Raymarine EV100 wheepilot: Is this right way to include speed data through SeaTalkNG?

[Large Luke]

I talked to Raymarine a few weeks ago. You can daisy chain two instruments together, but no more than that.

[Opie91]

Originally Posted by basssears

Installing a new EV100 autopilot. Up until this point I have only had very basic instrumentation consisting of one i50 depth display and one i50 speed display (connected to separate transducers).

I'd like to get my speed data in to the EV100 properly, but I'm a little unfamiliar with SeaTalkNG and backbones vs spurs etc. I have done some reading and think I have it figured, just looking for confirmation of whether I have this right or not.

This is mockup of what I think I should do:


Almost all of mockup it is verbatim out of EV100 install manual, just looking for confirmation that I'm adding the two i50 displays correctly. Can I go from a T piece (terminated on one end) to the speed and then just connect the speed to the depth? Or do I have to do separate spur to speed and separate spur to depth? I don't need the depth info on the network right now but want to set things up right for future use.

Any feedback appreciated (also posted this to Raymarine forum but those don't always appear very quickly, and their attachment function throws javascript errors so couldn't post my mockup).

Thanks!

-- Bass

That looks good. Seatalk Ng is just NMEA 2000 with Raymarine proprietary connections.

You can make a Seatalk Ng to NMEA backbone adapter cable pretty easy and then add any NMEA instrument you want. Raymarine even sells Ng to NMEA 2000 spur cables.

Good luck.

[Flod]

One problem with adding speed to the network I encountered is that when the little paddle wheel get stuck in the middle of a passage etc then the EV100 gets nuts (thinks you stopped). and starts to steer like drunk. I luckily found a setting to use the speed from the Lowramce gps that I had on the network instead. So if you do this, learn how to switch input source!

[basssears]

Originally Posted by Flod

One problem with adding speed to the network I encountered is that when the little paddle wheel get stuck in the middle of a passage etc then the EV100 gets nuts (thinks you stopped). and starts to steer like drunk. I luckily found a setting to use the speed from the Lowramce gps that I had on the network instead. So if you do this, learn how to switch input source!

Ding ding, we have a winner! Thanks, this hadn't occurred to me. We sometimes run without our speed sensor (we keep it out when the boat's not being actively used, and some short trips we don't bother to put it back in) and I don't have another source of speed data, so for now I'm just going to not wiring them together.

I finished the install yesterday, if I can get splashed here at the yard I'll sea trial it and see how it goes.

-- Bass

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by basssears

Ding ding, we have a winner! Thanks, this hadn't occurred to me. We sometimes run without our speed sensor (we keep it out when the boat's not being actively used, -- Bass

Us too, a valid point.

Pete

[basssears]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Us too, a valid point.

Pete

So did the install last week, everything went smoothly, in some brief sea trials worked MUCH more effectively than the old ST4000+ did, even in basic form without speed input or a rudder sensor.

I think I still might hook in the speed eventually (if I get a Smartcontroller that can show speed and depth on the remote control then I'd want everything on the SeaTalkNG network) but if I do I'll still make it something I can easily disconnect when the speed sensor is not in place or if it malfunctions.

Thanks to everyone for their input and help.

-- Bass

[Flod]

Great! There is really no problem with the speed sensor as long as you learn how to change the input source to the AP. This option didn’t exist in the beginning but one of the software updates from ray marine introduced it. I’ll be in my boat this weekend and I’ll check it then.