[CA] [CA11] PC to SeaTalkHS

[rieraney]

Please bear with me - my new boat is decades ahead of any boat I've had before and I'm trying to learn. I've always had the simplest nav equipment - PC, serial GPS and AIS connected to it as well as Pactor modem and SSB. I'm a software person, not great with hardware so I'm unlikely to build my own interface boards! But willing to try simple things.

My new system consists of an E-80 plotter at the steering binnacle, and an integrated radar, ais and gps as well as depth sounder, wind speed, maybe something else. Inside my boat there are 2 boxes, one marked Raymarine DSM300 and one marked SeaTalkHS. I'm assuming the DMS300 probably provides the fishfinder screen I see on the E80. And the SeaTalkHS box must be the NMEA-type network.

I'd like to have my laptop at the nav station as a backup and route planner (I know there is a fugawi/raymarine software product for route planning, but my product is good for both planning and sailing). I'd like to as a minimum get AIS and GPS from the SeaTalk to my PC. I need my PC anyway to talk to my SSB radio, do weather downloads, email via radio, etc. So I'd like to have all that at the nav station and leave the main chart plotter at the binnacle.

So what to buy? Of course if there were a Raymarine cable I'd buy it but I can't find one. So I see some devices that connect SeaTalk to PC, notably the SeaTalkLink here http://gadgetpool.de/home/english/index.html . It appears that my SeaTalkHS box has some connections available, I assume it's not ethernet but proprietary NMEA connections. Would the gadgetpool device just plug in?

Some other cables are sold, but with no connectors on them, notably the Digital Yacht SeaTalk1 to NMEA https://www.hodgesmarine.com/Digital-Yac...digstn.htm . This device implies it connects PC to SeaTalk but do I need a connector or can I just wire in the 3 wires to my SeaTalk HS box?

Will either of these allow me to get GPS and AIS on my computer? IS there something else I should look at? Are there different flavors of SeaTalk? I see SeaTalk HS and SeaTalk 1 and some others and am not sure of the differences.

Is there something I can read to get up to speed on this? (Besides becoming an electrical engineer which at 60 I'm just not up for).

Thanks for any help you can give this newbie moving into 1990s technology!

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum rieraney,

General comment - Unfortunately, your a bit late to the game. At one time Raymarine had sold RayTech RNS 6.1 software for this application ... directly connecting a PC to the system's Ethernet network to support data transfer and having the RayTech RNS 6.1 software support most of the features supported by the E80 MFD. Unfortunately, that product is no longer sold by Raymarine, no replacement has been produced by Raymarine for this application, and RayTech RNS 6.1 was only supported for use with the Window XP and Windows 7 operating systems. In the absence of a PC navigational application from Raymarine, a third party application supporting NMEA 0183 communications (ex. Nobeltec, RosePoint, OpenCPN, etc.) would be recommended to support communications of basic system data and to support waypoint/route transfer. The MFD's NMEA 0183 communications port would be used to facilitate such communications and would typically require the additional use of a serial to USB adapter. One of the most commonly used adapters supporting NMEA 0183 and SeaTalk communications is the Brookhouse iMux. Third party applications cannot communicate with Raymarine's Ethernet network (SeaTalkhs).

Q1. I'm assuming the DMS300 probably provides the fishfinder screen I see on the E80. And the SeaTalkHS box must be the NMEA-type network.
A1. The DSM300 is indeed the

Q2. I'd like to have my laptop at the nav station as a backup and route planner (I know there is a fugawi/raymarine software product for route planning, but my product is good for both planning and sailing). I'd like to as a minimum get AIS and GPS from the SeaTalk to my PC. I need my PC anyway to talk to my SSB radio, do weather downloads, email via radio, etc. So I'd like to have all that at the nav station and leave the main chart plotter at the binnacle.

So what to buy? Of course if there were a Raymarine cable I'd buy it but I can't find one. So I see some devices that connect SeaTalk to PC, notably the SeaTalkLink here http://gadgetpool.de/home/english/index.html . It appears that my SeaTalkHS box has some connections available, I assume it's not ethernet but proprietary NMEA connections. Would the gadgetpool device just plug in?
A2. The MFD's system's Ethernet (SeaTalkhs) communications interface was only designed for use with compatible Raymarine products, including RayTech RNS 6.1. Given its proprietary communications protocol, it may not be used with third party applications. As indicated, above, the MFD's NMEA 0183 communications interface would typically be used for such purposes. This would require use of the MFD NMEA Cable which had been packaged with the MFD and a serial to USB adapter (ex. SeaLevel 2015R, etc.) or NMEA 0183 multiplexer having a USB interface (ex. Actisense NDC-4-USB, etc).

Q3. Some other cables are sold, but with no connectors on them, notably the Digital Yacht SeaTalk1 to NMEA https://www.hodgesmarine.com/Digital-Yac...digstn.htm . This device implies it connects PC to SeaTalk but do I need a connector or can I just wire in the 3 wires to my SeaTalk HS box?
A3. Please see the response to Q2.

Q4. Will either of these allow me to get GPS and AIS on my computer?
A4. See the response to Q2.

Q5. Are there different flavors of SeaTalk? I see SeaTalk HS and SeaTalk 1 and some others and am not sure of the differences.
A5. Raymarine has produced three proprietary communications protocols having "SeaTalk" within the root of its name. These were:
- SeaTalk: 9600 BAUD serial communications supporting communications of GPS, instrument, navigational, alarm, and system state data
- SeaTalk2: CAN based communications protocol similar which was an extension of the NMEA 2000 communications protocol. This protocol supported communications of a set of data similar to SeaTalk, but supported higher data rates. This protocol was abandoned and replaced by SeaTalkng which is currently in use today's products. SeaTalkng is basically NMEA 2000 communications protocol with proprietary extensions. Should the MFD's software be updated to v5.69, then it will support SeaTalkng communications protocol via its SeaTalk2 port.
- SeaTalkhs: Ethernet communications supporting high bandwidth data (cartography, radar imagery, fishfinder imaging, satellite weather, etc.) as well as GPS, instrument, navigational, alarm, system state data, and waypoint/route/track data.