may even be able to configure it so that the VHF receives position information even if the GPS is switched off.

John

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I can definitly confirm that the Easy AIS can be configured at 4800 baud and that it will work with a Raymarine E120 at that baud rate.

 

[alan]

IIRC EASY AIS has an NMEA input and acts as a multiplexer.
Feed the GPS to EASY AIS input at 4800.
Set EAS AIS to 4800 baud (jumper inside unit)
Feed multiplexed GPS and AIS to C120 at 4800 baud.
Set C120 NMEA input/output to 4800 baud.

Just checked EASY web site and NMEA input is 4800 baud, so should work O.K. as descibed above.

See: http://www.easyais.com/img/td/ais_deutsch_spec.jpg

 

[crisjones]

Re: NMEA & Raymarine

All good advice from previous posters however you can make things a bit easier for yourself.

Firstly do you have a Raymarine Course Computer / Autopilot?, this can make a difference to what is the eaisiest setup.

Secondly if the Raymarine GPS is a RS125 it can be configured for Seatalk or NMEA output, the earlier RS120 models were fixed as either seatalk or nmea and could not be converted.

Thirdly if you have radar on the E120 you need a fast heading feed on the nmea network for the MARPA to work at it's best.

As you see nothing is straightforward!!!

If you have a course computer the VHF can be get the position info from the NMEA output terminals on the course computer. If possible have the GPS on the Seatalk network, the course computer will convert the data to NMEA to output to the VHF. Then connect the NMEA fast heading output from the course computer to the EasyAIS data in terminals. Connect the EasyASI to the E120 and configure the E120 to accept data at the 38000 speed.