[CA] [CA11] Connecting AXIOM 7 to HS5; 5 mts distance

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum Fernando,

Q1. I need to connect 2 Axiom 7 and a Quantum q24c Radar antenna to an Hs5 switch. The distance of the HS5 to one of the Axiom 7 is 5 meters; the data cable that comes in the box of the Axiom7 is NMEA 2000; I bought a 1mt Raymarine SeaTalkng to DeviceNet female cable, but it is not long enough; I need to extend it. I understand that Raynet Spur cables can have a maximum of 6 mt. Is there any way to extend it using a compatible joiner cable? or any male to male connector for Raynet Spur to Raynet Spur cables?
A1. You appear to be confusing the purpose of an Ethernet network and SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 networking with respect to interfacing Raymarine products. To connect the Axiom MFD to the HS5 RayNet Network Switch, the MFD's Ethernet Network (RayNet) port will be joined to the HS5 RayNet Network Switch via an appropriate length of RayNet (F) to RayNet (F) Cable. Should you additionally need to interface the MFD to the system's powered and properly terminated SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 backbone, the a couple of options are available:

a) if the NMEA 2000 (DeviceNet (M)) socket of the MFD's Power/NMEA 2000 Cable is located within 6m of the backbone's spur socket, then an A06082 DeviceNet (F) to SeaTalkng (M) Adapter and an appropriate length of SeaTalkng Spur Cable may be used to interface the MFD to the backbone.

b) if the NMEA 2000 (DeviceNet (M)) socket of the MFD's Power/NMEA 2000 Cable is located more than 6m from the backbone's spur socket, then the backbone must be extended to the location of the MFD or within 6m of it. If the backbone is extended to the location of the MFD, then the A06075 / 39.4in (1.0m) SeaTalkng Spur to DeviceNet (F) which you have purchased may be used to connect the MFD to the backbone.

Q2. There is already a Raynet network (with aproximately a 5 mts backbone) on my ship; An ST 4000 autopilot with ACU100 controller, EV-1 Sensor, Autopilot controller (all of them connected to a 5-wayblock) and an AIS 650 Class B Transceiver are connected there.
My question is: how can I connect / integrate this backbone to the HS5 (it has 5 positions available and I would only use 3 for the 2 Axiom and for the Radar) so that both AXIOM 7 MFD can share the radar and also the data of these devices ?
A2. See my response to Q1. Ethernet networking is used to support communications, between Axiom MFDs, radar transducers, fishfinder sounder modules, marine cameras, thermal cameras, and SiriusXM satellite wx receivers. SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 communications is used to interface the MFD to instruments, autopilots, GPS sensors, VHF radios, AIS receiver/transceivers, etc.. The system's Data Master MFD will be interfaced as a spur to the SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 backbone and will function as a data bridge for other networked MFDs to to access data from the backbone.