vhf 49 to mfd

[Sallysea]

I have a model 49 with a five pin female plug and want to connect to my new c127. it will not plug directly into the unit so do I need to cut off the plug and expose the wires to hook up the 0183 or is there a mechanism to connect to a network without the modification?

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum Sallysea,

Please click here to view a FAQ addressing how to interface your MFD to a VHF radio lacking a SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 communications interface, but having a NMEA 0183 communications interface. The RAY49 VHF radio was manufactured with a pigtail harness was terminated in bare leads. This pigtail cable was hard wired to the VHF radio's chassis. Should your Ray49 VHF radio's pigtail harness have a plug affixed to it, then it was likely added to the harness by the previous installer/owner and will need to be removed to permit the VHF radio's NMEA 0183 leads to be spliced to the corresponding NMEA 0183 Port 1 leads of the MFD's Power/NMEA 0183/Video Input Cable.

[Sallysea]

I have two vhf's on board and one of these is a third party VHF radio which had color coded wires matching those specified within its owner's manual, making for a quick hook up to my C127 MFD. I cut the plug off the 49 to expose the wires and found green, yellow, brown, white, and ground leads. My Ray49 VHF owner's manual states that its wires should include grey and purple. Besides this connection, the only other output from the unit is a speaker connection(two wires) and the power connection. Suggestion?

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Sallysea,

The Ray49's aforementioned pigtail harness is approximately one foot in length. I suspect that the prior owner/installer of your Ray49 VHF radio has lengthened the NMEA 0183 portion of the Ray49's pigtail harness using a length of cable which already had a plug connected to it. While I suspect that the described cable assembly may be that of a a C/E-Series Classic MFD NMEA 0183 Cable Assembly, the only way to be certain about the mapping of how the leads of the added cable assembly have been interfaced Ray49's pigtail harness would be to locate the splice (this would be expected to be located approximately one foot from the Ray49's chassis) and then inspect the splice. Should the added cable assembly added to the Ray49's pigtail harness have been a C/E-Series Classic MFD NMEA 0183 Cable Assembly and should it have been properly wired to the Ray49's pigtail harness, then you need simply splice the C/E-Series Classic MFD NMEA 0183 Cable Assembly to the matching colored NMEA 0183 leads of the a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFD Power/NMEA 0183/Video Input Cable supplied with your c127 MFD.

[Sallysea]

I looked for a splice and did not find one. The modification appears to have taken place internally. I solved the problem, I ordered a new radio. Thank you for your help, this obviously is an unusual situation but I have a lot more work to do on the boat and fishing season is getting close. I found a model 60 at a good price.

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

You're welcome.