NMEA 0183 wire type

[Manny]

Any recommendations on the wire type to use for NMEA 0183 connections? After my VHF decided to stop receiving, I picked up the new Standard Horizon GX1700 which has GPS built in. I'd like to take advantage of that feature and take the NMEA 0183 output from that and send it to my X-5 wheel pilot, and remove the fluxgate compass. Other than using a suppression ferrite per the Raymarine manual, I don't have any other info...
Obviously tinned multi-strand wire is one of the criteria, any recommendations on gauge or anything else?

Thanks in advance,

M

 

[Sumner]

Any recommendations on the wire type to use for NMEA 0183 connections? After my VHF decided to stop receiving, I picked up the new Standard Horizon GX1700 which has GPS built in. I'd like to take advantage of that feature and take the NMEA 0183 output from that and send it to my X-5 wheel pilot, and remove the fluxgate compass. Other than using a suppression ferrite per the Raymarine manual, I don't have any other info...
Obviously tinned multi-strand wire is one of the criteria, any recommendations on gauge or anything else?

Thanks in advance,

M

I used this...

http://shop.genuinedealz.com/Items/...e Shielded Signal Cable Wire 20/8 AWG - 50 ft

.... going from a Cuda 350 GPS/fishfinder to a Standard Horizon VHF with DSC and it worked fine in that application transmitting the NEMA from the Cuda to the VHF....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor-navigation/Cuda 350.html

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/inside-25.html

....I would think it should work in your situation, but no guarantees . They also have some other options....

http://shop.genuinedealz.com/Marine Grade Wire/Instrument, Signal Cable/

Sum

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[dparilla]

I use either shielded cat 5 cable or phone cable (I actually have a stash of 6 conductor phone cord that is awesome...courtesy of Radio Shack). In the end, it depends on how many data in/out you are looking to connect. The suppression ferrite made no difference, so I left it off.

 

[Richard19068]

Any recommendations on the wire type to use for NMEA 0183 connections? After my VHF decided to stop receiving, I picked up the new Standard Horizon GX1700 which has GPS built in. I'd like to take advantage of that feature and take the NMEA 0183 output from that and send it to my X-5 wheel pilot, and remove the fluxgate compass. Other than using a suppression ferrite per the Raymarine manual, I don't have any other info...
Obviously tinned multi-strand wire is one of the criteria, any recommendations on gauge or anything else?

Thanks in advance,

M

Are you really going to remove the fluxgate compass? Wouldn't you want to leave it there for when the GPS has problems?

 

[Maine Sail]

Any recommendations on the wire type to use for NMEA 0183 connections? After my VHF decided to stop receiving, I picked up the new Standard Horizon GX1700 which has GPS built in. I'd like to take advantage of that feature and take the NMEA 0183 output from that and send it to my X-5 wheel pilot, and remove the fluxgate compass. Other than using a suppression ferrite per the Raymarine manual, I don't have any other info...
Obviously tinned multi-strand wire is one of the criteria, any recommendations on gauge or anything else?

Thanks in advance,

M

You should not remove the fluxgate signal and supply only GPS. The unit will go haywire if you do this.. The X-5 has a dedicated NEMA IN/OUT port on the course computer to ADD a GPS signal but this is not intended to replace the fluxgate....

The fluxgate is a critical part of that system for it to operate correctly..

 

[Tim R.]

I use either shielded cat 5 cable or phone cable (I actually have a stash of 6 conductor phone cord that is awesome...courtesy of Radio Shack). In the end, it depends on how many data in/out you are looking to connect. The suppression ferrite made no difference, so I left it off.

I do not use any type of solid wire like phone cable. I also use Cat 5 cable but only the stranded type. Solid cable is more likely to break from fatigue and crimping on terminals. Unshielded is cheaper and I have never had an issue with it. Although Cat5 can be a little hard to work with because it is so thin.

Being in the IT industry, I can usually pick up free scraps to use on the boat.

 

[Bill Roosa]

Your auto pilot used the fluxgate compass to sense the rapidly changing bearing information. it uses this to "learn" the sea state and anticipate the changes it needs to make to average out the course to the one you set. I'm pretty sure removing it will cause the unit to fault and not work. I'm positive just using GPS will yeald a very sloppy course followed as the GPS averages out the speed and direction over several position readings. GPS cannot actually sense direction but uses the change in position to calculate it.

 

[Manny]

Thanks guys, I went back and checked the manual and I turns out I misunderstood/misread it. I thought it was a requirement to disconnect the compass if using gps data over NMEA 0183, but it states to disconnect the fluxgate compass if your are using a nmea "compass".

So it sounds like I can get away with a minimum of stranded cat 5 to run the wires...

Thanks,

M

 

[robertsapp]

But I don't think standard Cat 5 or 6 network cable is tinned. Don't they strongly recommend the use of tinned wire in marine environments to resist corrosion?

 

[alexco38]

Anchor make tinned signal cables. It doesn't have to carry much current so IMHO even 18-22AWG would do.

 

[Maine Sail]

But I don't think standard Cat 5 or 6 network cable is tinned. Don't they strongly recommend the use of tinned wire in marine environments to resist corrosion?

You can get multi-stranded tinned Cat 5 cable.. Sometimes called "industrial cat 5"...

 

[dparilla]

There is direct bury cat 5 that is tinned and double insulated. I have found it on ebay in scrap lengths frequently...37 feet etc.

 

[Manny]

Thanks for the tip on looking for scrap bits on ebay, got an 85' run of 20 awg multistrand tinned shielded twisted pair wire for a good price. Got lots of leftover wire but I'm sure some other project will come along in the future that can use it.

M