Raymarine/Matsutec/Seatalk/NMEA

[bedouin]

Although a lot more expensive than the units I've been looking at, if I do end up having to buy a multiplexer on top, the digital yacht unit price looks a lot more palatable!

Just checked and it seems your spare connector is Seatalk 2 which is compatible with NMEA 2000 / Seatalk ng. It may be the AIS will already output NMEA 2000 in which case it could be a much simpler approach.

 

[Murv]

Just checked and it seems your spare connector is Seatalk 2 which is compatible with NMEA 2000 / Seatalk ng. It may be the AIS will already output NMEA 2000 in which case it could be a much simpler approach.

Thanks very much for having a look, I couldn't seem to find any options for doing that. I really don't understand why as it seems to be NMEA2000 with a different plug on the end. This is a reply on the Rymarine tech help page from someone asking the same question:

"The SeaTalk 2 of the E120 classic will not accept AIS data on NMEA2000, since the E120 precedes NMEA2000 AIS messages by too many years.

Depending what AIS receiver you are using, you can change the E120 NMEA port to 38400. and most AIS receivers and transceivers have a multiplexer built in which can then be used to output the slower 4800 baud rate GPS data for the vhf."

 

[MikeCC]

Yes, the NMEA2000 implementation on classic C and E models is pretty thin.
Now you have established the GPS is an NMEA receiver feeding both E120 and VHF, the new setup seems quite straightforward.
Leave existing GPS to feed the VHF.
Disconnect GPS from E120
Set NMEA port on E120 to 38400
Connect Matsutec to E120 NMEA wires
Ensure output sentences from Matsutec are set to include GPS.
Note that some AIS targets may not show on E120 as they were implemented after product end of life. Check you have latest firmware anyway though.

 

[Murv]

Yes, the NMEA2000 implementation on classic C and E models is pretty thin.
Now you have established the GPS is an NMEA receiver feeding both E120 and VHF, the new setup seems quite straightforward.
Leave existing GPS to feed the VHF.
Disconnect GPS from E120
Set NMEA port on E120 to 38400
Connect Matsutec to E120 NMEA wires
Ensure output sentences from Matsutec are set to include GPS.
Note that some AIS targets may not show on E120 as they were implemented after product end of life. Check you have latest firmware anyway though.

Brilliant, thank you!
Can I just confirm that the GPS only stays connected to the VHF, would it not have to connect to the Matsutec?

 

[cpedw]

Can I just confirm that the GPS only stays connected to the VHF, would it not have to connect to the Matsutec?

The Matsutec AIS has an internal GPS so it doesn't need a GPS input. It should be possible to send the Matsutec GPS data to the E120 along with the AIS data by fast NMEA.

 

[bedouin]

Yes, the NMEA2000 implementation on classic C and E models is pretty thin.
Now you have established the GPS is an NMEA receiver feeding both E120 and VHF, the new setup seems quite straightforward.
Leave existing GPS to feed the VHF.
Disconnect GPS from E120
Set NMEA port on E120 to 38400
Connect Matsutec to E120 NMEA wires
Ensure output sentences from Matsutec are set to include GPS.
Note that some AIS targets may not show on E120 as they were implemented after product end of life. Check you have latest firmware anyway though.

The only downside with that is that it means the AIS has to be powered up for the chartplotter to work.