Seatalk tiller pilot with nmea2k heading and wind?

[arbitrarysailor]

Hi

I have a boat with an nmea2k system (GPS, wind, depth etc) and an independent seatalk driven tiller pilot.

A few quick questions for anyone who might know the answers.

1. Where is the tiller pilot getting its heading from? There's a flux compass on the solar panel frame in the stern, I'm assuming it's this.

2. Can I connect the nmea2k to the seatalk so that the seatalk can get it's heading from the GPS? (Should I? Obviously I'm aware that it will struggle to get a heading from the GPS if I'm in irons, but I'm also aware that the tiller pilot could probably benefit from water speed data)

3. Assuming they can be connected, what is the cheapest way to achieve that?

Thanks in advance!
J.

[hjohnson]

You'll need an adapter box. Not sure what the best option is. Yacht Devices makes all sorts of converters that can go back and forth between SeaTalk and NMEA2k, but they're a couple hundred bucks.

To be honest, it may be cheaper to pick up a Simrad TP32 tillerpilot. Same as Raymarine, they have their own proprietary connector (SimNet) but it's actually just N2K.

[Tehani]

Originally Posted by arbitrarysailor

Hi

I have a boat with an nmea2k system (GPS, wind, depth etc) and an independent seatalk driven tiller pilot.

A few quick questions for anyone who might know the answers.

1. Where is the tiller pilot getting its heading from? There's a flux compass on the solar panel frame in the stern, I'm assuming it's this.

2. Can I connect the nmea2k to the seatalk so that the seatalk can get it's heading from the GPS? (Should I? Obviously I'm aware that it will struggle to get a heading from the GPS if I'm in irons, but I'm also aware that the tiller pilot could probably benefit from water speed data)

3. Assuming they can be connected, what is the cheapest way to achieve that?

Thanks in advance!
J.

This is the heading sensor of the Raymarine pilots with the old Seatalk:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/5R8AA...~3Y/s-l600.jpg

The most economical option to integrate the pilot into your NMEA2000 system is this from Raymarine:
https://www.raymarine.es/view/index-id=1597.html

Ship Modul has the Miniplex-3E-N2K and 3Wi-N2K series: ShipModul Marine Electronics

There are options with more features such as this one:
https://ocenav.com/en/home/

I have not found any Digital Yacht or Yacht Devices products with direct conversion between Seatalk and NMEA2000.

[JBP]

I'm guessing by "Tiller pilot" and "Seatalk" you mean a Raymarine ST1000 or ST2000.
These have an internal compass and will not use an external compass source. They WILL use an external wind direction and waypoint bearing/crosstrack error source over old Seatalk or NMEA 0183.
There are several adapters available to convert NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183 or old Seatalk. Raymarine, Actisense, and Yacht Devices are common ones. The Yacht Devices YDNR-02 converts to and from NMEA 2000, NMEA 0183 (two ports), old Seatalk, and WI-FI.

[hjohnson]

Originally Posted by JBP

I'm guessing by "Tiller pilot" and "Seatalk" you mean a Raymarine ST1000 or ST2000.
These have an internal compass and will not use an external compass source. They WILL use an external wind direction and waypoint bearing/crosstrack error source over old Seatalk or NMEA 0183.
There are several adapters available to convert NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183 or old Seatalk. Raymarine, Actisense, and Yacht Devices are common ones. The Yacht Devices YDNR-02 converts to and from NMEA 2000, NMEA 0183 (two ports), old Seatalk, and WI-FI.

Hmm.. Interesting. My Simrad TP30 will preferably use a heading device on N2K. I've got a Furuno heading sensor located down low towards the center of rotation of my boat, which provides a significantly better heading source than the internal fluxgate on the pilot. Also has the added benefit of making the autopilot immune to my magnetic watch band!

In my case, though, the Furuno emits 0183 @ 10Hz, which gets converted to N2k by our Vesper. If we had an YDNR-02 that would probably simplify things.

[arbitrarysailor]

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate the guidance. Lots of research to do!