(DG) Rotating mast, Tacktick wireless and EV-100

[artemidorus]

Hi folks,
I am buying a boat with existing Tacktick equipment (T910 triducer, T121 hull transmitter, T120 wind transmitter, T112 wind analog display, T110 single display). The boat does not have an autopilot and I wish to add a tiller pilot. The Raymarine EV-100 tiller pilot system seems to fit the bill.

I am thinking that I need to get the EV-100 tiller system (sensor, ACU, tiller drive and p70s) and the Micro-Talk Wireless Performance Sailing Gateway - is this right? The gateway simply goes onto the SeaTalkng backbone as a spur and feeds the wind and speed information to the pilot (and to a Raymarine MFD as a later purchase).

Just to complicate things, the boat has a rotating mast and, ideally but not as an absolute necessity, the system would correct for this. Raymarine do not appear to have brought out their own wireless mast rotation sensor to replace the Tacktick T221 but I can still get my hands on a T221 sold as new. Am I able simply to add the Tacktick mast rotation sensor to get a fully functional tiller pilot system with wind vane mode? I've been told that the T221 can even act as a repeater station to help pass information from the T120 at the masthead to the Microtalk Gateway and to the T112.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Derek - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hi artemidorus

Thankyou for your enquiry.

The micro-talk performance gateway is the best way to link the EV100 pilot and the Wireless system onboard and as you state correctly, links into the STng backbone simply through a spur connection.

With regards to the rotating mast, the addition of the T221 mast rotation transducer will enable the mast angle to be compared to the boat heading, ( from the EV1 sensor) and hence the corrected wind data will be made available to the Autopilot.

Also, you are right that the T221 will also help relay wireless information around the boat too so has a dual function.
regards

[artemidorus]

Several months down the track, I'm now a little wiser about my system. It's not as I listed it above, but, in fact, is all the "entry level" equipment. I believe that this means that the analogue wind display is the T033 (~2011 vintage) and the digital display is the T030. The hull transmitter only has speed and depth inputs, and lacks a heading input.

I have fitted my Microtalk gateway and have added it successfully to the micronet network, where it appears as a "type 7" device. I have fitted my autopilot control head (p70s), which now displays wind speed, wind direction, boat speed and depth from the micronet network. I have added my mast rotation sensor and have also added it successfully to the micronet network; I know this because the autonet app read out "mast add" during the the joining process and the system shows a software version number under setup>health>mast.

I tried to view the settings or calibration options for the mast rotation sensor via the wind display but can find nothing - this is confirmed by the menu section of the wind display manual which makes no mention of a mast rotation sensor other than to tell one how to confirm that it has joined the network. The Tacktick documentation is a little vague on the topic, but it appears that I need to use a digital display display unit for the calibration. I have only the "entry level" digital display, which appears to have no compass calibration menu option.

Hypothetically, the system is able to get the boat's heading from the EV1 sensor via the Seatalkng, if the gateway sends the information via the micronet to the wind and digital displays. Also hypothetically, the mast rotation sensor can send data to the p70s unit via the micronet->gateway->Seatalkng, but I see no ability to view the mast rotation readout or calibration via the p70s. Does the p70s use the mast rotation information "behind the scenes", or is it only the wind display unit that is capable of correcting the wind vane direction output with the mast rotation offset?

So, my questions are - am I able to use the mast rotation sensor with the entry level analogue wind display? Am I able to calibrate the mast rotation sensor with my entry level digital display? Is the Microtalk gateway giving the EV-1 magnetic heading to the micronet devices for comparison with the mast rotation datum? Is the p70s capable of using the mast rotation datum via the gateway, and is it able to do a mast rotation calibration?

Regards,
Nick Murray

[Derek - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hi artemidorus

Thankyou for your feedback

The mn30 Wind display can not calibrate the Mast Rotation Sensor and cannot be used with the MRS. The calibration has to be undertaken with an mn100 Digital or Remote.

The Micro-Talk can be used to interface to an EV1 heading sensor and this will be used to feed heading data to the Micro-Talk wireless system and in turn used to compare with the MRS data to offset the wind vane for mast rotation.

The p70 does not use Mast Rotation and cannot Calibrate the MRS, although it will use the corrected wind angle data. None of the products on the Seatalk NG side of the Micro-Talk can calibrate the MRS. This has to be done on a Wireless Digital display or Remote as above.

The calibration of the Mast Rotation Sensor is part explained in the MRS Instruction document and then points to the Compass calibration. This involves fixing the mast in its central position and then entering compass calibration and following the instruction for compass calibration from the mn100 or Remote handbook.

Regards
Derek

[artemidorus]

Thanks for your answer.

So, just to be really clear on the point, as the expense is not trivial, I need to obtain a MN-100-2 analogue display unit (T112) to integrate the wind direction, mast rotation and boat heading data to give me a corrected wind direction and to send that datum to the SeatalkNG via the MicroTalk Gateway, and either the MN-100-2 digital display unit (T110 or T111) or the Raymarine Wireless Micronet Remote Display (T113), to calibrate the mast rotation sensor?

Will the MN-100-2 units be compatible with the entry-level hull transmitter from ~2011?

Regards,
Nick.

[Derek - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hi Nick,

Yes, your statement is correct, if you add the mn100-2 displays into the system network, then you can calibrate the MRT on the digital display and integrate them into the mn30 system too.

regards
Derek

[artemidorus]

I have now obtained the mn100-2 dual digital and analogue displays and have joined them into the micronet with the new analogue display as the master. I left a mn30 digital display in the micronet. Interestingly, the mn100 analogue display found the mast rotation sensor (4-5m away) and the wind vane at the masthead ((15-16m away) without me having to place them 30cm away from the new items - I presume that the mn30 device or the microtalk gateway passed the relevant joining information on to the new devices. Is this what happened?

There was a little too much wind for me to pick up the mooring singlehanded today, so I did not use the mn100 digital display to calibrate the compass and hence the MRT. In the absence of me having done so, rotation of the mast caused large changes in the apparent wind heading, as if the MRT data is not yet being used at all. The MRT is definitely visible in the "Health" lists of all devices, as are all other nodes on the micronet. Is it the case that the compass calibration process is required to make the MRT start transmitting any data, or to make the analogue display start using it?

[Derek - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hi artemidorus

Yes, calibration is essential so that the rotation transducer can operate in conjunction with the fluxgate compass and output the corrected information.

regards
Derek

[artemidorus]

Hi Derek,

I sent my mast rotation sensor and analogue wind display units off to Raymarine Sydney to be checked and they confirmed that they were operational by doing a deviation calibration.

Now that I have reinstalled them, the MRS is now clearly affecting the displayed wind angle to a large degree - it is now nonsense and will vary more than 90 degrees when the boat's heading changes 15 degrees, with the mast locked on the midline. Clearly it needs an in situ deviation calibration manoeuvre to take place.

When I go to the deviation calibration page, it reads ---. When I activate the calibration process, it flashes WAIT for 10 seconds and then returns to read ---. It doesn't matter how many turns, fast or slow, I do in either direction, the deviation calibration manoeuvre never successfully completes.

The MN100 digital display is clearly receiving the heading data from the EV1 via the Microtalk gateway. The MRS details appear in the HEALTH screens of all my Raymarine wireless devices.

This remains immensely frustrating - what do I do next?

Regards,
Nick Murray

[Derek - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hi Nick,

We have tested the EV1 heading with the MRT and it did calibrate correctly. If it is not calibrating, then the calibration process is somehow not being done correctly or is still faulty. Or the windvane is faulty - are you getting wind data if the mast in centred?

Thanks
Derek