northstar 557 to smartpilot nmea

[bobhunt]

Hi can anyone help me with wiring nmea from my northstar 557 chartplotter to my raymarine smart pilot autopilot, everything else on the boat is raymarine and i want a two way conversation between these two, the autopilot has +and -in and +and - out but for the life of me i know not which wires from the plotter to put in them?

any help would be gratefully received bob

 

[Martin_J]

Hi... Not sure if you already have the manual for the plotter but it can be found here....
http://www.northstarnav.com/Products/Chartplotters/Explorer-557/Downloads/

The plotter spec shows that it will transmit NMEA sentences APA, APB and VTG which the autopilot would use for steer R, steer L, intial bearing and current bearing etc....

Page 69 shows the connections. Two cables (black and white) are split from the power lead for transmit to the Raymarine equipment. The output from the Raymarine would go to the red/black split from the GPS antenna cable. - is usually the ground although damage will not be done to NMEA if they are connected in reverse, although no data will be seen.

See what you think from the manual on page 69 first...

I'm trying to imagine what information you would see on the plotter (as received from the Raymarine kit)...

 

[bobhunt]

thank you, i have been looking at the manual till i go cross eyed ! what with ground and - and + and live? i can do colours, the plotter can show depth wind speed down below