Raymarine MFD linking

[harvey38]

Morning all, more assistance required from any Raymarine experts..........

I have an E165 MFD at the lower helm, an E97 at the upper helm + 2 x A67s I wish to use as dedicated engine screens, one for each engine but I also need this information to show on the E97.

Also on the network will be a Quantum radar using wi-fi connectivity and a hard wired engine room camera.

Until recently, I thought I could do all of this by putting everything on the backbone, it would appear I am wrong and now need to sell an organ as I need to link the MFDs together using Raynet cables via an HS5 digital switch

Any help would be much appreciated.

Rob

 

[PaulRainbow]

Best you can do to save your vital organs is to buy some Raynet to RJ45 cables @ about £20 each for short ones. You can then extend them using standard Cat5 cables and use a standard network switch. Should be able to pick a switch up on Ebay for next to nothing. Use quality cables.

More detail here (but don't get bogged down in the detail, use ready made cables.

Practical Boat Owner's Reader to Reader

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Slightly off topic I know but I was amazed / delighted to discover yesterday that my antique Autohelm autopilot controller is properly integrated with the nearly new Axiom MFDs on my newly acquired boat. No idea what voodoo has been necessary to achieve this but that’s saved me some money in the refurb budget that I can usefully offer to the present Mrs SF for some new scatter cushions.

 

[harvey38]

Best you can do to save your vital organs is to buy some Raynet to RJ45 cables @ about £20 each for short ones. You can then extend them using standard Cat5 cables and use a standard network switch. Should be able to pick a switch up on Ebay for next to nothing. Use quality cables.

More detail here (but don't get bogged down in the detail, use ready made cables.

Practical Boat Owner's Reader to Reader

Thanks Paul,

Having a bit of a nightmare trying to fathom it all out so grateful for your input

 

[jfm]

Slightly off topic I know but I was amazed / delighted to discover yesterday that my antique Autohelm autopilot controller is properly integrated with the nearly new Axiom MFDs on my newly acquired boat. No idea what voodoo has been necessary to achieve this but that’s saved me some money in the refurb budget that I can usefully offer to the present Mrs SF for some new scatter cushions.

AFAIK Axioms are N2k (STNG) and ethernet only, so the trickery on your boat will be a NMEA 0183-to/from- N2K converter, like the excellent Actisense units. The actisense will be connected (via spur/drop cable) to the N2K (aka STNG, to use Raymarine's ultra annoying re-naming protocol) bus/backbone that your Axiom's are also connected to (again via spurs/drop cables). Perfectly good set up.

 

[jfm]

Best you can do to save your vital organs is to buy some Raynet to RJ45 cables @ about £20 each for short ones. You can then extend them using standard Cat5 cables and use a standard network switch. Should be able to pick a switch up on Ebay for next to nothing. Use quality cables.

More detail here (but don't get bogged down in the detail, use ready made cables.

Practical Boat Owner's Reader to Reader

100% agreed, and all because Raymarine annoyingly take industry-standard generic items (ethernet and N2k) then create their own connectors so you can't use generic RJ45 and DeviceNet connectors, and you have to spend arm and leg on Raymarine's own cables. Others incl Garmin don't do this. It's incredibly annoying and an own goal.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

AFAIK Axioms are N2k (STNG) and ethernet only, so the trickery on your boat will be a NMEA 0183-to/from- N2K converter, like the excellent Actisense units. The actisense will be connected (via spur/drop cable) to the N2K (aka STNG, to use Raymarine's ultra annoying re-naming protocol) bus/backbone that your Axiom's are also connected to (again via spurs/drop cables). Perfectly good set up.

Right thank you, I found the invoice for the Axiom work in the two foot thick pile of paperwork this afternoon. Might tell me exactly what was done. Makes sense I think. It certainly works! As I now know after @Elessar pressed a couple of buttons!

 

[Sticky Fingers]

@harvey38 sorry to hijack your thread!

 

[harvey38]

@harvey38 sorry to hijack your thread!

No worries,

This Raymarine STng, backbone, network, Raynet etc is all new to me so it's great seeing other peoples issues but a huge thanks to all, particularly @PaulRainbow for their time to share their knowledge

 

[harvey38]

Update and further questions........

My lovely wife insisted I bought Raymarine boaty bits instead of cutting and chopping cables so Christmas came early for me yesterday with the arrival of a Raymarine HS5 network switch and an ST6002 autopilot head.

Now more questions than answers

If I link the four MFD's using Raynet cables, do I have also connect a backbone to each unit or can I just connect one to the master MFD?

I have a Navionics SD card, does that have to sit in the master MFD to share the data with the three other MFD's or does it not matter? I had the card in a slave MFD but only a very basic UK map displaye on the Master MFD whilst full cartography was displaying on the slave unit with the card in it. I was tired and didn't think about trying the card in the master unit to see if detailed cartography would display across all MFD's.

Lastly, the current ST7000 autopilot head is to be replaced by an ST6002 but how do I get that onto the network to operate successfully as the ST7000 has completely different connectors? I assumed it would be a straight plug and play as there is an ST6002 on the upper helm.

Appreciate any assistance with the latest conundrum

Rob

 

[PaulRainbow]

Update and further questions........

My lovely wife insisted I bought Raymarine boaty bits instead of cutting and chopping cables so Christmas came early for me yesterday with the arrival of a Raymarine HS5 network switch and an ST6002 autopilot head.

Now more questions than answers

If I link the four MFD's using Raynet cables, do I have also connect a backbone to each unit or can I just connect one to the master MFD?

Just the master.

I have a Navionics SD card, does that have to sit in the master MFD to share the data with the three other MFD's or does it not matter? I had the card in a slave MFD but only a very basic UK map displaye on the Master MFD whilst full cartography was displaying on the slave unit with the card in it. I was tired and didn't think about trying the card in the master unit to see if detailed cartography would display across all MFD's.

Has to be in the master.

Lastly, the current ST7000 autopilot head is to be replaced by an ST6002 but how do I get that onto the network to operate successfully as the ST7000 has completely different connectors? I assumed it would be a straight plug and play as there is an ST6002 on the upper helm.

Appreciate any assistance with the latest conundrum

Rob

The ST6002 has 3 wires for the Seatalk connection, red, bare and yellow. You can just connect these to the same connections anywhere there is a Seatalk device/cable. Just connect in parallel.

 

[harvey38]

Just the master.

Has to be in the master.

The ST6002 has 3 wires for the Seatalk connection, red, bare and yellow. You can just connect these to the same connections anywhere there is a Seatalk device/cable. Just connect in parallel.

Diamond, thanks again Paul ☺

 

[Seastoke]

Do you have old plotter for sale

 

[harvey38]

Not sure who the question was directed to but, sorry, I don't.