FulmarJeddo
Well-Known Member
I have gradually been replacing my old Autohelm ST50 displays with ST60 and ST60+ due to issues with backlighting and the Wind display loosing calibration. On the original setup the Garmin GPS Plotter nmea fed into the NavData display and then worked quite happily over Seatalk to everything else including being able to navigate to a waypoint from the plotter using the SPX5 autopilot.
This winter I fitted a new ST60+ Speed instrument. During calibration you should be able to calibrate the speed in slack water from the SOG from the GPS via Seatalk. During the fitting I moved the nmea lead to the back of the ST6002 Autopilot display. First thing I noticed was that the Autoipilot wasn’t seeing the waypoints so I moved the nmea lead back to the ST50 NavData. However the Speed instrument was not seeing a SOG. I then moved the nmea lead to the SPX5 Course Computer that can bridge nmea and Seatalk. The Speed instrument was then seeing the required SOG and I had the ability to navigate to a waypoint or route again.
I then found the ST50 NavData would display Lat and Long but no time. Displaying an accurate GPS time is the main thing I use it for. I have currently disconnected the Seatalk lead between the NavData and the other instruments and put the GPS feed back on to it. It’s now working as standalone and not interfacing with anything other than the GPS, so it’s little more than a clock now.
My question is will it cause a problem if I reconnect the Seatalk between the instruments and have the same GPS feed into the network in 2 separate places. I guess I could just try it as it isn’t going to damage anything. I suspect there may be timing issues with the sentences travelling over different paths.
This winter I fitted a new ST60+ Speed instrument. During calibration you should be able to calibrate the speed in slack water from the SOG from the GPS via Seatalk. During the fitting I moved the nmea lead to the back of the ST6002 Autopilot display. First thing I noticed was that the Autoipilot wasn’t seeing the waypoints so I moved the nmea lead back to the ST50 NavData. However the Speed instrument was not seeing a SOG. I then moved the nmea lead to the SPX5 Course Computer that can bridge nmea and Seatalk. The Speed instrument was then seeing the required SOG and I had the ability to navigate to a waypoint or route again.
I then found the ST50 NavData would display Lat and Long but no time. Displaying an accurate GPS time is the main thing I use it for. I have currently disconnected the Seatalk lead between the NavData and the other instruments and put the GPS feed back on to it. It’s now working as standalone and not interfacing with anything other than the GPS, so it’s little more than a clock now.
My question is will it cause a problem if I reconnect the Seatalk between the instruments and have the same GPS feed into the network in 2 separate places. I guess I could just try it as it isn’t going to damage anything. I suspect there may be timing issues with the sentences travelling over different paths.