AIS transceiver with Raymarine E120

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dhays

dhays

Guru
Joined
May 26, 2015
Messages
9,045
Location
United States
Vessel Name
Kinship
Vessel Make
North Pacific 43
My new to me boat has a Raymarine that I like. It is an upgraded version of what I had on my sailboat. It has an AIS receiver, which after only a few days I have found that I really like. It does not have a transceiver however. Seeing how much I like to be able to see the information from the commercial boats I share the water with, I would like them to have the same level of information about me.

I am sure that one of you very smart folks has done this. How can I add a transceiver to my current system?

What I have.
E120 MFD with radar and GPS
ST60 fathometer
ST70 Autopilot
Ray218 VHF.
Ray AIS250 receiver

The problem as I understand it, is that the Raymarine AIS650 uses the RM SeaTalkng while my 2010 era system is SeaTalk (NMEA 2000 vs NMEA 0183). Because of this, I can't simply swap out my AIS250 receiver for the AIS650 transceiver.

Any ideas?
 
Um, add a transceiver? Give it its own GPS and don't connect to the RM network.


Keith
 
Dave,

I was in the same situation. I went to Milltech and bought a Vesper transceiver with a stand alone GPS/VHF antennae. Total cost less than $600. There is a converter that translates the NMEA2K from the Vesper into NMEA 0183 for the E120. Works a charm. Sell the AIS you have and it gets pretty reasonable. Or pout it on the Catalina and make it more attractive to buyers.
 
refugio said:
Um, add a transceiver? Give it its own GPS and don't connect to the RM network.
Click to expand...

hm... I am really slow...

Are you suggesting that I add a transceiver, but not connect it to my MFDs at all? I suppose I could then continue to use my AIS receiver to get AIS information displayed. As long as their was a way to access the transceiver (maybe a PC interface for setup?) to program the vessel information in the transceiver and if I would tie it into the VHF antenna with a splitter maybe, then the transceiver would send, but its receiver info would just not go anywhere.

Is that what you were thinking?
 
Forget about Seatalk

That old Raymarine stuff will listen to plain old NMEA 0183 and also speak it. The Seatalk is just good for private conversations between old Raymarine equipment. Get yourself any old transceiver from Miltech and hook it up with those skinny wires. Beware that the Raymarine E equipment does a relatively poor job of displaying AIS targets. You will be much better off with a copy of Coastal Explorer running on a tablet or laptop.
 
I agree with Steve. We have modern Garmin equipment on our Catalina. No comparison between the old (last update 2012) Raymarine and newer stuff.
 
Thanks guys. I appreciate the information. I will start to look into it. At least I know it is possible now.
 
dhays said:
hm... I am really slow...

Are you suggesting that I add a transceiver, but not connect it to my MFDs at all? I suppose I could then continue to use my AIS receiver to get AIS information displayed. As long as their was a way to access the transceiver (maybe a PC interface for setup?) to program the vessel information in the transceiver and if I would tie it into the VHF antenna with a splitter maybe, then the transceiver would send, but its receiver info would just not go anywhere.

Is that what you were thinking?
Click to expand...
Yes, except I also would use a dedicated antenna. As for programming, that is a one-time operation by the vendor. Yes, it's interesting to be able to run an AIS software program to check the status of the transceiver but it's only necessary if there's a problem.

FWIW, my transceiver is an older Shine Micro that was labeled and sold by West Marine. It's connected to my laptop running Coastal Explorer, which is connected to my N2K network with an Actisense NGW via USB. And - here's my favorite part - the N2K network is bridged to my STNG network (which is NMEA 2000 with proprietary Raymarine connectors) is connected to my N2K network via a backbone cable I made with a Maretron field-attachable connector. I also have an 0183 network from yet another GPS that fed a variety of equipment but now only sends position to my VHF and EPIRB. And I have the STNG-ST converter for a legacy RM rudder sensor and LifeTag (not yet installed though).

Sure, you could get the STNG to ST kit (it's under $100) and swap out the AIS devices, but you would gain no functionality on your RM MFDs - and it's always possible that the position info from the new transceiver might not be 100% compatible with the older gear.

So I would suggest leaving the older system intact and building a new N2K/STNG system alongside.
 
Last edited:
The E120 has a Seatalk 2 interface which is a NMEA 2000 interface with a proprietary Raymarine connector. Raymarine makes a cable that goes Seatalk 2 to NMEA 2000 or you can take a Seatalk 2 cable cut the connector off one end and put on a Maretron NMEA 2000 connector.

Check the Raymarine manual but when I bought a Seatalk to N2K converter, there was a caution that it shouldn't be used with an autopilot on the network. That may also apply to the Seatalk to SeatalkNG network. The NMEA 2000 interface to the Seatalk 2 port would be the most straight forward. I would check with Raymarine and be sure they support the AIS PGNs. I think it will, but with an older C80 they didn't support all NMEA 2000 PGNs.

Tom
 
refugio said:
Yes, except I also would use a dedicated antenna. As for programming, that is a one-time operation by the vendor. Yes, it's interesting to be able to run an AIS software program to check the status of the transceiver but it's only necessary if there's a problem.

FWIW, my transceiver is an older Shine Micro that was labeled and sold by West Marine. It's connected to my laptop running Coastal Explorer, which is connected to my N2K network with an Actisense NGW via USB. And - here's my favorite part - the N2K network is bridged to my STNG network (which is NMEA 2000 with proprietary Raymarine connectors) is connected to my N2K network via a backbone cable I made with a Maretron field-attachable connector. I also have an 0183 network from yet another GPS that fed a variety of equipment but now only sends position to my VHF and EPIRB. And I have the STNG-ST converter for a legacy RM rudder sensor and LifeTag (not yet installed though).

Sure, you could get the STNG to ST kit (it's under $100) and swap out the AIS devices, but you would gain no functionality on your RM MFDs - and it's always possible that the position info from the new transceiver might not be 100% compatible with the older gear.

So I would suggest leaving the older system intact and building a new N2K/STNG system alongside.
Click to expand...


I think I need a class in marine network language haha! I only understand about half of that.
 
drb1025 said:
I think I need a class in marine network language haha! I only understand about half of that.
Click to expand...

Then you were doing 50% better than I.

From the little that I understand, the RM converters allow you to connect legacy SeaTalk devices to the new SeaTalk ng networks, not the other way around. RM suggests that you should build a SeaTalkng backbone and then connect each of your legacy RM devices to it. That ain't gonna happen.

I think when it comes time that an AIS transceiver get high enough up the list, I will find a local professional to help me work it out. The Milltech folks in Port Orchard sound like a good option.
 
We have a RM C120 working with a Sitex AIS transceiver. The C120 has two NMEA ports, one of which can be configured to run at 38400 BAUD which is compatible with the Sitex.
 
BobH said:
We have a RM C120 working with a Sitex AIS transceiver. The C120 has two NMEA ports, one of which can be configured to run at 38400 BAUD which is compatible with the Sitex.
Click to expand...

I assume the Sitek has its own GPS and antenna then a splitter for the VHF?
 
Go to the Raymarine website and sign into their tech forum. They are very helpful. They have helped me with several installation questions.
 
dhays, will you be around the Tacoma Yacht Club this weekend? We will be there for the Daffodil parade.
 
Yes, if you have a STNG or N2K device and want to "network" it you will need a STNG or N2K backbone. I believe you can get an adapter cable to connect a ("spur" in RM language, "drop" in N2K) device to the crossover backbone. If you have more than one of these crossover devices you may find it more convenient to bridge the two types of network as I did. I can provide detailed instructions for anyone who is interested. There are a confusing variety of connectors so it takes some planning.


Keith
 
porman said:
dhays, will you be around the Tacoma Yacht Club this weekend? We will be there for the Daffodil parade.
Click to expand...

We probably won't. If all goes well, we will take the boat and leave. Although it sounds like there will be a few TF members there this weekend. If I was going to be around I would love to meet some of you all. However, if something comes up and we can't leave, I will buy a round for anyone I can meet.
 
Dave,

SeatalkNG and Seatalk 2 are both NMEA 2000 just different connectors. I think you would be best served setting up a NMEA 2000 network because anything you add in the future should be NMEA 2000. For example I think your engine and is one of the QSB series and has NMEA 2000 output through a fairly inexpensive adapter.

When I get home tonight, I'll send you some references for the wiring configuration. The color coding is even the same between the two networks. It's a lot easier than NMEA 0183 and with a single connection AIS from a transceiver with a NMEA 2000 interface would be available on any NMEA 2000 networked chart plotter.

Tom
 
tpbrady said:
Dave,

SeatalkNG and Seatalk 2 are both NMEA 2000 just different connectors. I think you would be best served setting up a NMEA 2000 network because anything you add in the future should be NMEA 2000. For example I think your engine and is one of the QSB series and has NMEA 2000 output through a fairly inexpensive adapter.

When I get home tonight, I'll send you some references for the wiring configuration. The color coding is even the same between the two networks. It's a lot easier than NMEA 0183 and with a single connection AIS from a transceiver with a NMEA 2000 interface would be available on any NMEA 2000 networked chart plotter.

Tom
Click to expand...

Thanks Tom. I had assumed that mine was NMEA 0183 (SeaTalk 1) but you may be right that it is NMEA 2000 (SeaTalk 2). I will see if I can find out.

You are right about the QSB. It can send out engine data but it isn't connected to my Raymarine package. That is something that I would like to be able to do in the future. It would be handy to have the engine data on the MFD, a lot easier to see than the Cummins display that is there.
 
I used a dedicated antenna for the Sitex. I considered building a NMEA network but after looking at all the pieces required for just a simple basic network I decided the cost was way out of line.
 
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