On Jul 5, 6:24 pm, GeoffSchultz wrote:

I got the Garmin GPS 17-HVS today and installed it. As it turned out,
I had to use a NMEA input on my G3 course computer as the 6001 control
head doesn't support lat/long NMEA sentences. It worked just fine and
I when I simulated a failure of the RayStar 120 by disconnecting it,
everything kept working as expected without any Postion Fix Lost
errors. I really don't know which data source (SeaTalk or NMEA) was
being used by the C-80 chartplotter, but there were no problems.

-- Geoff

I did some more testing today and found that it didn't quite work the
way that I thought it did based upon yesterday's single test. Most of
the time I get a Fix Lost error on the C80 and then about 10 seconds
later it resumes using the NMEA position data. Some times it failed
over without any errors. The problem with this is that when you're
navigating to a route, it stops navigating and you have to restart and
advance to the correct waypoint.

The other issue that I see is that the RayStar 120 can take a LONG
time to obtain a position fix and the C80 seems to give priority to
the SeaTalk position data over the NMEA data, despite that fact that
the RayStar hasn't obtained a fix yet. The Garmin 17 obtains a fix
within seconds.

I decided to disconnect the RayStar 120 and just have it as a warm
spare that can be connected in a few minutes if the Garmin 17 fails.
Not ideal, but it works much better than old system.

-- Geoff

Glad to hear you worked it out. Since I am a certified Raymarine tech
we have no Raymarine products on the boat. But if you get your hands
on a 125 at the right price you might just replace the 120. should be
no problems then. Garmin is always my favorite but they have not made
their plotters AIS compatible and don't know when they will. So we may
have to go with something else when we upgrade our equipment. Haven't
seen you update us on 7knots as to where you are. Chuck and Susan

The recent Garmin plotters support AIS.


"joseph" wrote in message ups.com...
Garmin is always my favorite but they have not made
their plotters AIS compatible and don't know when they will.

On Jun 29, 4:57 pm, GeoffSchultz
wrote:
I have a RayMarine SeaTalk based RayStar 120 GPS antenna which is a
piece of crap. On almost a daily basis it will lose position fix and
the requires power cycling to have it re-aquire a fix. According to
some marine electronics people that I've talked to, this was a known
problem with some of the units and is what prompted them to come out
with the RayStar 125 antenna. Since this is already the 2nd RayMarine
GPS antenna that I've purchased, I don't want to give them any more
money!

What I want to do is to mount another GPS antenna and have it feed
NMEA GPS data to the NMEA input of my RayMarina ST6001 control head.
I think that the ST6001 will convert the NMEA data into SeaTalk
sentances. The C80 chartplotter should see position data from 2
sources via SeaTalk and when the RayStar 120 antenna goes offline, I
should have no loss of position.

An alternative is to feed the NMEA data from the antenna directly to
the C80, but that involves pulling a cable to a very difficult
location.

1) Does the above solution sound like it will work? And suggestions
regarding it?

2) Any suggestions on an NMEA GPS antenna?

3) I've been looking at the Garmin GPS17 (http://www.gme.net.au/garmin/
gps17n_specifications.php) antenna and I think that it would do the
job. Any comments on this?

Thanks, Geoff (who just arrived in Deltaville, VA)

Geoff

I have had problems with my RayMarine GPS antenna in the past. I found
the cause to be the wire connections from the antenna, where it goes
into that little plastic box with the terminal bracket, that connects
it to your display. I found that simply cutting back the wire and
reinstalling it brought my signals back. What I finally did was strip
the terminal bracket out of the box and soldered the wires together.
That seems to have solved the problem for about four years now
(fingers crossed).

John

You'll note that I
even went with different vendors in case one of them had a software
problem which rendered the unit unusable. Based upon where I
typically cruise, calling tech support and just shipping the unit in
isn't a viable option. Based upon my background, I tend to worry
about things that most people don't.

Well, how will you deal with updating the firmware on them? When you mix
and match you run afoul of update problems. Most need to use their vendor
brand of chartplotter to load updates, often via an SD/MMC/CF flash card.

I've got a Lowrance LGC-2000 hooked up to my Raymarine E-80. This in
addition to the Raymarine 125 that connected via SeaTalk. The Lowrance unit
is connected to the SeaTalk2 bus (aka NMEA 2000 with different connectors).
The E-80 gives priority to the Seatalk2 bus over SeaTalk, which is in turn
given priority over NMEA-0183 devices. I've had a few glitches now and then
with the 125 on SeaTalk.

I've also got some Lowrance fuel flow sensors on the NMEA-2000 bus. Trouble
is I don't have a Lowrance chartplotter to let me load up the newest
firmware on them. So I have to either borrow someone else's (or buy one) or
pull them out of the fuel lines and send them back to the factory (or to
someone else's chartplotter). So don't forget to factor the updating issues
when going with different vendors.

-Bill Kearney

"Bill Kearney" wkearney-99@hot-mail-com wrote in
:

You'll note that I
even went with different vendors in case one of them had a software
problem which rendered the unit unusable. Based upon where I
typically cruise, calling tech support and just shipping the unit in
isn't a viable option. Based upon my background, I tend to worry
about things that most people don't.

Well, how will you deal with updating the firmware on them? When you
mix and match you run afoul of update problems. Most need to use
their vendor brand of chartplotter to load updates, often via an
SD/MMC/CF flash card.

You update them individually. No issues. With RayMarine you copy the new
software onto a CF card and insert it. It updates. With the NorthStar
they provide the media.

All of the SeaTalk devices require sending them back to RayMarine for
updates. I do send my course computer in about every year to get the
latest updates. That has helped with some issues.

-- Geoff

Jack Erbes wrote:

Thanks for your input on the condition of the interior or your
Raymarine radome. My son sees the interior of about 100 or so a
year, some them up to 6 or 8 years old, that are not having any
problems with corrosion either.

Jack

I may have missed an earlier discussion re Furuno and this problem. What is
the consensus on 2kw Furuno radomes and their weatherproof qualities?


--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare

"Armond Perretta" wrote in
:

Jack Erbes wrote:

Thanks for your input on the condition of the interior or your
Raymarine radome. My son sees the interior of about 100 or so a
year, some them up to 6 or 8 years old, that are not having any
problems with corrosion either.

Jack

I may have missed an earlier discussion re Furuno and this problem.
What is the consensus on 2kw Furuno radomes and their weatherproof
qualities?



All that you missed was another one of Larry's repetitive rants about
RayMarine domes having pot metal in them and a bunch of other people
(myself included) stating that we've never seen the problems that he claims
to see.


-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org