Seatalk Spaghetti???

[antcollins]

Hi,

I have three Raymarine ST40 instruments which are all currently independent and I want to connect 'um together with the possibility of adding a tillerpilot soon and a C-Series display later (next year-ish). What's the best way of doing this?

Should I just daisy-chain them together with 3 way seatalk blocks or would one of those switch things be a better choice? Is it me of is the info on SeaTalk limited?

Thanks

Ant

 

[sailorman]

Hi,

I have three Raymarine ST40 instruments which are all currently independent and I want to connect 'um together with the possibility of adding a tillerpilot soon and a C-Series display later (next year-ish). What's the best way of doing this?

Should I just daisy-chain them together with 3 way seatalk blocks or would one of those switch things be a better choice? Is it me of is the info on SeaTalk limited?

Thanks

Ant

seatalk daisy chain

 

[seasolutions]

daisy chain, but bring the sea-talk cable from the last instrument back to the power sorce as the sea-talk cables are a bit weedy so lots of instruments can lead to a voltage drop.

ie a sea-talk 'ring main'

 

[Twister_Ken]

You don't need (expensive) Seatalk plugs to do this - just use mini spade connectors on the cabling. Tip originally from Greenham Regis.

 

[antcollins]

Daisy chain it is then

Thanks folks. Will get a couple of connecter blocks and cables. Will look at making them up.

 

[rob2]

You can download the manuals for the ST40 instruments from the Raymarine website which will guide you in detail of the options in wiring a Seatalk system and extending to autopilot, etc.

Rob.

 

[Wunja]

There is a difference between the ST40 and ST60 instruments when it comes to interfacing them. The ST60s have two Seatalk connectors allowing them to easily be daisy chained together. However the ST40 only has a single connector. To daisy chain them, it is necessary to have a 'Seatalk interface kit' for each instrument. I.E. the interface kits are daisy chained and the instruments are connected as a spur.

All that said, I don't know what is in the interface connector - it might just be three pairs of wires soldered together!

<edit> Just realised OP is aware of the need for the interface kit!

 

[AlistairC]

All that said, I don't know what is in the interface connector - it might just be three pairs of wires soldered together!


This appears to be functionally equivalent - works fine for me.

 

[PerformanceSailor]

Power Supply concern

Hi,

I have three Raymarine ST40 instruments which are all currently independent and I want to connect 'um together with the possibility of adding a tillerpilot soon and a C-Series display later (next year-ish). What's the best way of doing this?

Should I just daisy-chain them together with 3 way seatalk blocks or would one of those switch things be a better choice? Is it me of is the info on SeaTalk limited?

Thanks

Ant

One little caution about feeding 12 DC into the "chain"...
The instruments do not take much power, and the Sea Talk wire diameter is quite small. However, the AP drive motor will need more amps. I was always told to feed the AP with a separate cable (like a #12). The signal and ground wires can still go to the AP. A technician told me this, and it seems to make sense.

Cheers,
L

 

[jfkal]

Seatalk isnt a daisy chain but a bus type. So you can happily connect all the reds, all the yellows and all the blacks of the instruments together anywhere if you want. AP can be tricky though if its power connection is bad you have voltage drops once the motor kicks in. So feeding it (fused) from an extra source is a good idea.

 

[Gypsy]

jfcal is correct about the 'bus' type connection of Seatalk. For those who might raise the point that ST50/60 instruments have 2 S/T connectors and are usually connected from one to the other, the connection is still bus style electrically, its just that Raymarine provide the second connection point for ease of cabling when instruments are clustered rather than having a junction box in what is often an hostile environment. The halfmoon S/T connectors are also water resistant when plugged into the instruments, again better than a junction box.