Raymarine EV 100 Can I use a fluxgate compass instead of EV1 unit

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steveeasy

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Further to my previous post, I am trying to find out if I can connect my existing Raymarine fluxgate compass to a Raymarine ACU 100 instead of the intended EV 1 unit. I cant really justify An additional £800 for the EV1 unit, but would quite like to fit the control head and ACU and ram to get basic functions if I can fit my existing compass unit. This set up would be better than currently using an st2000 tiller pilot which does not really cope to well in wet weather and a little slow in heavy seas. I could always add the EV1 unit next season but prefer not to at present.

Steveeasy
 
If you're installing an Evolution you usually buy the core pack and that comes with all the bits, which is a significant saving on buying them individually.

The P70 control head alone would be about £550, compared with £1100 or £1200 for the core pack.

I believe the sensor is just sending heading / roll / pitch data over the NMEA network to the ACU, but I'd think performance would be significantly degraded if you chose to supply less than it was expecting.

If you've got other parts of an existing Raymarine network then the core pack will probably pay for itself if you just sell your old parts on eBay.
 
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KompetentKrew said:
If you're installing an Evolution you usually buy the core pack and that comes with all the bits, which is a significant saving on buying them individually.

The P70 control head alone would be about £550, compared with £1100 or £1200 for the core pack.

I believe the sensor is just sending heading / yaw / roll data over the NMEA network to the ACU, but I'd think performance would be significantly degraded if you chose to supply less than it was expecting.

If you've got other parts of an existing Raymarine network then the core pack will probably pay for itself if you just sell your old parts on eBay.
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Ive found the P70 and ACU with ram for a good price. That said no saving if I buy the EV1 separately. My other option would be to buy older units such as a st4000 control head, ram and acu, but ill not find that for less than I can buy the newer p70 and ACU and ram.

Id prefer the newer control head and newer ACU that I could add to at a later stage. Its about what ive found and can realistically afford to purchase at this time. cant afford the full core pack which is more like £1400. if it wont work ill look for older models or make do with the st2000 tiller pilot.

Steveeasy
 
ithet said:
The ACU100 interfaces with the EV1 via the SeatalkNG network. There is no input for the old type of fluxgate compass. So no.
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Thanks for this. That makes it clear there is no physical way to connect them. So it opens up another option (plucking at straws) could it be possible to use a 0813 to seatalk ng converter to connect them. even if I could, would the fluxgate compass provide heading data sufficient to operate ?. If not then I either need to find a used EV1, or just go for it and buy the whole pack which I dont think I really want to do.

Steveeasy
 
Steve, you may not realise that Raymarine guarantees are worldwide and do not worry about where a unit was bought from, who fitted it or where any warranty work happens. 8 years ago I bought the EV1. At the time the UK list price was £1500, but was available from UK discounters for £1250. With assistance from this forum I found it was cheapest in Sweden and it cost me £920 including shipping (it was shipped from Belgium). A few weeks later the discounters had a boat show special of £1100. The only difference now is we are outside the EU and they should ship UK VAT paid.
 
Concerto said:
Steve, you may not realise that Raymarine guarantees are worldwide and do not worry about where a unit was bought from, who fitted it or where any warranty work happens. 8 years ago I bought the EV1. At the time the UK list price was £1500, but was available from UK discounters for £1250. With assistance from this forum I found it was cheapest in Sweden and it cost me £920 including shipping (it was shipped from Belgium). A few weeks later the discounters had a boat show special of £1100. The only difference now is we are outside the EU and they should ship UK VAT paid.
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Wow. That was quite a saving at the time. If I could find the whole pack nearer to £1000-1100 I think I might just go that route. Now I know its seatalk ng, I could fit a backbone and go from there. Still would have liked to buy the items ive found but if it does not work without the EV1 then there is no point at all and no saving.

Going to the boatshow so will check out the stands. need a new switch panel and hope there will be people there who may make nice ones. little on the market at all really. also quite fancy a new windlass. cant cope with pulling that anchor up all the time. see you there.

Steveeasy
 
I’ve just fitted one of these and I would guess that the ev1 unit is essential to the operatIon of the system. The difference between my old St2000 and this newer tiller pilot is massive, a bit like comparing a penny farthing to a modern carbon road racing bike. I would say that if you can find a second hand rudder reference unit for the EV100 that would be well worth doing.

Edit: There was the whole kit of one of these on Facebook yachts and yachty bits for sale very recently for £700- wheel version, but any actuator could be added for a lot less than buying new.
 
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fredrussell said:
I would say that if you can find a second hand rudder reference unit for the EV100 that would be well worth doing.
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The Raymarine rudder reference unit is just a potentiometer, possibly a couple of small resisters too. I bet you could make one for not much money if you were handy.

I believe the Evo ACU also accepts rudder position data over NMEA 200 (B&G style?) if no Raymarine rudder reference is detected, but I'm not certain of this.
 
fredrussell said:
I’ve just fitted one of these and I would guess that the ev1 unit is essential to the operatIon of the system. The difference between my old St2000 and this newer tiller pilot is massive, a bit like comparing a penny farthing to a modern carbon road racing bike. I would say that if you can find a second hand rudder reference unit for the EV100 that would be well worth doing.

Edit: There was the whole kit of one of these on Facebook yachts and yachty bits for sale very recently for £700- wheel version, but any actuator could be added for a lot less than buying new.
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Yes that is my understanding too, though I haven't looked hard in the Raymarine documentation to be able to prove it, which is that the EV-1 is an integral part of the system as it has taken a lot of the computing functions which the ACU would have done in the past. So even if you did find a way to replace the data output from it for heading, rate of turn etc (Quark do a 9 axis NMEA compass which would do this) the system would not function as it's missing a key Raymarine specific component.
 
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