Raymarine iTC-5

[lpdsn]

Has anyone fitted an iTC-5 to connect up old instruments? How did it work out?

Another question, I checked the manual and it says it uses 4mm spade connectors. Is that true, or is it 4.8mm connectors?

 

[knuterikt]

Has anyone fitted an iTC-5 to connect up old instruments? How did it work out?

It's not used to connect old instruments, but old sensors.

I used it to connect my old sensors (wind/depth/speed&temp) to the seatalkNG (NMEA 2000) network.
Data is now accessible on my two i70 (Raymarine) displays, MFD (Furuno NN3d) and autopilot (nmea 0183 through Actisense NGW-1)

The old speed&temp sensor gave correct speed but wrong temp reading with my old Raymarine instruments.
When I connected this to the ITC-5 I could not get data from that sensor, so I ended up replacing that sensor also.

Another question, I checked the manual and it says it uses 4mm spade connectors. Is that true, or is it 4.8mm connectors?

Newer measured the connectors reused the existing connectors...

 

[lpdsn]

It's not used to connect old instruments, but old sensors.

Thanks. You're right. I badly worded my original post.

My old sensors date back to about 1992, so don't have any existing spade connectors.

 

[Talulah]

On a side note...
If fitting an i60 wind instrument you can connect the wind sensor directly to the instrument. No wind pod or ITC5 needed to convert to NMEA2000. The i60 will do the conversion.
If fitting new log/depth sensors it's now possible to buy ones that output NMEA2000. So again no pods or ITC5 needed.

So instead of thinking of how to convert the signal from your old sensors to new instruments via pods/ITC5 it may be cost neutral to replace the transducer.

 

[lpdsn]

So instead of thinking of how to convert the signal from your old sensors to new instruments via pods/ITC5 it may be cost neutral to replace the transducer.

Thanks. It's about £180 to handle the three sensors I need covered, so it does seem to offer a significantly cheaper option than replacement. Displays are an additional very awkward thing as it is quite an engineering task to replace them - (so stage II of the project would be a SeaTalk ng to 0183 convertor, which seem to be available).

 

[knuterikt]

On a side note...
If fitting an i60 wind instrument you can connect the wind sensor directly to the instrument. No wind pod or ITC5 needed to convert to NMEA2000. The i60 will do the conversion.
If fitting new log/depth sensors it's now possible to buy ones that output NMEA2000. So again no pods or ITC5 needed.

So instead of thinking of how to convert the signal from your old sensors to new instruments via pods/ITC5 it may be cost neutral to replace the transducer.

The ITC-5 connects five different Transducers for Speed/Temperature, Depth, Wind, Rudder Angle and Fluxgate Compass.
The current price for an ITC-5 seems to be around £ 180, so it all boils down to the number of "old" sensors you are going to keep.

How many sensors can you replace for £ 180?

 

[knuterikt]

(so stage II of the project would be a SeaTalk ng to 0183 convertor, which seem to be available).

I have a Actisens NGW-1-STNG http://www.actisense.com/products/nmea-2000/ngw1.html

NGW-1-STNG is the Raymarine SeaTalk NG option. This version enables users to convert NMEA 0183 data into SeaTalk NG and vice-versa, providing seamless integration with Raymarine products. The NGW-1-STNG option combines a standard NGW-1-ISO with a Raymarine SeaTalk NG adapter cable to interface legacy instruments to the NMEA 2000 based SeaTalk NG bus.

Default configuration for the NGW-1-STNG is to send convert NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183 but not the other way..
Just bought a NGW-1-USB, makes it easier to configure the NGW-1-STNG from a laptop with software from Actisens

 

[Talulah]

The ITC-5 connects five different Transducers for Speed/Temperature, Depth, Wind, Rudder Angle and Fluxgate Compass.
The current price for an ITC-5 seems to be around £ 180, so it all boils down to the number of "old" sensors you are going to keep.

How many sensors can you replace for £ 180?

Just a couple of points though.
Depending upon model of autopilot:
The Rudder Angle and Fluxgate go straight to the autopilot box. So that brings it down to 3 sensors. If you're getting an i60 we're now down to 2 sensors (speed/depth). It's now possible to get a combined speed/depth NMEA 2000 sensor so your down to not needing to convert any analague to NMEA2000. Saves buying an ITC5 and Seatalk/SeatalkNG converter plus savings on cables, t pieces, etc hence why I say it may be cost neutral to replace the sensor.

Hence it just depends where you want to go with your electronics setup.
May be better to outlay slightly more now instead of upgrading in stages.

 

[knuterikt]

Just a couple of points though.
Depending upon model of autopilot:
The Rudder Angle and Fluxgate go straight to the autopilot box. So that brings it down to 3 sensors. If you're getting an i60 we're now down to 2 sensors (speed/depth). It's now possible to get a combined speed/depth NMEA 2000 sensor so your down to not needing to convert any analague to NMEA2000. Saves buying an ITC5 and Seatalk/SeatalkNG converter plus savings on cables, t pieces, etc hence why I say it may be cost neutral to replace the sensor.

Hence it just depends where you want to go with your electronics setup.
May be better to outlay slightly more now instead of upgrading in stages.

Yes it depends on where you are and where you are heading..

In my case it was the instruments that needed replacing.
We decided to buy two i70's to replace the old instruments and then the ITC-5 was an easy way to get all three sensors available both to the MFD and the i70's
In fact we reduced cable clutter a lot as we now only have the backbone going aft with the two drop cables from the i70's teeing in at the aft end of the backbone.
The ITC-5 is mounted in the chart table where AIS and Autopilot is installed also.

 

[lpdsn]

Just a couple of points though.
Depending upon model of autopilot:
The Rudder Angle and Fluxgate go straight to the autopilot box. So that brings it down to 3 sensors. If you're getting an i60 we're now down to 2 sensors (speed/depth). It's now possible to get a combined speed/depth NMEA 2000 sensor so your down to not needing to convert any analague to NMEA2000. Saves buying an ITC5 and Seatalk/SeatalkNG converter plus savings on cables, t pieces, etc hence why I say it may be cost neutral to replace the sensor.

I'll have to pick your brains on transducer suppliers. I'm using MES Ltd to get a guide of pricing. They can be beat sometimes, but still it looks like it would cost me a fair bit more than £180 to replace speed/depth/wind sensors. Even the extra runs of cable for SeaTalk would add up pretty quickly.

I've got a Raymarine Autopilot, fluxgate & rudder sensor on Seatalk ng. The idea would be to put the three other analogue instruments on to the iTC-5. I'd then need a convertor to feed NMEA 0183 to the displays above the sprayhood - a little over £100 from what I've seen so far.