what data to bring into openCPN?

[RickyEM]

I will be having a marine electrician on board my boat in a few weeks. One of the tasks is to replace a defective seatalk interface box at the Nav station and another is to bring a com cable with AIS data from the helm where the Raymarine equipment is to the Nav station where the laptop with openCPN is (as discussed in another post http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ter-82816.html).

I am new to openCPN but I can see it is the future at least for me.

My question is what other data and cables should he bring over for integration into openCPN?

The boat has

o Raymarine C120 Chart Plotter
o Raymarine 2kw Raydome mounted on the mast
o Raystar 125 WAAS GPS sensor mounted on the Bimini Top
o Raymarine Type S3G Core Pack auto pilot
o Raymarine AIS 250 receiver tied into the chart plotter
o Raymarine ST60 Tridata (speed/depth/temp). Depth transducer mounted on port hull.
o Raymarine Fishfinder mounted on the starboard hull. With two depth transducers, one on each hull.
o Raymarine ST60 Windmeter system
o Raymarine ST6001 inboard autopilot
o Raymarine ST60 Graphic at Nav Station
o Raymarine E15023 SmartController Wireless Autopilot Remote w/ Instrument Repeater at Nav station
o E85001 PC/Seatalk/NMEA Interface box at Nav station

The Nav station has WxWorx XM weather. Can this weather be brought into openCPN?

[alex2035]

I suggest you a Raymarine qualified tech for this job, no electrician has the knowledge and capacity to undertake such an installation, I know what I tell you, I have to deal with electrician jobs on electronics afterwards to solve things out. rather than talk you about solving the thing out I sincerely think this is my best advice. good luck.

[RickyEM]

Originally Posted by alex2035

I suggest you a Raymarine qualified tech for this job, no electrician has the knowledge and capacity to undertake such an installation, I know what I tell you, I have to deal with electrician jobs on electronics afterwards to solve things out. rather than talk you about solving the thing out I sincerely think this is my best advice. good luck.

The person is a Raymarine qualified tech, I'm sorry I didn't make that clear in the post. He installed the original system after a lightning strike took it out several years ago and traced a seatalk failure to the interface board which he is replacing.

[alex2035]

well then, I think taking NMEA from the S3 will have you covered instrument and GPSwise, and AIS out will get you the rest. I usually take that route and it works.
the NMEA box if it is the one with RS232 out is a good alternative but it can generate some problems as well, they where designed and good in my opinion when the autopilots where not that clever.

[RickyEM]

Originally Posted by alex2035

well then, I think taking NMEA from the S3 will have you covered instrument and GPSwise, and AIS out will get you the rest. I usually take that route and it works.
the NMEA box if it is the one with RS232 out is a good alternative but it can generate some problems as well, they where designed and good in my opinion when the autopilots where not that clever.

Thanks, so there will be two cables run, is that correct? And what functionality will this bring into openCPN?

[JesperWe]

Originally Posted by RickyEM

Thanks, so there will be two cables run, is that correct? And what functionality will this bring into openCPN?

Everything. I mean: This will provide OCPN with all needed data for all existing features. Note that the 4.8k NMEA connection needs to be bidirectional if you want to upload waypoints from OpenCPN to the Raymarine system.

(If your question is about what functionality OCPN has, you should head over to the docs to get that answered)

[HotRod]

If i'm not mistaken I guess your AIS is connected to your C120 NMEA port at 38400bps, this cannot be shared trough the pc/seatalk/nmea interface as this only support 4800bps. I also doubt that the C120 forwards any AIS data on the seatalk network.
But I might be wrong...

[RickyEM]

Summary of my understanding.

1. Run one com cable from AIS to laptop per instructions in http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ter-82816.html. Connect to com to usb converter.

2. Run a second com cable to laptop taking NMEA from the S3G Core Pack auto pilot. Connect to com to usb converter.

3. This will allow reading AIS targets in openCPN, GPS, and upload of waypoints and routes into C120.

Correct?