[CA] [CA11] AR200 vs GA150

[Mig888]

I have a GA150 installed on my boat. I was at the boat show this weekend and saw a demo of the AR200 and it looked great. I was told that it was very simple to replace the GA150 with an AR200 because it is the same size and uses the same base and cables and all I have to do is simply detach the top portion of the GA150 and replace it with the top portion of the AR200 and then it would work and I would now have heading data. Is this correct? Is it really that simple?

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome back to the Raymarine Forum Mig888,

It appears that the Raymarine staff to who you have spoken may have misunderstood the device which was being replaced to be a Raystar 150 GPS Sensor rather than a GA150 GPS Antenna. Should the device to have been replaced be a Raystar 150 GPS Sensor, then it would be as simple as had been specified. Unlike the GA150 GPS Antenna which features a coaxial cable and may be interfaced directly to a MFD's GA150 GPS antenna socket, the Raystar 150 GPS Sensor and AR200 Augmented Reality Sensor feature a SeaTalkng/NMEA 2000 communications interface and are as such designed be be interfaced to a spur socket via a SeaTalkng Spur Cable. The AR200 may only be calibrated by MFDs running the latest LightHouse 3 software (v3.11.42 at the time of this response). The AR200 is not designed to use the same mount or cable used by a GA150 GPS Antenna.

[Mig888]

Chuck, totally my fault. I actually do have a RS150 and not a GA150 on my boat. In fact, the RS150 looks sort of identical to the AR200. Thus, based on your response, I assume the gentleman at the show was correct.

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Mig888,

Should you indeed have a Raystar 150 GPS Sensor currently installed onboard, then the physical actions required to replace it with an AR200 would be to simply remove the mount's top, lift out the Raystar 150 GPS Sensor, unplug its spur cable from its spur socket, set the Raystar 150 GPS Sensor aside, plug the spur cable into the AR200's spur socket, place it into the Raystar 150 GPS Sensor's mount, ensuring that its indexing arrow is pointed to the boat's bow (parallel with the keel), re-install the mount's cover, and then follow the instructions within Chapter 15.9 AR200 Calibration (Linearization) of the LightHouse 3.11 Advanced Operation Instructions.

[Mig888]

Chuck, this is great. Thank you as always for being responsive and clear in your explanation.

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

You're welcome.