ST50 1990 Transducers integration w e165

[Lazybones]

I have 1990 original ST 50 instrument heads and transducers for wind, speed and depth.

1. Can the transducers be used with a new e165 MFD or do I need new ones?

2. Is there any difference in performance if the old ones will work? Eg Digital Chirp sonar accuracy, etc.

3. If the transducers can be used, is there any way to also use the ST 50 heads with the e165?

I also have original sea talk (1990) as well as seatalk to RS232 converters and NMEA 0183.

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum Lazybones,

Q1. Can the transducers be used with a new e165 MFD or do I need new ones?
A1. While ST50+ instrument data may be bridged to SeaTalkng (via a SeaTalk to SeaTalkng Converter) for use by the e165 MFD, such data bridging is not supported for ST50 instruments. Analog instrument transducers cannot be directly interfaced to an a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFD. Such transducers may be interfaced to i40, i50, i60 instruments or to an iTC-5 Analog Instrument Transducer Convert w/i70 Multifunction Instrument Display which in turn may be interfaced to an a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFD. While the depth, speed, temperature instrument transducers used with the ST50 instruments may be used with the i40, i50, and iTC-5 products, wind transducers designed for use with ST50/ST50+ Wind Instruments may not be used with i60 Wind Instruments or iTC-5.

Q2. Is there any difference in performance if the old ones will work? Eg Digital Chirp sonar accuracy, etc.
A2. The performance of these items will essentially be the same except for possibly speed though water. Should the Speed/Temp transducer be interfaced to an iTC-5 Analog Instrument Transducer Convert w/i70 Multifunction Instrument Display, then multi-point speed calibration would be possible, permitting speed though water to be more accurate across a greater range of boat speeds.

Q3. If the transducers can be used, is there any way to also use the ST 50 heads with the e165?
A3. While ST50+ instrument data may be bridged to SeaTalkng (via a SeaTalk to SeaTalkng Converter) for use by the e165 MFD, such data bridging is not supported for ST50 instruments. It is conceivable that by converting the data to NMEA 0183 (v2.1 assumed ... earlier versions not supported), the NMEA 0183 output may be of the bridging device may be interfaced to the MFD's NMEA 0183 input port to supply the MFD with wind, depth, speed, and temperature data.