[CA] NMEA 0183 Compatibility - 3rd Party Device

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome back to the Raymarine Forum jwasko,

Q1. I have a third party device that I would like to connect to an e165 MFD. The manufacturer specifications state: 0-6V NMEA 0183 serial data output. Is this voltage level considered compatible with the NMEA input ports on the MFD?
A1. It should indeed be able to be interfaced to the MFD. However, for systems featuring a SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 backbone, it is generally recommended that such devices be interfaced as a spur to the backbone via a NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 data bridging device (ex. Actisense NGW-1-ISO-STNG, Actisense NGW-1-ISO-AIS, etc.), as doing so will ensure that AIS data is present on the backbone and that the MFD need not be switched ON for devices on the SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 backbone to receive data from NMEA 0183 devices.