Sea Talk cable - alternatives?

[Wandering Star]

I've got a Raystar 125 antenna with a short (cut off) cable. I want to extend the cable to about 6 metres. I believe from a Raymarine technical forum it's fine to cut and rejoin the cables. If I purchase a Raymarine made up cable with plug for the antenna it's somewhere in the region of £100. As I still have a short cable length with plug attached I was thinking of purchasing 6 metres of suitable 4 core screened cable from somewhere else?

Any ideas what and where to buy?

 

[prv]

There's nothing magical about the cable for basic Seatalk, so 4 straight cores (with one left alone, or maybe tied to ground) should work fine. Part of my boat was wired with mains flex before I replaced it!

If you want a nicer solution, JG Tech sell cut cable in the proper size and colours. 8th one down on this page: http://www.jgtech.com/Cable.htm

Pete

 

[Wandering Star]

There's nothing magical about the cable for basic Seatalk, so 4 straight cores (with one left alone, or maybe tied to ground) should work fine. Part of my boat was wired with mains flex before I replaced it!

If you want a nicer solution, JG Tech sell cut cable in the proper size and colours. 8th one down on this page: http://www.jgtech.com/Cable.htm

Pete

Thanks Pete, it was the potential for having magical properties I was concerned about. I'll place my order now.

 

[laika]

Small caveat on the jgtech seatalk cable. I *think* there may have been two types of seatalk cable (by which I mean "two types of seatalk-1 cable"). Mine (ST50 vintage) was 3 core. The stuff I got from JG Tech as "seatalk cable" was 2 cores + shield. That works fine with shield connected to ground, it just wasn't what I was expecting at the time but it may be the case (I'm sure there's others here can confirm) that Raymarine changed to 2 cores + shield (with the ST60 flat connectors perhaps?)

 

[prv]

Small caveat on the jgtech seatalk cable. I *think* there may have been two types of seatalk cable (by which I mean "two types of seatalk-1 cable"). Mine (ST50 vintage) was 3 core. The stuff I got from JG Tech as "seatalk cable" was 2 cores + shield. That works fine with shield connected to ground, it just wasn't what I was expecting at the time but it may be the case (I'm sure there's others here can confirm) that Raymarine changed to 2 cores + shield (with the ST60 flat connectors perhaps?)

I'm pretty sure the bits of ST50 cable I have (with the round plugs moulded on) are red, yellow, and a bare tinned core (not a braided screen). The JG Tech stuff is the same, possibly slightly thicker.

In my bits box the other day I found a short piece of cable with an ST60 plug on one end and nicely trimmed and finished bare ends on the other, so probably came in a Raymarine packet that way. The negative had black insulation on it, looking similar to the yellow and red, but on closer inspection this was just a sleeve over the stripped part. Where the main outer cable sheath started, the insulation over the negative ended; it was a bare core inside the main cable. I don't suppose something similar was going on with your ST50 stuff?

Pete

 

[pvb]

The OP was talking about extending a Raystar 125 cable. As I recall, this has 4 cores plus a screen. Not all of them are necessarily needed, depending on the configuration of the installation.

 

[Wandering Star]

The OP was talking about extending a Raystar 125 cable. As I recall, this has 4 cores plus a screen. Not all of them are necessarily needed, depending on the configuration of the installation.

Absolutely right, but thanks to the others for their input.

 

[prv]

Not all of them are necessarily needed, depending on the configuration of the installation.

Exactly - if he just wants Seatalk out of the thing, then Seatalk cable will do the job.

Pete

 

[duncan99210]

And when you get to look inside the Seatalk socket on the instrument, the three flat pins are the right size to take the smallest female spade terminals (think it's the 2.8mm size). I've got my Raystar 125 wired into the Seatalk socket on the tridata like that, using three of the five wires in the cable.

 

[nigelmercier]

... the smallest female spade terminals (think it's the 2.8mm size)...

Quite so, specifically 2.8mm x 0.8mm