Raymarine GPS antenna sensor

[Lee Hadjiosif]

I have an E80 Classic chart plotter with an RS120 seatalk1 antenna. The antenna being out of date started to give me false readings and interfere with the instruments...so I removed it from the network per Raymarine direction. To my surprise, the chart plotter started getting a good FIX from the NEMA AIS antenna but without the SOG or COG, just the heading was showing. The Raymarine rep suggested an RS150 sensor which would also need a seatalk1 to STng converter for close to 500 euros which I thought that would be way too much for just a new antenna.
I learned that Digital Yacht makes a compatible NMEA183 antenna, the GPS160 for less than half the cost of the Raymarine RS150. I am looking for comments/suggestions from sailors that are using the Digital Yacht GPS160 (TriNav) on an older Raymarine system specifically as to whether they are missing any information on the chart plotter that was there before.
Thanks.

 

[Screen Saver]

The antenna doesn't have a use by date so I would suggest there is some other problem. By False readings I'm guessing you mean misposition. Your AIS can be set as a backup in the event the main GPS fails, so by you removing the main gps this has caused the E80 to pickup the AIS gps. SOG and COG is a calculation from your GPS Position so you can have one without the other. SIG is calculated based on time and distance from one point to another. The RS120 as i recall was made in two different versions a seaTalk version and a nmea0183 version so pending which one you have an what ports are available yes you can put an NMEA183 third party GPS on. However based on the fact that two GPS's are gving you trouble I would suspect you have other networking problems

 

[barnstormer]

Don't know if this is helpful but the RS 129 seatalk 1 antennae has a button style battery that dies after 10 or so years. Mine was losing the fix for position and on this forum someone had said you can replace the battery in the antennae. It was a little tricky but I managed to retrofit another button battery and now I don't lose my fix for position. If I would of replaced the antennae it would have been $200+ for another antennae but instead it cost me $6 for a new battery.

 

[DRhoads]

Concur with Barnstormer -- new battery. fixed mine.

 

[Screen Saver]

Yes very good point. I set this aside on the bases AIS one didnt work for you. But I guess both could be due, or you could have two problems. Either way it would be good to check. This is may help Raymarine RS120 how to replace battery - Google Search

 

[artboas]

Concur with Barnstormer -- new battery. fixed mine.

Definitely .

 

[dkinzer]

The antenna doesn't have a use by date so I would suggest there is some other problem.

While it true that there is no "use by" date, it is also true that the various GPS units have used data sizes for storing the date/time that cause "rollover" at certain dates. The RS120 and RS125 have passed their rollover date so they do give incorrect date information. The location information is still valid but you can't rely on the time/date (which may be important for currents/tides).

The attached file (from Raymarine) gives rollover date details on a wide variety of their equipment.

 

[Blitz]

While it true that there is no "use by" date, it is also true that the various GPS units have used data sizes for storing the date/time that cause "rollover" at certain dates. The RS120 and RS125 have passed their rollover date so they do give incorrect date information. The location information is still valid but you can't rely on the time/date (which may be important for currents/tides).

dkinzer has the correct information here. not sure why Raymarine has this issue, not sure if other manufacturers do the same. I had a chartplotter (e7) that lost it's GPS and had a RM antenna that I never hooked up so I gave it a try but it caused other issues due to the date.

 

[Screen Saver]

Himm, I Was on the beta program for Raymarine Testing, tested a few GPS's. The date issue originally started with the chip manufacture, and these all started to creep out when Y2K came to the floor. There were, probably still are some key dates that are issues. However in this case the date issue I don't suspect is is Lee's problem. To my knowledge the only thing the date is used for on classic E series is for the inbuilt tide/current tables and times. The time is UTC based but I guess there could be something else going on there Im unaware of. Also in Lee's case given both AIS and E80 GPS werent working for Lee I was thinking network issue. These could both be nema feeding devices, where as his other instruments are probably seatalk. Anyway hopefully something helps him. Thanks for the memory jolt

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

I suspect you’re getting the heading data from your Raymarine system, not AIS. Are you sure you don’t have a heading sensor connected somewhere or built into the autopilot course computer? If you have an autopilot it needs a heading sensor. If you were getting it over NMEA from your AIS I would expect it to see GPS position and COG/SOG also - but its my understanding AIS does not contain heading data (which requires a compass). But the E-series is so old I have no idea what it can interpret in the software.
Digital Yacht makes good stuff, but I don’t know whether it’s compatible with the E80. Ask them.

 

[Lee Hadjiosif]

Yes, the heading data is from the autopilot heading sensor. The AIS antenna works fine. I ordered the Digital Yacht GPS160 antenna which hopefully will give me the additional data. It was about half the cost of a new Raymarine antenna.

 

[Screen Saver]

The pricing is interesting. Here in Ozy the Raystar 150 (seatalk) is about $350aud while the Digital Yacht GPS (nema) is about $250. I hope it works for you but based on "started getting a good FIX from the NEMA AIS" Im not so sure. As I recall C80 only has the one NEAM0183 port. So if you have AIS, autopilot and GPS on Nema0183 it could be a challenge with baud rates ports etc, and if it goes to VHF for DSC it would likley be slower. Net result could be you need to buy a converter from NEMA to Seatalk. In that event the Raystar on Ozy pricing would be the go.... Anyway just a heads up. PS you probably also have a fluxgate compass which is where heading should come from assuming the autopilot hasnt been upgraded

 

[Lee Hadjiosif]

The pricing is interesting. Here in Ozy the Raystar 150 (seatalk) is about $350aud while the Digital Yacht GPS (nema) is about $250. I hope it works for you but based on "started getting a good FIX from the NEMA AIS" Im not so sure. As I recall C80 only has the one NEAM0183 port. So if you have AIS, autopilot and GPS on Nema0183 it could be a challenge with baud rates ports etc, and if it goes to VHF for DSC it would likley be slower. Net result could be you need to buy a converter from NEMA to Seatalk. In that event the Raystar on Ozy pricing would be the go.... Anyway just a heads up. PS you probably also have a fluxgate compass which is where heading should come from assuming the autopilot hasnt been upgraded

The AIS NMEA goes directly into the E80 chart plotter. The new GPS antenna NMEA wires will go to the A/P NMEA IN ports and is supposed to be converted to sea talk by the A/P course computer and sent to the chart plotter via sea talk. I hope it will work.

 

[Screen Saver]

Ah yes I suspect that will be just fine. Although Im surprised if the AIS goes directly to E80, and assuming AIS is working that that you don't get position and SOG already from AIS. It is possible (on Raymarine AIS) to turn off the sharing of GPS position data within the AIS, so perhaps GPS sharing/repeating is off.

 

[Lee Hadjiosif]

Ah yes I suspect that will be just fine. Although Im surprised if the AIS goes directly to E80, and assuming AIS is working that that you don't get position and SOG already from AIS. It is possible (on Raymarine AIS) to turn off the sharing of GPS position data within the AIS, so perhaps GPS sharing/repeating is off.

The AIS goes directly to the E80 NMEA input because I wired it myself. The reason was not to get a fix but to get the AIS targets on the display. The fix was a side benefit that I didn't expect until I disconnected the Raymarine GPS antenna. I assume that when I connect the new Sea talk GPS antenna it will override the AIS fix. Thanks for your input.

 

[Screen Saver]

I assume that when I connect the new Sea talk GPS antenna it will override the AIS fix. Thanks for your input.

Yes it should your correct. If you still have trouble Raymarine don't recommend having AIS repeat its GPS, so if you still have trouble, it might be worth while disconnecting AIS for a test once your new GPS is installed if you have trouble. If that helps we can then work through how to disable the GPS on AIS from being repeated to the plotter. I think if your E80 has the latest, software it will deal with 2 GPS's but if its never been upgraded, maybe it will have an issue. As I recall this was noticeable when sailing to a waypoint, because one GPS would show you slightly in a different position to the other and then autopilot would try to change accordingly.