Seatalk HS?

[maby]

OK - I know that this has been asked before, but it was a couple of years ago and the answer might be different now!

Does anyone know of a source of Raymarine Seatalk HS connectors - other than Raymarine, of course? I know that everything on a boat is ridiculously expensive, but the thought of paying more than £40 for a 1 metre ethernet cable really grates! Has anyone come up with a source of Seatalk HS plugs yet? Alternatively, a plausible way of modifying a standard RJ45 plug to work in a Seatalk HS socket?

 

[Cardo]

OK - I know that this has been asked before, but it was a couple of years ago and the answer might be different now!

Does anyone know of a source of Raymarine Seatalk HS connectors - other than Raymarine, of course? I know that everything on a boat is ridiculously expensive, but the thought of paying more than £40 for a 1 metre ethernet cable really grates! Has anyone come up with a source of Seatalk HS plugs yet? Alternatively, a plausible way of modifying a standard RJ45 plug to work in a Seatalk HS socket?

Which Seatalk HS connector are you referring to?
There are 2 -
The standard Seatalk HS connector, per se, is just a standard RJ45 plug.
The other is a Raynet connector, which is the proprietary, waterproof plug.

 

[maby]

Which Seatalk HS connector are you referring to?
There are 2 -
The standard Seatalk HS connector, per se, is just a standard RJ45 plug.
The other is a Raynet connector, which is the proprietary, waterproof plug.

It's the standard Seatalk HS connector I'm talking about, but I am led to believe that it is sufficiently different from the standard RJ45 plug that you cannot insert a standad ethernet cable - do you have proof to the contrary? I will not have access to the boat for a few weeks yet to check myself - was just doing the initial preparation to be able to hit the ground running and get the kitting out complete for the new season!

 

[Cardo]

It's the standard Seatalk HS connector I'm talking about, but I am led to believe that it is sufficiently different from the standard RJ45 plug that you cannot insert a standad ethernet cable - do you have proof to the contrary? I will not have access to the boat for a few weeks yet to check myself - was just doing the initial preparation to be able to hit the ground running and get the kitting out complete for the new season!

Would appear the Raymarine marketing machine has had you over!
The RJ45 cables are completely standard. I connected up my Digital Radome using home-made ethernet cables. Works absolutely fine. Just make sure you use shielded cable/plugs to avoid interference.

 

[maby]

Would appear the Raymarine marketing machine has had you over!
The RJ45 cables are completely standard. I connected up my Digital Radome using home-made ethernet cables. Works absolutely fine. Just make sure you use shielded cable/plugs to avoid interference.

Really? There are several posts on the forums (including this one) from users who had attempted to plug standard RJ45 cables into the back of Raymarine MFDs and had no success. Suggestions that the plug is a slightly different shape that does not lock in and that there is some kind of interlock that the MFD reads to verify that a genuine Seatalk HS cable is plugged in. I shall certainly try with standard cables before shelling out for a Raymarine one!

 

[Cardo]

Really? There are several posts on the forums (including this one) from users who had attempted to plug standard RJ45 cables into the back of Raymarine MFDs and had no success. Suggestions that the plug is a slightly different shape that does not lock in and that there is some kind of interlock that the MFD reads to verify that a genuine Seatalk HS cable is plugged in. I shall certainly try with standard cables before shelling out for a Raymarine one!

Unfortunately I don't have experience of plugging a RJ45 directly into a Raymarine plotter as my e7 has a Raynet socket on the back. I had to use a Raynet to Seatalk HS patch cable, then a coupler onto my home-made ethernet cable before connecting to another coupler and onto the Raymarine radar cable leading up the mast.
The RJ45 plugs on the ends of the Raynet/Seatalk HS cable and the radar cable are standard RJ45 plugs, as far as I can tell.

 

[maby]

Unfortunately I don't have experience of plugging a RJ45 directly into a Raymarine plotter as my e7 has a Raynet socket on the back. I had to use a Raynet to Seatalk HS patch cable, then a coupler onto my home-made ethernet cable before connecting to another coupler and onto the Raymarine radar cable leading up the mast.
The RJ45 plugs on the ends of the Raynet/Seatalk HS cable and the radar cable are standard RJ45 plugs, as far as I can tell.

Hmmm, my information is that the Seatalk HS plug looks very similar to a standard RJ45, but there are subtle differences. These include the fact that the Seatalk HS does not include, or support, the RJ45 locking tab - since it would be inaccessible within the splash shield of the Seatalk plug, thus making it impossible to remove the plug once it has been inserted. This means that there is nothing to lock a standard RJ45 plug in and you would have to glue it in order to stop it dropping out. I've also seen mention of some kind of electrical interlock which allows the plotter to check that the plug inserted is an official Seatalk HS and that the plotter will disable its interface if it does not see that interlock. There was a thread running on this forum a couple of years ago where someone had tried linking two instruments using standard ethernet cables and they did not communicate but when he replaced the cable with an official Raymarine one, it all sprang into life.

There is no doubt that it is standard ethernet protocol and you can use ordinary ethernet hubs and cables to link things like a PC to your plotter for passage planning, but the concensus seemed to be that you had to bite the bullet and buy at least one genuine Seatalk HS cable to link the plotter to the ethernet hub. Hence my search for an alternative supplier for suitable plugs!

 

[aluijten]

Really? There are several posts on the forums (including this one) from users who had attempted to plug standard RJ45 cables into the back of Raymarine MFDs and had no success. Suggestions that the plug is a slightly different shape that does not lock in and that there is some kind of interlock that the MFD reads to verify that a genuine Seatalk HS cable is plugged in. I shall certainly try with standard cables before shelling out for a Raymarine one!

I had the same question about a year ago. The Seatalk HS system is just 100-mbit Ethernet over STP cable (cat.5). This was the standard network cable a few years ago in every office.
What they did is develop some kind of waterproof plug to connect it to the plotter (I have an E120). This plug is just a sort of plastic cap over the RJ45 plug. The plotter has no latch for the RJ45 plug, instead it's the plastic cap that keeps the cable in place.
The connector to the Radardome is a specific one though.

What I did is I bought a 1.5 meter long Seatalk HS cable with the plotter plug on one side and simply extended the other side, making sure to keep the twist in the conductor lines. This goes into a standard Ethernet 100 Mbs switch together with the cable from the radar dome. This works perfectly.
The real hassle with the Seatalk HS is that Raymarine uses a pretty bad implementation of the IP protocol, making integration with other Ethernet stuff cumbersome.

Cheers,

Arno

 

[Cardo]

Hmm, I think I have a theory as to what's going on.
There seems to be two generations of ethernet type cables in the Raymarine world.

Initially Raymarine used ethernet cables with specially adapted RJ45 plugs on the ends to make these waterproof. Such as this:

However, the newer kit has moved away from these and now uses standard RJ45 plugs for non-waterproof connections and Raynet connectors for waterproof requirements:

As you can see, the plug on the other end is a standard RJ45.

 

[maby]

I had the same question about a year ago. The Seatalk HS system is just 100-mbit Ethernet over STP cable (cat.5). This was the standard network cable a few years ago in every office.
What they did is develop some kind of waterproof plug to connect it to the plotter (I have an E120). This plug is just a sort of plastic cap over the RJ45 plug. The plotter has no latch for the RJ45 plug, instead it's the plastic cap that keeps the cable in place.
The connector to the Radardome is a specific one though.

What I did is I bought a 1.5 meter long Seatalk HS cable with the plotter plug on one side and simply extended the other side, making sure to keep the twist in the conductor lines. This goes into a standard Ethernet 100 Mbs switch together with the cable from the radar dome. This works perfectly.
The real hassle with the Seatalk HS is that Raymarine uses a pretty bad implementation of the IP protocol, making integration with other Ethernet stuff cumbersome.

Cheers,

Arno

Thanks Arno - that is pretty much what I've been expecting - just making one last attempt at avoiding having to pay over £40 for a 1.5m ethernet cable! Oh well, tear up another fifty and drop it into the Medway!

 

[maby]

Hmm, I think I have a theory as to what's going on.
There seems to be two generations of ethernet type cables in the Raymarine world.

Initially Raymarine used ethernet cables with specially adapted RJ45 plugs on the ends to make these waterproof. Such as this:

However, the newer kit has moved away from these and now uses standard RJ45 plugs for non-waterproof connections and Raynet connectors for waterproof requirements:

As you can see, the plug on the other end is a standard RJ45.

Indeed! I'm trying to work out how to connect to the first generation plotter without paying £40 for a plug that should cost 50p!

 

[Cardo]

There was a thread running on this forum a couple of years ago where someone had tried linking two instruments using standard ethernet cables and they did not communicate but when he replaced the cable with an official Raymarine one, it all sprang into life.

Did the person use crossover cables or straight ethernet cables? Raymarine kit is not particularly smart and the ethernet implementation is not auto-sensing so requires a crossover cable if connected direct to another appliance and not via a hub/switch.

 

[maby]

Did the person use crossover cables or straight ethernet cables? Raymarine kit is not particularly smart and the ethernet implementation is not auto-sensing so requires a crossover cable if connected direct to another appliance and not via a hub/switch.

Reportedly, they tried both. The suggestion was that the plotter makes use of some kind of interlock to distinguish between a Seatalk plug and an RJ45, and disables the interface if it cannot see Seatalk.

 

[aluijten]

Thanks Arno - that is pretty much what I've been expecting - just making one last attempt at avoiding having to pay over £40 for a 1.5m ethernet cable! Oh well, tear up another fifty and drop it into the Medway!

Keep an eye on Ebay, that's how saved on this cable. I spend 20 Euros or so. Still 15 Euro too expensive but more acceptable.