raymarine st 2000+ w/ wireless remote

[BJW]

Does anyone have this setup?

I just got mine delivered yesterday and am confused about the workings of this system.

It seems first that the directions are less than clear.

Anyway, in the remote package their is a RF base station with a cable attached from the factory, another 3 pin cable one foot long and a terminal block with 3 connection points.

I am not using any instruments such as wind etc, just want to use the remote in the most basic fashion, using the plus and minus buttons and setting a course heading and that is about it in general.

I talked with a Raymarine person and he was no help at all saying I needed more cables and so on to get this working properly. It seemed as though the guy was talking about a remote that is connected by a cable rather than wireless.

I am totally confused about this wireless system and am not happy at the moment

It seems odd that the remote that is battery powered can not simply communicate with the auto tiller.

What am I missing in understanding this system?

Thanks for any help that is offered.

 

[CaptDon01]

I've got the ST2000 on our C-22 also. I LOVE IT! Much better than the ST1000 because the speed is twice as fast, so she'll keep up in a following sea condition. Well worth the extra money. Anyway, back to your question, my understanding is that there was nothing else to wire up, it was simply a plug and play. The "Sea-Talk" system did everything. I too thought about having the wireless unit, it would be nice when I'm standing in the companionway to simply press a button to adjust our course. We just purchased the Garmin 640, so I will need to do some wiring to interface they. I'm looking forward to the autohelm driving the boat by itself to a destination. All we've been doing is having it hold a specified heading,(which is still GREAT!). Best investment I've made for making long passages more enjoyable!

Don

 

[Joe]

Are you sure it is "wireless" the basic "remote" units were not....they were simply a wired controller allowing you to move around the boat and still control the AP.

The "wireless" controllers for that level of AP are sold separately and cost nearly as much as the unit itself.. $414.

 

[joker460]

You say you don't have any intruments which makes the remote install a bit more ambitous.

If you look at page 46 in the ST2000+ manual you will see the connection schematic.

The base station for the wireless remote has a flat connector (Well slightly curved). This would plug into a spare connector on one of those instument packages. That flat connector is the sea-talk network.

As you can see (Page 46) the cable that connects to the st2000+ socket is the sea-talk network that goes to the instruments.

I attached a quick sketch. Maybe that helps

 

[Snotter]

I had the same setup on a past boat. I had to wire the RF unit into a cable that plugged into the ST2000+. It worked great.

 

[BJW]

I thought about this a bit today and what I have come up with is that the wireless pod sends signals to the RF base and from the base the signal goes to the auto pilot via a hard wire connection from the base to the auto pilot.

 

[Joe]

I thought about this a bit today and what I have come up with is that the wireless pod sends signals to the RF base and from the base the signal goes to the auto pilot via a hard wire connection from the base to the auto pilot.

right..... the AP unit itself does not recieve wireless signals. The RF is the receiver that interfaces with the AP.

 

[BJW]

right..... the AP unit itself does not recieve wireless signals. The RF is the receiver that interfaces with the AP.

Joker, Joe and all thanks for your help.

I think I have a good handle on it now.

I need a power supply fused with a 2 amp fuse for the RF base then run one wire from the base unit to terminal #4 of the auto pilot wiring plug.

Now I have a terminal block that the base unit plugs into then I plug into the terminal block and go to the auto pilot. Three wires in the cable red, black and yellow.

red is 12volt power to the base unit, black is ground from the base unit to the battery and yellow is the sea talk to the autopilot.

In the interest of not mounting more things than needed can I eliminate the terminal block and just wire directly to the base unit for a slightly cleaner install, cut of the plug at the end of the base cable and direct wire it. I realize that if at a later date I did want to add instruments I would have to put the cable plug end back on.


Thanks,

Bruce

 

[BJW]

Joker, Joe and all thanks for your help.

I think I have a good handle on it now.

I need a power supply fused with a 2 amp fuse for the RF base then run one wire from the base unit to terminal #4 of the auto pilot wiring plug.

Now I have a terminal block that the base unit plugs into then I plug into the terminal block and go to the auto pilot. Three wires in the cable red, black and yellow.

red is 12volt power to the base unit, black is ground from the base unit to the battery and yellow is the sea talk to the autopilot.

In the interest of not mounting more things than needed can I eliminate the terminal block and just wire directly to the base unit for a slightly cleaner install, cut of the plug at the end of the base cable and direct wire it. I realize that if at a later date I did want to add instruments I would have to put the cable plug end back on.


Thanks,

Bruce

Got it all up and running now.

One more question if I may......

I just did a temp location for the RF base at this time till I get out on the water for some trials.

In locating the base unit the directions state a minimum of 39 inches away from radio, engine , speakers,wires, etc on a 22 foot boat that is a tall order.

For instance could I mount the base unit say near my 2 way radio with the assumption that this location would only be a problem if the radio is turned on? Interference is caused only when their is current flow to a device?

Thanks,

Bruce

 

[Chris Patterson]

Personally, I can't see this being a huge issue. Most of the interference would be when you're transmitting on the radio. There are some RF signals that "leak" through on radio equipment, and a lot of other electronics as well. Holding a sensitive frequency counter close to it will tell. Without a long discussion on RF shielding, and other mundane matters, just try and keep it away from other electronics. And wire it on a different circuit. Sometimes these things boil down to trial and error, as apposed to the science of things. Before you permanently mount it, when you hail someone on the VHF, and the boat tears off in a different direction, you know you might want to do something else.
I'm serious. One time, back in the "dark days", when trying to install twelve communication devices in one vehicle, the dumbest, and unexplained things would happen. I mean some wizards would be assisting this, and would have to digress, and do something else. It's voodoo..

 

[seamansg]

Personally, I can't see this being a huge issue. Most of the interference would be when you're transmitting on the radio. There are some RF signals that "leak" through on radio equipment, and a lot of other electronics as well. Holding a sensitive frequency counter close to it will tell. Without a long discussion on RF shielding, and other mundane matters, just try and keep it away from other electronics. And wire it on a different circuit. Sometimes these things boil down to trial and error, as apposed to the science of things. Before you permanently mount it, when you hail someone on the VHF, and the boat tears off in a different direction, you know you might want to do something else.
I'm serious. One time, back in the "dark days", when trying to install twelve communication devices in one vehicle, the dumbest, and unexplained things would happen. I mean some wizards would be assisting this, and would have to digress, and do something else. It's voodoo..

I just installed a Ray Marine 2000 on my 2001 cat 22 and was thinking what kind of battery do they suggest. This is FUNNY so I called them up and asked the guy what kind of battery do you suggest. He said HUMMMMMMM I don't know. He'd been working for Ray Marine for 6 years and said I don't know, no one ever asked that question before. So he went to get help and came back and said it draws 1 AMP of current an hour so a 650 Amp HR battery would take 650 hrs to deplete.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Oh my GOD. Those people probably know a lot about steering systems, but not much about batteries. Below 11.8 volts, the battery is near functionless. Before I write a book on this, (and it's been written about tirelessly), let's just say it will not last that long. I know you were being facetious about this, but before anyone else out there thinks that a battery will hold out that long, powering anything short of an LED bulb, well, It won't.

The upside: According to my scientific calculations, (and this has been extensive), with the ST2000 Autohelm running, the battery will last..........a long time.
Really. When I put a group 24 in the boat, my first words to the warden were, "We'll have to have another one of these baby". Well, not yet. I run that steerer, and a chartplotter every second I'm on the boat, along with a few other things, (stereo, electronic liquor still, onboard meth lab, etc.), and the battery is like the Eveready bunny.