Waypoint to Raymarine

[rgleason]

A friend asks if there is a technique to send a waypoint to Raymarine using Nmea output and Nmea-Seatalk converter. It could also be useful to send an entire route.

Has anyone tested or done this? Is it written up in Forum or Docs somewhere? -Have searched.
I know there was some discussion about Furuno, and have searched the Wiki.

Thanks very much.

[RhythmDoctor]

Originally Posted by rgleason

A friend asks if there is a technique to send a waypoint to Raymarine using Nmea output and Nmea-Seatalk converter. It could also be useful to send an entire route.

Has anyone tested or done this? Is it written up in Forum or Docs somewhere? -Have searched.
I know there was some discussion about Furuno, and have searched the Wiki.

Thanks very much.

It depends on what, exactly, the friend wants to do with the waypoint.

As for digitally transferring a waypoint to a Raymarine chartplotter, I suppose it depends. Some converters (like the one I have) are one-way only - they'll transfer from Seatalk to NMEA and output the NMEA result. But they won't go the other way. I believe there are others that go both ways, in which case it would depend on whether the Seatalk chartplotter is set up to actually receive a waypoint from another source and knows what to do with it. I don't know enough to answer this.

However, I do know that my Raymarine ST4000+ autopilot has NMEA inputs and can act on the appropriate NMEA sentences that it receives. OpenCPN sends DTW, BTW, XTE, and SOG information to the autopilot, and upon putting the autopilot into "track" mode it will navigate the boat to that waypoint. If I right-click and select "Navigate to Here", the boat goes there. Similarly, if I activate a multi-point route in OpenCPN, OpenCPN sends this information to the chartplotter, one waypoint at a time, with a manual "acknowledge" required before advancing to each next waypoint. If this is what your friend means by "sending a waypoint to Raymarine," that it is definitely possible with the correct model of autopilot and the correct setup.

My autopilot also has a "wind vane" mode. It will receive wind transducer data though the NMEA inputs and maintain a constant angle to the apparent wind. I have not tested this yet - it's a project for this spring.

[rgleason]

Thanks RD,
Your response will be sent back to my friend. He has a Robertson AP which is an older top of the line machine. i do not know its capability for receiving waypoints via Nmea.

Your mention of the Nmea input on the ST4000 Wheel reminded me that I used that a number of years ago when I had a Garmin GPS 48. The wiring is still in place..

It seems to me that Furuno recieved waypoints and I am almost certain Raymarine will, and hope others will advise.

RD your points are helpful. Thank you. :-)

[Eirik]

It may depend on which Raymarine Multifunction Device (MFD) one uses, but I am afraid that for instance the classic C series and E series MFDs can only receive waypoints via the NMEA 0183 port, and NOT via the Seatalk port. The following from Raymarine's user forum explains this quite clearly:

http://raymarine.ning.com/forum/topi...ou-have-an-ais


Good luck,

Eirik


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[blubaju]

Hi, I have a Raymarine Smartpilot, usually I use the Raymarine E120 via ST1, but the E120 failed twice already, I wanted a backup and this is openCPN sending ECRMB, ECRMC, ECAPB to the Smartpilot NMEA0183 - IN - Port. Tested and it works. Regards, Heinrich