i60 wind instrument: standalone installation

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum Teranodon,

The advantage of interfacing the autopilot to the i60 Wind Instrument would be that it would then support use of the autopilot's vane mode for sailing vessels. Should this autopilot mode not be of interest to you, then the i60 Wind Instrument may then be installed in a stand alone

Q1. In order to provide DC power, do I have to set up a bare-bones Seatalkng network (e.g., two T-pieces, a backbone cable, a power cable and terminators) or can I simply butcher the provided short spur cable (in which pins 1 and 2 appear to carry power/ground)?
A1. It not interfaced to a SeaTalk bus or interfaced as a spur to a SeaTalkng backbone, then the i60 Wind Instrument may be powered via an A06049 SeaTalkng Power Cable. While it is alternately possible to use the red and black wire within the SeaTalkng Spur Cable for this purpose, you may find the leads to be too fine to easily work with.

Q2. Am I allowed to split the long data cable at the base of the mast, using the provided junction box? The instructions very explicitly say that the cable should not be split.manner.
A2. It is indeed possible to use such junction boxes for the stated purpose. Please note that while Raymarine does not offer a weatherproof junction box for such purposes, such junction boxes are available from third party marine electronics manufacturers. A better solution may be to consider installation of male and female weatherproof plugs (ex. Deutsch, etc.) to the cable.