Troubleshooting NMEA2000 on my Lowrance Link-8 VHF

H35

H35

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After buying a Lowrance Link-8 back in 2012, I had to get an software upgrade, which at the time no Lowrance support could guide me to or provide. I got help from a guy on a Norwegian board - a Simrad Guru, so to speach. After upgrading my Link 8 on his kitchen table, I got back to my boat, hooked up all the expensive NMEA2000 wiring and backbone, and voilá! It worked! For two weeks... Then the Link 8 lost it's GPS positioning from the MDF, and the MDF haven't seen any AIS signal ever since. This was back in 2013. I figured it could be a faulty NMEA2000 cable, but all of them seems to be just fine after I've checked them. Yesterday I was in the back of my electrical panel, making some sort of much needed order in all my cables. Since I just recently upgraded the software on my Raymarine MDF, I thought I'd give the NMEA2000 a new try, but nope. Nothing happens. Tried setting Baud in different variants but to no help. Then I found an old NMEA0183 cable for the Link 8, Google'd some colorful wires, so now at least I have a GPS position showing up on the Link 8. The most important thing, since I'm sailing with my kids, if they should ever need to push "the button" on the Link 8...
-But no AIS on my MDF. Not sure if I should just capitulate and try hooking up some more 0183 wires and see if it works. Or get some expert help to look at the NMEA2000 issue again.

In short, I shold have gotten a Raymarine VHF instead of the Lowrance. Mixing brands was obviously not the greatest of ideas...

My MDF is a Raymarine e7D. Of course it could be some settings in it I have gotten wrong, but I do believe the trouble starts in my Link-8. Any ideas?? Can't find any good "guides" on how to set it up either, so anything helps.
 
The Raymarine MFD should be able to list other 'devices' that it can see on the NMEA2000 (SeatalkNG) bus.

I would expect it to be able to both see the Link-8 and on another page to give you NMEA2000 packet/data statistics.

If not seen then I would suggest checking power. Can you confirm the bus is powered by checking power to the fuse and that the fuse is good. If you have powered the bus via the SeatalkNG power feed then you'll likely have a separate fuse. If powered by a Lowrance power feed cable then you might find the 3A fuse within a rubber lump in the power feed cable.

Out of interest how did you connect the SeatalkNG to the NMEA2000 Lowrance connection?

Note - Baud rate settings will only affect NMEA0183 so will not affect this NMEA2000/SeatalkNG issue.
 
I too have a Lowrance Link 8 , bought specifically for the AIS functionality, and a Lowrance Plotter. I must admit getting them to work together wasn't easy! One tip if you haven't thought about it is that I powered the whole set-up from a small 12v standalone battery ( actually borrowed permanently from my motor mower).
 
Martin_J said:
The Raymarine MFD should be able to list other 'devices' that it can see on the NMEA2000 (SeatalkNG) bus.

I would expect it to be able to both see the Link-8 and on another page to give you NMEA2000 packet/data statistics.

If not seen then I would suggest checking power. Can you confirm the bus is powered by checking power to the fuse and that the fuse is good. If you have powered the bus via the SeatalkNG power feed then you'll likely have a separate fuse. If powered by a Lowrance power feed cable then you might find the 3A fuse within a rubber lump in the power feed cable.

Out of interest how did you connect the SeatalkNG to the NMEA2000 Lowrance connection?

Note - Baud rate settings will only affect NMEA0183 so will not affect this NMEA2000/SeatalkNG issue.
Click to expand...


Not sure WHERE I should look, to check if the MDF has detected to Link-8 as part of the network. So far I haven't seen any such list. But then the Link-8 is the only other part of the network.

I have put together 3 pcs of T-connectors, with a 120 Ohm resistance in each end. Then to the three connectors I have cables, on for the MDF, one for the Link-8 and one for power. I have checked for power and measure 14V at the end of every cable. So power is up.

The cable to the MDF is a Seatalk-NMEA2000 cable which was provided by a Raymarine dealer.
 
Could there be need for some extra ground cable at some part? I remember someone mentioned that once, but not sure what it was about. Perhaps from the Link-8.
 
Onia said:
I too have a Lowrance Link 8 , bought specifically for the AIS functionality, and a Lowrance Plotter. I must admit getting them to work together wasn't easy! One tip if you haven't thought about it is that I powered the whole set-up from a small 12v standalone battery ( actually borrowed permanently from my motor mower).
Click to expand...


Not sure what you mean. You power the vhf and the MDF and the bus from a battery.... Am I missing something? ;-)
 
H35 said:
Not sure WHERE I should look, to check if the MDF has detected to Link-8 as part of the network. So far I haven't seen any such list. But then the Link-8 is the only other part of the network.
.
Click to expand...

The 'Diagnostics' menu on the MFD should give you a few useful options.
Then 'Select Device' - this should listen on the SeatalkNG bus and list the devices it has heard.
or 'Interfaces -> SeatalkNG' - This should allow the viewing of statistics on the NMEA2000 bus.

You might have to scroll down past the bottom of the screen to see the diagnostics menu though.

Also - Check you have the latest software. Should be easy to download and update.
 
Fine reading the Link 8 manual, it says under selecting GPS source that the NMEA2000 network will ONLY show in the list if detected. Well, it doesn't show... So SOMETHING is wrong with the network, maybe rather than with the units...
I'm not sure which parts in the NMEA2000 cabling are the most vulnerable, or how to check them other than I have measured both power all the way through, and even that every little wire in all cables actually have connection. How ever, I'm not able to measure the connectors. Or the contacts in the units...

https://www.lowrance.com/Root/Lowrance-Documents/US/Link-8_OM_EN_988-10254-001_w.pdf

https://raymarine.app.box.com/s/8o1sxspkhvf8ev7smk40/file/29762702271
 
Martin_J said:
Out of interest... What version is your VHF software? (Although it should at least work via NMEA2000 even if software is not the most recent).
Click to expand...

I'll check up on it when onboard. I suppose it was the first update to adress the NMEA2000 problems. And I got it through a backdoor at Simrad, long before Lowrance even admitted they had a problem....

I am seriously considering giving up on this. At least now that I've got the GPS positioning fed into the Link 8 by NMEA0183, I can drop the whole NMEA2000 issue and get a Raymarine AIS transceiver and hook it into my MFD directly(??)
 
A suggestion: could you draw up your N2K network and post it? It should just be plug and play so there may just be something basic wrong.
 
I have a Link 8 on my raymarine network passing AIS data to the A65 MFD and receiving GPS data all working on N2k. However, it only works if the VHF is turned on a minute or so before the rest of the network. If the VHF is turned on after the Raymarine network or annoying off/on then the raymarine log and wind instruments no longer receive GPS data.

Obviously there appears to be some compatibility issues with Lowrance and Raymarine products.
 
Have you tried contacting the Raymarine help desk by email. They are very knowledgeable and very helpful, providing one end of your problem so to speak is a Raymarine product, no matter how old.
 
lpdsn said:
A suggestion: could you draw up your N2K network and post it? It should just be plug and play so there may just be something basic wrong.
Click to expand...


Should be all by the book. I have measured power and ground to be OK at the end of each cable. Neither the Link 8 nor the MFD register there's a 2000 network. There's no traffic on it. Though there has to be registered units at both ends for that to happen, so it makes it impossible to know if the fault is one of the units, or the cables. I guess I simply have to exchange the cables and the backbone to know...

IMG_3315.jpg
 
Last edited:
Martin_J said:
Out of interest... What version is your VHF software? (Although it should at least work via NMEA2000 even if software is not the most recent).
Click to expand...


I have software v. 1.062, which is the one that should handle the NMEA2000 issues with the Link 8. I got it updated in 2013 on my (now) neighbour's kitchen table! :)
 
H35 said:
I have software v. 1.062, which is the one that should handle the NMEA2000 issues with the Link 8. I got it updated in 2013 on my (now) neighbour's kitchen table! :)
Click to expand...
This is the latest version
TB-74348 / 19 November 2015
Link-8 Software Update
Product Description: Link-8 VHF
Software Version: 2.87
Effective Date: 18-11-2015

Lots of fixes can sneak in with the new versions (1.062 vs 2.87).
Can't you find a dealer near by that have a MFD you can use? Think you can use MFD's from Simrad or B&G also (all is Navico brands using same platform)

I would have tested that before you start ripping the network apart.
Is your Ramarine MFD up to date?

I had a strange problem when upgrading my Raymarina EV200 autopoilot (it had old sw version since we had a Furuno plotter..)
After installing a bramd new Raymarine es127 I wasted to upgrade all software, but when the upgrade of AP had run for a while the AP dropped off the network. I found out that this was a known problem with older SW, I had to create a mini network with only MFD and AP to get it online again..
 
Onia said:
Have you tried contacting the Raymarine help desk by email. They are very knowledgeable and very helpful, providing one end of your problem so to speak is a Raymarine product, no matter how old.
Click to expand...

If you by that mean the Raymarine Forum, I have tried to get in there. But no admin has ever bothered to activate my account(s)...
 
knuterikt said:
This is the latest version
TB-74348 / 19 November 2015
Link-8 Software Update
Product Description: Link-8 VHF
Software Version: 2.87
Effective Date: 18-11-2015

Lots of fixes can sneak in with the new versions (1.062 vs 2.87).
Can't you find a dealer near by that have a MFD you can use? Think you can use MFD's from Simrad or B&G also (all is Navico brands using same platform)

I would have tested that before you start ripping the network apart.
Is your Ramarine MFD up to date?

I had a strange problem when upgrading my Raymarina EV200 autopoilot (it had old sw version since we had a Furuno plotter..)
After installing a bramd new Raymarine es127 I wasted to upgrade all software, but when the upgrade of AP had run for a while the AP dropped off the network. I found out that this was a known problem with older SW, I had to create a mini network with only MFD and AP to get it online again..
Click to expand...


My MFD is current, just updated to Lighthouse software for the e7D. Went smoothly.

According to my good Simrad Guru neighbour (he is really good!!) my software version should do just fine. But he will come with me to my boat when he has time for it and hook up some instruments to analyze.

The thing is that last time he updated my Link 8, everything worked perfectly - for about two weeks. Then the network disappeared. Hence why I'm suspicious to my cables....
 
knuterikt said:
This is the latest version
TB-74348 / 19 November 2015
Link-8 Software Update
Product Description: Link-8 VHF
Software Version: 2.87
Effective Date: 18-11-2015
Click to expand...

Even more recent release now..

The latest Link-8 software appears to be 2.91 (released Nov 7, 2016).

Link-8-Software

Although the documentation provided with the update still refers to 2.87
 
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