Hi Guys,

I am looking at connecting Maxsea so that it is able to receive info
(NMEA) and send info to a Raymarine S3 Corepack Autopilot.

I have some questions however:

1. Can this bi-directional setup be done with one cable? My research
tells me yes, but I need it confirmed?
2. I have heard about people having to convert from seatalk to NMEA -
but the S3 has NMEA in/out connectors so I assume I dont have to do
any conversion?
3. Sounds like I need to use a optical isolater, like :
http://www.navstore.com/detail.aspx?ID=1724 coupled with a USB to
RS232 convert?
4. What gauge wiring should I use?
5. The S3 gets a variety of info from a varity of sensors, ie Water
Temp, Wind info GPS sentences - I assume this is then all included in
the NMEA output from the S3?

All and any suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers

-Al

:

1. Can this bi-directional setup be done with one cable? My research
tells me yes, but I need it confirmed?

You need four wires. Whether they are inside one cable or not does not
really matter.

3. Sounds like I need to use a optical isolater, like :
http://www.navstore.com/detail.aspx?ID=1724 coupled with a USB to
RS232 convert?

In fact, there are direct usb-nmea interfaces, like

http://www.actisense.com/HTML/Products/Gateways/USB to NMEA 0183 Gateway/index.php

from the same brand.

On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:18:09 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Hi Guys,

I am looking at connecting Maxsea so that it is able to receive info
(NMEA) and send info to a Raymarine S3 Corepack Autopilot.

I have some questions however:

1. Can this bi-directional setup be done with one cable? My research
tells me yes, but I need it confirmed?

You need three wires: data in to the computer, data out from the
computer, and ground.

2. I have heard about people having to convert from seatalk to NMEA -
but the S3 has NMEA in/out connectors so I assume I dont have to do
any conversion?

Yes, you can use the S3's NMEA input instead of a separate
NMEA-Seatalk interface.

3. Sounds like I need to use a optical isolater, like :
http://www.navstore.com/detail.aspx?ID=1724 coupled with a USB to
RS232 convert?

You should not need opto-isolation, but if your computer only has USB
ports, and no read serial port, you will need a USB-RS-232 adaptor.

4. What gauge wiring should I use?

Small. All my NMEA-0183 wiring is done with Belden 8451, #22 shielded
twisted pair. (There's lots of it in the scrap heap at work...)


5. The S3 gets a variety of info from a varity of sensors, ie Water
Temp, Wind info GPS sentences - I assume this is then all included in
the NMEA output from the S3?

Should be.

All and any suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers

-Al

--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

2. I have heard about people having to convert from seatalk to NMEA -
but the S3 has NMEA in/out connectors so I assume I dont have to do
any conversion?

Yes, you can use the S3's NMEA input instead of a separate
NMEA-Seatalk interface.

Thanks Peter,

Spoke to a guy today who confirmed all of what you said, bar one
thing, he stated that the NMEA output from a Raymarine S3 corepack
only has sentences directly related to the autopilot (ie no wind,
depth, sea temp).

He said to get all the sentences you need to connect to Seatalk, and
therefore need a Seatalk-NMEA converter.

Thanks

-Al

Luc Habert wrote:

:


In fact, there are direct usb-nmea interfaces, like

http://www.actisense.com/HTML/Products/Gateways/USB to NMEA 0183 Gateway/index.php


That is exactly what someone else suggested....cheap too!!

Have a look at the manual:
http://www.raymarine.com/SubmittedFi...150_400_CC.pdf

S3G used to be called G400, look at page 36(45) and 37(46).
There it is listed what NMEA is received and what is sent out (if
available).

Regs,
TomS


wrote in message
...

2. I have heard about people having to convert from seatalk to NMEA -
but the S3 has NMEA in/out connectors so I assume I dont have to do
any conversion?

Yes, you can use the S3's NMEA input instead of a separate
NMEA-Seatalk interface.

Thanks Peter,

Spoke to a guy today who confirmed all of what you said, bar one
thing, he stated that the NMEA output from a Raymarine S3 corepack
only has sentences directly related to the autopilot (ie no wind,
depth, sea temp).

He said to get all the sentences you need to connect to Seatalk, and
therefore need a Seatalk-NMEA converter.

Thanks

-Al