must transducer be connected to data master?

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum Jon,

Q1. Is it necessary for the NMEA 2000 network to be connected to the data master?
A1. Yes

Q2. Must the depth transducer be connected to the data master?
A2. A NMEA 0183 Smart Transducer (will only support numerical depth ... not fishfinding) may be interfaced to the NMEA 0183 input leads of either MFD. Similarly, a compatible fishfinder transducer may be interfaced to the Transducer port of either one of these MFDs. It should be noted that only DownVision or CPT-S transducers may be directly interfaced to an ax8/eSx8 MFD and only A-Series 600W 50kHz/200kHz fishfinder transducers may be directly interfaced to an ax7/cx7/eSx7 MFD.