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dle44rain

I am considering upgrading the electronics on my 30' fly bridge trawler with Raymarine equipment. We use the vessel to cruise and fish in Puget Sound year around.
The current electronics:
1. Raymarine Autohelm ST5000+ autopilot
2. Raymarine depth sounder
3. Garmin GPSmap 541 chart plotter
4. Vesper Marine XB-8000 AIS with WiFi
I have the following questions:
1. Will the existing autopilot work with an Axiom MFD?
2. Will the existing depth sounder work with an Axiom MFD?
3. Can the existing Garmin external GPS antenna feed GPS data to an Axiom MFD?
4. Can the existing AIS unit feed AIS data to an Axiom MFD?
Our goals include improving fish finding capability and a radar unit. Please advise.
Thanks

***Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator***

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum

Q1. Will the existing autopilot work with an Axiom MFD?
A1. When interfaced to the autopilot via a SeaTalk to SeaTalkng Converter Kit, the MFD will be able to command navigation (Go To Waypoint / Cursor Position or Follow Route). The associated navigational information will be communicated to the autopilot to permit the ST5000+ autopilot to enter track mode by using the ST5000's track button vs the Axiom MFD's Autopilot Controls feature (the latter is only supported with systems featuring an Evolution autopilot.

Q2. Will the existing depth sounder work with an Axiom MFD?
A2. Possibly. No details have been provided regarding the model of depth sounder.

Q3. Can the existing Garmin external GPS antenna feed GPS data to an Axiom MFD?
A3. Should the "external GPS antenna" be an a GPS sensor (not simply a passive GPS antenna) supporting NMEA 2000 communications protocol, then it may indeed be possible to interface both the currently installed GPS sensor and MFD each as spurs to a powered and properly terminated SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 backbone to permit these products to communicate with one another. Should the GPS sensor support NMEA 0183 communications protocol, then a NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 data bridging device (ex. Actisense NGW-1-ISO-STNG, etc.) would also be required. Should a passive GPS antenna (i.e. one which simply gathers GPS signal) be installed onboard, then it would be recommended that it be replaced with a Raystar 150 GPS Sensor.

Q4. Can the existing AIS unit feed AIS data to an Axiom MFD?
A4. It appears that the Vesper Marine XB-8000 AIS supports NMEA 2000 communications protocol and as such, may also be interfaced as spur to the aforementioned powered and properly terminated SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 backbone to permit the Axiom MFD to support AIS related features.

dle44rain

The depth sounder is a ST60 unit with a thru hull transducer installed on the port side.
Thanks

***Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator***

dle44rain,

Q. The depth sounder is a ST60 unit with a thru hull transducer installed on the port side.
A. The aforementioned SeaTalk to SeaTalkng Converter Kit would not only permit the ST5000+ autopilot to be interfaced to the MFD, but the ST60 Depth instrument as well. The easiest way to do so would be to connect the ST60 instrument to the SeaTalk to SeaTalkng Converter and then daisy chain the ST5000+ to the ST60 instrument's remaining SeaTalk socket. The SeaTalk cable connecting the ST5000+ to the ST60 instrument should be cut a convenient point which would then permit it to be spliced back together. When splicing this SeaTalk cable only the cable's yellow and shield leads will be spliced back together. The cable's red leads will not be used and should be insulated to prevent shorting.

Please note that while the ST60 Depth instrument will support sharing numerical depth data with an Axiom MFD, it will not support the MFD's fishfinder application.