[CA] [CA11] a95 MFD connected to AirMar P79

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum Ted,

P79 is the name given to a family of transducers produced by Airmar, each having unique characteristics. These include analog instrument variants, Smart NMEA 0183, Smart NMEA 2000, and fishfinder variants each unique to a specific manufacturer and fishfinding product. Please attach a photo of the transducer's identification tab (clearly showing all information printed on the tag) to your response.

Please note that interfacing an NMEA 0183 or NMEA 2000 Smart Depth Transducer to an a95 MFD will not support use of the LightHouse II software's fishfinder application. However, when the transducer is properly installed, the transducer has been properly interfaced, the transducer has been properly powered, and the vessel is in water having a depth of at least 3' beneath the transducer, then an operational NMEA 0183 or NMEA 2000 Smart Depth Transducer will support permitting the LightHouse II application's Depth data item to be populated when the MFD has been configured to display the Depth data item within a Databox, the Databar, or its Data application. As with all in-hull transducers, troubleshooting dashes reported for depth should commence with verifying that the transducer's reservoir is filled. Empty transducer reservoirs resulting from leakage will prevent the transducer from passing pings through hull.

As indicated within the FAQ found here, one may not simply interface a NMEA 2000 device to another NMEA 2000 device via a single cable to their respective SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 communications interfaces. If properly interfaced to the transducer and the backbone has been properly powered, then the transducer should be listed within the Select Devices list of the Data Master MFD. Have you interfaced the P79 to the MFD via a powered and properly terminated SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 backbone? If so, is the transducer listed within the MFD's Select Devices list? Please follow the instructions within the referenced FAQ to save this information to a microSD memory card and then attach the resulting Diagnostics...html file to your response to this post.

Should you not have interfaced the transducer via NMEA 0183 communications, then please respond with wire by wire detail regarding how you have interfaced the transducer to the MFD and how you have powered the MFD.

Should the system feature more than one source of Depth data (ex. i50 Depth, i50 Tridata, etc.) then the Data Sources feature of LightHouse II must be used to identify that your P79 should be used as the system's source of Depth data.