Seatalk...whotalk..metalk...please talk?
- Thread starter Team118
- Start date
Hi, I just wanted to post an update on work.
First, thank you for all the help. It was an overwhelming task to begin with and it took the first 2-3 days of just hopeless despair thinking about what I needed to do and how I was going to go about it.
It involved a lot of cutting and splicing and heat shrinking and sealing but I think it's done.
I also included my revised schematics along with a quick doc that I used to figure out the middle of the network for power.
As I was working on installing the Axiom 9 and trying to figure out how to hook up all the legacy Raymarine and Autohelm devices, I also decided to add AIS. I thought that it would be handy to have on Lake Ontario with all the freighter traffic on the Canadian side and since I don't have radar, this would be the next safest option.
So I bought an AIS compatible VHF along with a Camino 108 to send and receive an AIS signal.
I spent about 5 or 6 days running wire, and connecting all the various Seatalk devices.
When I went to power it all up, the ST50+ all powered up and the i60 Wind control head powered up, but not the Axiom or the P70 autopilot control head.
I was devastated. I'm just sitting there, not even knowing WHERE to begin. When I said, well lets trying switching the wires, maybe I mixed up negative and positive feeds.
It was like the heavens opened and angels sang! There was no better feeling that swiping my index finger over the Axiom and watching it power up. After a minute, it gathered a GPS signal, the autopilot was on, the ST's were running (although I am not sure if they actually work and I guess I won't know till I am in the water...same with the wind). The VHF down below captured a GPS signal from the Camino 108 and even the new am/fm stereo was working!!!
In the diagnostics, the Axiom could see all of the Sealtalk devices and I assume I will be able to calibrate or pick the transducers once I am up and running. I am not sure how the autopilot works. I was able to pick a point on the lake and then click the go to option. I think then I would hit Track on the P70 but when I did that nothing happened. No worries, I am sure I have to be in the water and moving for all that to come together.
The best moment was yesterday when someone came up to me and asked me if this was my boat. He said that he can see me on AIS and he thought it was funny that I was about 200 yards inland. Now he knew why.
MY AIS WORKS TOO!!!! So happy.
Well, just wanted to a little closure in case anyone reads this in the future.
My thanks
Chris
First, thank you for all the help. It was an overwhelming task to begin with and it took the first 2-3 days of just hopeless despair thinking about what I needed to do and how I was going to go about it.
It involved a lot of cutting and splicing and heat shrinking and sealing but I think it's done.
I also included my revised schematics along with a quick doc that I used to figure out the middle of the network for power.
As I was working on installing the Axiom 9 and trying to figure out how to hook up all the legacy Raymarine and Autohelm devices, I also decided to add AIS. I thought that it would be handy to have on Lake Ontario with all the freighter traffic on the Canadian side and since I don't have radar, this would be the next safest option.
So I bought an AIS compatible VHF along with a Camino 108 to send and receive an AIS signal.
I spent about 5 or 6 days running wire, and connecting all the various Seatalk devices.
When I went to power it all up, the ST50+ all powered up and the i60 Wind control head powered up, but not the Axiom or the P70 autopilot control head.
I was devastated. I'm just sitting there, not even knowing WHERE to begin. When I said, well lets trying switching the wires, maybe I mixed up negative and positive feeds.
It was like the heavens opened and angels sang! There was no better feeling that swiping my index finger over the Axiom and watching it power up. After a minute, it gathered a GPS signal, the autopilot was on, the ST's were running (although I am not sure if they actually work and I guess I won't know till I am in the water...same with the wind). The VHF down below captured a GPS signal from the Camino 108 and even the new am/fm stereo was working!!!
In the diagnostics, the Axiom could see all of the Sealtalk devices and I assume I will be able to calibrate or pick the transducers once I am up and running. I am not sure how the autopilot works. I was able to pick a point on the lake and then click the go to option. I think then I would hit Track on the P70 but when I did that nothing happened. No worries, I am sure I have to be in the water and moving for all that to come together.
The best moment was yesterday when someone came up to me and asked me if this was my boat. He said that he can see me on AIS and he thought it was funny that I was about 200 yards inland. Now he knew why.
MY AIS WORKS TOO!!!! So happy.
Well, just wanted to a little closure in case anyone reads this in the future.
My thanks
Chris
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Chris, Fantastic! Glad it all came together.
to test the AP, press the Auto button on the right side. Then press either the -10 or +10. The rudder should move. Press Standby to stop it from trying to turn the boat, which is hard for the rudder to do while on the hard.
According to your first diagram, you have two power feeds to the SeaTalkng backbone. One shows it directly powered and it appears to also be powered by iTC5 power connection. The iTC5 passes the power to the network so the standalone network power on the bottom left is not needed. On your small backbone and few instruments you really don't need to ensure your power is in the center of the backbone and devices. I don't know what bad things happen with the network fed with two power supplies but I've read it is not recommended.
Nice one on the AIS!
to test the AP, press the Auto button on the right side. Then press either the -10 or +10. The rudder should move. Press Standby to stop it from trying to turn the boat, which is hard for the rudder to do while on the hard.
According to your first diagram, you have two power feeds to the SeaTalkng backbone. One shows it directly powered and it appears to also be powered by iTC5 power connection. The iTC5 passes the power to the network so the standalone network power on the bottom left is not needed. On your small backbone and few instruments you really don't need to ensure your power is in the center of the backbone and devices. I don't know what bad things happen with the network fed with two power supplies but I've read it is not recommended.
Nice one on the AIS!
Thanks for the info on how it turned out. I'm doing a similar job on my new-to-me 387, but I'm upgrading everything but the Autopilot to n2k (ng). The ~18 year old wind sensor died the first month I owned it, and all new stuff is actually price competitive with just replacing the sensor. (I went Garmin, because I don't like that Ray used proprietary n2k connectors)
The nice thing about any n2k network is that the transducers put data on the network, and the instruments just read that data. So multi-instruments can display all kinds of stuff. (and MFD's can too)
For AIS I went with a SH GX2400 and it'll output to n2k too. (and the older 0813 (serial) interfaces)
The nice thing about any n2k network is that the transducers put data on the network, and the instruments just read that data. So multi-instruments can display all kinds of stuff. (and MFD's can too)
For AIS I went with a SH GX2400 and it'll output to n2k too. (and the older 0813 (serial) interfaces)