Electronics Upgrade (B&G and Raymarine)

Jan 21, 2018
26
Ericson 30+ Milford
I was able to verify that my Chartplotter and MFD were sending values in XTE, DTW, and BTW. But, when I used the STANDBY button on my ST6002 Pilot Controller, the controller displayed "---" indicating that no data was received. So, at this point I boxed up the SPX5 and sent it off to Raymarine Support to perform the software upgrade. Like I previously noted, I have doubts that the upgrade will help with this connectivity issue, but it can't hurt to have it on the most current software release going forward.
I know this is fairly old post but wondering you you ever got this to work properly. I am in a similar position with the same AP and thinking about Vulcan MFD so that I have the sailing info they provide.
 

CarlN

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Jan 4, 2009
603
Ketch 55 Bristol, RI
You might have better luck switching the backbone to Raymarine Seatalk NG hardware and then use drop cables with converters to the non Raymarine stuff. Two backbones is asking for trouble. But you may still be out of luck. Raymarine has always liked their proprietary stuff and it wouldn't surprise me if the Vulcan doesn't know some of the Raymarine secret codes.

But before you go through this are you sure you care that much about having the autopilot steer to a route? Especially on a sailboat, I find it much better to just let the autopilot steer a straight course until I take over again and give it a new course. And I've never found an autopilot "steer to wind angle" that works very well. Especially on a boat your size, they tend to overcompensate to the changes in apparent wind.

One bit of advice. Don't bother with the forward looking sonar unless it's for fishing. I have the Garmin one. Its maximum forward range is 8x the depth of the water. So if you are looking to not hit a rock that's 5 feet down, you see it just 40ft before you hit it. One boat length of warning isn't enough time to turn - and that assumes you were staring at the screen constantly to see the rock the second it appears.