Hello all,

Following the recent lightning strike that I experienced I am about to install a suite of Raymarine products to replace damaged equipment. I wish to network all the components but I am having a few issues understanding some connections.
The basic network uses SeaTalkNG I understand, but interfacing some of the listed equipment has me a bit confused.

The equipment will be:

Raymarine A77 Multi Function Device with Fishfinder and inbuilt GPS.
Raymarine Evolution EV-100 Auto pilot consisting of EV1 Sensor, ACU-100 Autopilot Control Unit, P70 Control Head and Wheel steer
Raymarine Raydome RD418D Radar radome
Raymarine Wind Vane
Raymarine i60 Wind instrument
Raymarine P79 Adjustable in-hull depth transducer
Raymarine Ray55E VHF Marine radio
Fusion 700 series entertainment system model MS-AV700

1. How do I connect the Radome (SeaTalkHS I believe) to the network backbone (which is SeaTalkNG I believe). I don’t want to have to run the Radome cable to the MFD (at the helm) and to connect directly to that, as I only want the one plug to have to connect at the MFD. I remove it regularly.

2. How do I connect the VHF radio to the network as I intend to install AIS at a later date and there are gains to be had by connecting it to the network

3. How do I connect the sound system to the network to give me control over it from the MFD.

4. Is it better to connect the items of the Autopilot, viz Ev1 sensor and P70 control head, directly to the ACU or to network using spur cables. If to the network another 5 way connector will do the trick.

5. Can the wheel drive motor be connected to the network also, as that would save a separate cable run to the helm from the ACU.

The P79 transducer will be connected via an ITC-5 Transducer convertor.

I have attached a PDF showing the proposed layout.

Has any body installed this equipment to the SeaTalkNG bus before that can help me as I would appreciate any help on the above issues.

Thanks

Steve

Sweet chariot,
i went through this a year ago, but with slightly different equipment selections. I can help with a couple of things.

The backbone system can only really power low powered items like sensors and displays. I used a EV200 autopilot and A series MFD. I powered the system at the autopilot and this was ok for wind, depth etc. The MFD needs a separate power supply. This is noted in the manual, buried deep, took me a couple of frustrating weeks to find The references. You will need separate power supply for the ACU, MFD and probably radio, radar.

I looked at connecting the VHF, for DSC rather than AIS, and thee was a separate adaptor available for that. I have not done this yet but it was on the Raymarine web site.

have you purchased the gear yet, the MFD manual has lots of typical block diagrams which are helpful. Also look at the network area on raymarine website.

Those seatalk cables are horrendously expensive. It is worth spending time to plan the installation to minimise cables.

Sweet chariot,

have a look look at the seaktalkNg reference manual, on the Raymarine web site. I f you cannot find pm me and I can email.

If the wind instrument is current series then you connect this to the backbone, via a "pod". The display is also connected to the backbone. you do not need to connect the instrument directly to the display

Might be some help here.

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Navigator/My%20Documents/Downloads/SeaTalkng.pdf

Hi Sweetchariot,

Some answers to your questions:

Re 2, connecting the VHF radio to the network), the most common method of interfacing a VHF radio to your MFD is via the NMEA 0183 serial communications protocol. Here's a the link to instructions for e7/e7D, which should be similar to the A77:

www.arribasail.com/doc/Raymarine_e7_DSC_VHF_connection.pdf

Re 5, connecting the drive motor to the network, no, the drive motor is just connected to autopilot course computer, and only the latter is connected to the network.

Re network power, while you can indeed power the SeaTalkNG from the course computer, I recommend powering it directly using the Raymarine power cable (part #A06049). That way you can put your course computer on a different circuit and turn it off, and still power your SeaTalkNG network.

Re hooking up Raymarine AIS, when you're ready I've got a write-up of how to do that here:

blog.arribasail.com/2014/03/tech-installing-an-automatic-identification-system-ais.html

Hi guys,

Thanks for all this.

Pulled the mast off today to refurbish it after everything on it got fried by the lightening and I have only a couple of days to get it done, due to Christmas so I am up to the eyeballs in that so to speak.

I will let you know how I get on with the Raymarine issue when the mast job is finished and all the gear for that project has arrived.


Steve.