Connecting Laptop To Raymarine S3 Corepack

[BigAlNZ]

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

[redbopeep]

Originally Posted by BigAlNZ

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.

Can't help you with this--but sure do "feel your pain". Hopefully a helpful soul will come along shortly. I do know that you can't assume all the info gets sent on in the NMEA output from the S3, but you should be able to get the info from Raymarine.

[svReboot]

In my experience the answer is it depends on what your are trying to do. My Autohelm course computer has two NMEA ins and outs - #1 and #2. The #1 only handles autopilot data (that is the NEMA Autopilot "B" sentence. The NMEA #2 has the more traditional GPS data etc. HOWEVER, NEMA Out #2 does not have wind speed, direction, depth, hull speed etc. Of course that would be useful and anyone would expect a megabucks computer do be able to do the necessary seatalk to NMEA translations. Of course Raymarine can convert the seatalk to NMEA data for you - you just have to purchase the NEMA to SEATALK converter box for around $125 US....

Yes, one three wire cable will do the necessary NMEA in and out - transmit, receive and ground (the ground wire is shared by both NMEA transmit and receive.

With respect to wire gauge anything will work, something around 18 or 20 would be fine. And yes, the spec calls for an optical isolater but it is really not necessary.