eliminating the control head
- Thread starter Witzend
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Contact Raymarine, they have the answer. You can also just post a question for them and they will get back to you. If those displays are universal, I seenno reason why it would not work.
Witz...
I'm putting in a new Raymarine autopilot and suspect that the control head is used to set parameters for the wind unit that can't be done from the GPS, even on a Seatalk connection. The control head specific to the autopilot is needed to set up its programming in the commissioning phase. Steve's answer is the best solution.
I'm putting in a new Raymarine autopilot and suspect that the control head is used to set parameters for the wind unit that can't be done from the GPS, even on a Seatalk connection. The control head specific to the autopilot is needed to set up its programming in the commissioning phase. Steve's answer is the best solution.
You correct here. The problem as Raytheon has indicated is that there is no way to calibrate the data without the St60/70 display/control head, other that that it should work. Being a EE this is a very easy problem to solve with passive components (resistors, capacitors). The direction indicator is nothing more than a variable resistor, and the speed is a rotating magnet, which induces a EMF ( Electro Motive Force) into a special semiconductor device (a Hall Effect Transistor) that is sensitive to magnetic fields. So, as it rotates it creates pulses. The pulses get averaged out in a RC (resistor, capacitor) network to create a voltage which is read with a A to D (Analog to Digital Converter) into the control head, the same way digital speedometers work in cars.
I'm still not convinced that the C70w will display wind info, the manual is not very clear on this. So that will be the rub on this one. I can do the tweaking in the analog world to calibrate the vane, but is it worth the $139 dollars difference than just buying the farm? Anyway it is always fun to out fox the eng/marketting people at Raymarine!
I'm still not convinced that the C70w will display wind info, the manual is not very clear on this. So that will be the rub on this one. I can do the tweaking in the analog world to calibrate the vane, but is it worth the $139 dollars difference than just buying the farm? Anyway it is always fun to out fox the eng/marketting people at Raymarine!
It would appear that Raymarine may be using a amplitude-to-phase converter for sine/cosine position of the direction vane, and pulses for the speed as I suspected. According to Raymarine the Rotavecta transducer has a way of using the same pulses for speed and direction thus getting both values from only (2) wires. Not sure why the Wind Vanes have split the data out into (2) for speed and (2) wires for direction (1) shield. My guess is the length of the cables are problematic to the (2) wire approach.
It still may be possible to pull this off, maybe there is a set screw on the shaft that can be loosened and re-positioned to accomplish wind direction adjustment? Has anyone ever inspected the vane to see if this is possible? Adjusting wind speed would be a problem if it is incorrect. I did get conformation from Raymarine that the C90w does in fact provide a data window for wind info; they were not clear about what info would be provided.
It still may be possible to pull this off, maybe there is a set screw on the shaft that can be loosened and re-positioned to accomplish wind direction adjustment? Has anyone ever inspected the vane to see if this is possible? Adjusting wind speed would be a problem if it is incorrect. I did get conformation from Raymarine that the C90w does in fact provide a data window for wind info; they were not clear about what info would be provided.
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