Autopilot; ST4000 to X-5

[Maine Sail]

Pat, I replaced my ST4000 with an X-5 several years ago and do not remember having to buy additional cables or a converter. I may have had the necessary cables lying around but what was the need for a converter? I also had a suite of ST60 instruments. I did have to acquire an NMEA Multiplexer as the Raymarine C80 chartplotter only has one NMEA input, I needed 3 (VHF DSC, X-5 Fast Heading and laptop to transfer routes/waypoints). I then sent the output of the multiplexer through an AIS to the NMEA input at the C80 and configured the port to 38.4 kb. Keep in mind that if you have a radar interfaced to your chartplotter and wish to benefit from MARPA (mini-automatic radar plotting aid, gives CPA) then you need to connect the X-5 computer to the chartplotter via NMEA, not SeaTalk. This is the only way it will function properly.

Len,

The new SPX-5 comes with a P-70 head not the older ST-6000 head which has been discontinued. The P-70 head does not do Sea Talk 1 or the old "legacy" system of Sea Talk....

 

[Hello Below]

Ah yes grasshopper, that explains the need for the converter.

Thanks Maine

 

[Bob S]

The X-5 book showed a cable with a plug at the control head and pigtails at the course computer, the only long cable that I had had plugs at each end. When I finally got through to Raymarine the tech support guy said "cut the plug off the end".

Lou,
I have been planning my system and reread this and other posts along with both manuals. My p70 head came with a 15" spur to spur cable which I assume is to piggy backwith an i70 display shown in the manual as one of many sample set ups. I also got the 1m (3') A06043 spur to stripped end with the SPX-5. Kudos to Defender, they sent an extra (A06064) STNG 5 way connector and terminators that can be used to extend the backbone. Question for those who have been there!

1. Can you use butt connectors and marine grade wire to extend any of these cables? They look to be shielded cables.
2. The 15" double ended spur cable appears to be heavier, can this be used to connect the P70 to a 5 way and then to the course computer?

I planned on mounting the p70 control head on the coaming to the right of the companion way. I have an old depth/speed there now. I figure this is easily seen and accessible when single handing as I will always in front of the wheel. At some point I will make a cabinet or something to hide the wires inside.
Wow, what a process trying to educate oneself on these projects :cussing:

 

[drazlou]

Bob,

It's been a while since my installation but I remember having one long cable (15') which is the one that the nitwit at RM told me to cut the plug off the computer end. I think that if I hadn't done that I could have connected one end of the cable to the P70 and the other end to the spine. The short cable with the pigtails on one end would then go from the spine to the terminals on the course computer. I think there may have been another short cable that provided power to the spine.This wiring method allows you to use the Seatalk ng system which gives you the commissioning screens I was unable to get to. The only difficulty with this installation would be pulling the cable through the pedestal with the plug on the end. It was hard enough with just a bare end on the cable.

At Maine Sails request I sent a note to RM detailing my problems with their installation instructions and I got a reply from their tech support people saying that they were very sorry and were forwarding my note to management. That was at least two weeks ago and I have yet to get a response from management so I think I was right that they know and don't care.

 

[Mark Maulden]

I would love to take my RM radar/E7D/X5 and box it all up and take it and board an airplane to wherever on the planet the CEO's office is and walk in and dump it all on his/her desk..Unfortunately, it would cost me some bucks to do that. But, if I had the money, it would be priceless. But, I guess they all have "stupid" issues. But, maybe part of it is just me being an EMC engineer for a major aerospace co. When we deliver, it's right and it works and the manuals are correct and understandable for the product....

 

[Bob S]

Mark,

I agree it's somewhat of a mess. My problem, not being an electrical engineer, is just trying to put my head around the whole project. If I do my homework upfront it will be a little easier when I start running wires and hopefully will work without to much trouble shooting. I am marrying older technology with new. I drew a schematic to how I thought it would work and sent it to Raymarine's tech support. They emailed me and called me to my surprise. They made some simple changes which made sense. I have to tip my hat to them for responding as quickly as they did.

 

[Mark Maulden]

Well, I now have to give them some accolades. And Bob, don't do what I did. I inadvertently/momentarily put 110V on power going to the X-5. It was a very stupid hurridly mistake working on the breaker panel. Thankfully, the branch DC breaker was open and I did not power the rest of the boat as such. Believe me, the processor does not like 110V. The board has a lot of crispy critters. I called RM and poured my guts out and told them what I did and they are going to replace the processor at a very attractive cost. They told me since I was upfront and told them of my stupid mistake etc and did not try to claim a problem under warranty they would do this. It's very obvious to anybody kowledageable in electronics what happened... If you don't already know, you are going to have to put ship's power to the SeaTalkng bus. This a very stupid design but I'm not going to say this "now". For the SeaTalk bus, I took power from the same breaker and I also put 110V on the whole SeaTalk bus. So, I may have some collateral damage to the controller and an E7D although they thought the X5 would probably be the sacrificial lamb.......If so, I'm going to have pour my guts out again....Where's the "stupid" icon?????

 

[Hello Below]

Ask and You Shall Receive

 

[Bob S]

Ouch!

So far I'm very happy with the support I got. The manual like others have said is horrible. It refers to an older set up and not the next generation ng. Good luck, you should have some time before launching. My problem is I'm stuck in ski mode but it has afforded me the time to read reread and reread again. I noticed the backbone can be powered from the X5 or independent through a power spur. It's important to only have one power source.

 

[Mark Maulden]

can you refer me to where it states the backbone can be powered by the X5? It's true with the others but not the X5. (According to Raymarine)

 

[Bob S]

apologize, My C70 can back power the ng
The manual says "The Course Computer does NOT supply power for SeaTalkng. A SeaTalkng system must be powered from its own separate power supply."
I am linking older SeaTalk to SeaTalk ng. I've attached a powerpoint of my rough plan.

 

[Cayennita]

I am going to replace my old Raymarine ST4000 wheel pilot with the newest version X-5 (SPX-5 p70). Just wondering if anyone has made the same upgrade and was able to use the old cables/wires? This would surely save some installation time. Thanks.

I installed the system on a friend;s boat and used the adaptor cable sold by Raymarine to make it possible. I had separate power sources. The autopilot should have the shortest
shortest possible cable run from the batteries with it's own switch.