[CA] [CA11] Updating/replacing older Control head/Computer

[mbjezior]

Setup question...replaced outdated electronics on my Carver 370 Aft Cabin- (38’). New Vulcan 7FS plotter will not interact with old autopilot- Raypilot 650 - all it detects is the rudder deflection position. The raypilot system is seatalk 1, which I converted via a digital yacht converter to 0183, then converted to 2000 via an actisense NGW-1 (4800 baud). Really not sure why it won’t communicate....my only option I believe is to replace the raypilot 650 and computer....will this system work- Raymarine EV-150 Power Pilot Core Pack? I have a type 1 drive unit already installed from the old system- (worked great and probably could save me dollars if I can still use it)..
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum mbjezior,

You may want to consider contacting Digital Yacht regarding the reported issue. Whereas autopilot course computers which were of the vintage of the Raypilot 650 Autopilot Control Head featured a NMEA 0183 communications interface, we would have typically recommended that an Actisense NGW-1-ISO be connected directly to the autopilot course computer's NMEA 0183 communications interface. The third party chartplotting product and the NGW-1-ISO would then be interfaced as individual spurs to a powered and properly terminated NMEA 2000 backbone. When installed in this manner, it would have been expected that navigation should have been able to be commanded via the third party chartplotting product (i.e. Go To Waypoint/Cursor Position or Follow Route), and then the autopilot control head would then be used to command the autopilot into Track mode.