(DG) Smart controller x5 nmea

[Dkdoyle]

I have a smart controller X5 and nmea mux for multiple devices. I did have a c80. The c80 had a direct nmea connection that worked along with seatalk connection back to smart controller. I would like to replace my c80 that bit the dust with a b&g zeus. The issue I am having is I am sending all the nmea to the smart controller but it is not bridging it and sending it back out on the seatalk ng connection that goes to the ST70. I did set it to 4800 baud. Any ideas?

Thanks Deb

[Derek - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hi Dkdoyle
Thank you for your enquiry.

The C80 would bridge between NMEA0183 and SeaTalk, I do not know what the Zeaus bridges?

How are you connecting the smartcontroller, since it is only SeaTalk? How are you connecting the ST70 to the Smartcontroller?

can you please describe your installation more for me?
Thanks

[Dkdoyle]

Hi Derek the SmartController has a nmea connection for attaching a nmea 183 but I think the sentence support is very limited and therefore not working for bridging.

I have several devices attached to a pair muxes. GPS, depth, vhf ais with gps. I also had the c80 as an output. On the SmartController I have c80, flux gate, and ST70 in STng port. Additionally I have a Raymarine Spx gP tiller drive hooked to controller. Everything worked except I could not follow a route.

Now C80 has gone bad so I need to replace. I am looking at maybe a B&g Zeus that connects via ng2000. I think would have to setup a ng backbone and hook up ST70 to it via a Raymarine cable. The St70 has two connections to bridge I think. Then I would need a converter from 183 to Ng to also bring in the 183 devices. Third connection would to to BG. Thoughts?

[Dkdoyle]

Nmea mux supports: gps, vhf with ais and gps, depth, c80.
Smartcontroller supports: c80, tiller motor, fluxgate, st70.

With the above everything worked except go to waypoint.

Now my C80 has died so I am looking at moving to NMEA2000 unit like a B&G Zeus.
I think in order to do that I need to bring up an 2k backbone and plug in (with Ray cable) the other port of the ST70 to the backbone. Get a 2k to 183 converter to plug in the nmea mux to the backbone. Finally plug in the new chartplotter.

Does that sound right?

[Derek - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hi Dkdoyle

From what I can see from your posts, you are referring to a 'smartcontroller', meaning an ST6001 series fixed control unit - which has an NMEA input on the back? Is that correct?

We also have a product called a Smartcontroller, which is a wirelessly connected remote control for an Autopilot that connects to a SeaTalk network through a Base station, but has no NMEA0183 connection.



The smartcontroller I think you are referring to, does indeed have a very limited NMEA interface, promarily used only for Autopilot control, so is limited to data such as BTW, XTE,VWR, APA, APB, RMA and RMB.

If you were to connect an NMEA 2000 device into the network, whether the Raymarine AXIOM or an alternative, then use a SeaTalk to STng converter, set up a smallbackbone network and just use the converter to bridge between the two networks. The ST70 could be set to mastership and then will bridge, but again it will have less bridging capability than the converter which is specifically designed for this.

Something like the Actisense NMEA0183 to NMEA2000 interface could then be used for the other NMEA0183 devices.

[Dkdoyle]

No sir. This is what I have SmartPilot X5 Tiller & GP Tiller Installation & Setup Guide

[Derek - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hi Dkdoyle

The Smartpilot X5 tiller system used an ST6001 control unit and on the rear of that was an NMEA0183 input. This input has very limited capability and is restricted only to Autopilot commands and track control.

The Smartpilot uses SeaTalk as a data protocol, so in order to link it to an NMEA2000 system, you will need to use a SeaTalk to STng converter, (STng is fully compatible with NMEA2000), the converter will pass autopilot information as well as full nav information between the two networks.

If you then want to add more NMEA0183 data to the network, then use an Actisense NMEA0183 to NMEA2000 converter.

regards

[Dkdoyle]

Thank you sir

[Derek - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hi Dkdoyle

you're welcome