[TG] [TG11] ST60 Replacements

[ToddL214]

I have a 31' sailboat with a fiberglass hull that was outfitted by the manufacturer with three ST60 instruments, (Speed, Depth & Wind). The Wind display unit is shot, and one of the other units doesn't light at night any longer. I've secured a i60 Wind display replacement, (mast top and transducer still work great).

My needs are not sophisticated and don't warrant an upgrade to add functionality or spend a great deal on the most current technology.

That being said, I'd like to replace the Depth and Speed units at the same time with the i50 Tridata but after lots of reading and searching on the forum I'm not confident of the two unit's compatibility and whether a simple connection via the new style Seatalk cable between the two units will work without additional components. At one point during my research I even got the impression the SeaTalk wiring was different in the i50 unit.

Any pointers or direct response to my installation goals is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Todd L.

[Tom - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hello Todd,

No problem. You can easily replace ST60/ST60+ with i50 and i60. They're the same 90mm circular cutout, the same footprint within a millimeter or two, are compatible with all the same transducers (same connections), and can work with either an existing Seatalk1 network (ST60-style) or a new SeatalkNG network.

One transducer compatibility note: if your masthead wind sensor is the old style with a cylindrical anodised alloy body (not the newer plastic egg-shape), then you will need to adjust the Wind Speed Calibration Factor from the default 0.7x, which is for new windvanes, to 1.0, because the new windvanes have better bearings and bigger cups and spin faster in the same windspeed. See the Dealer Cal section at the back of the handbook for details on how to do this.

The only question really is which network you use to connect them together: generally speaking we recommend transitioning over to the new SeatalkNG (NMEA2000 with easier Raymarine colour-coded connectors) network if you're connecting more than one new product together, but there are lots of installations where it's just much simpler to stay with Seatalk1. For simple wind/speed/depth you won't see any difference in operation between the two networks, you'd only start to see the benefit of STNG if you we going to have a wider system in the future (new autopilot, chartplotter etc.)

Each of the i60 and i50 displays has two 6-pin STNG spur connectors (for anyone else reading this, be aware that i70S colour displays only have one connector in line with the latest NMEA2000 spec.) so the easiest way to connect them in place of ST60s is with:
- D244 3-way Seatalk junction blocks (http://www.raymarine.com.au/view/?id=5535) and
- A06047 (0.4m) or A06073 (1m) ST1 - STNG adaptor cables (http://www.raymarine.com.au/view/?id=5536)
Exactly what combination of each you need would depend on whether your current instruments are all together or not, and whether they currently have one or both ST connectors in use, but I hope that the links help show how it would go together.

To be future-ready and cable with STNG, you would interface with any remaining Seatalk1 products via a Seatalk1-SeatalkNG convertor part E22158 (http://www.raymarine.com.au/view/?id=5535) and connect the 3 new instruments on the STNG side of the convertor with their supplied STNG spur cables.

Note that neither the A060** nor the instrument displays convert data between the two networks, the instruments just talk either Seatalk1 or SeatalkNG depending on what they're connected to. You can't connect Seatalk1 to one connector of an instrument display and SeatalkNG to the other.

Regards,
Tom

[rxcraymarine]

Hi there. I have a similar problem. Jeanneau 43DS built in 2003, with ST60 Wwnd, depth, speed and autopilot, radar, and a C80 display (replacement for RL80CRC). The wind instrument display has just died and I need to figure out whether to buy a used display unit or upgrade to something new. The big question is wiring. I really don't want to have to replace the wiring up the mast. I checked it out a few years ago when I had the mast down, and it would be a real pain in the neck (and expensive) to replace. I am trying to decide whether to go wireless, or, if a new unit can actually use the old wiring, go with a newer wired unit. I might actually decide to also replace the radar, which has started to show signs of distress, and the display. But wires are the biggest issue - I really don't want to re-run wires everywhere.

I think the wires up the mast are OK - I get a signal coming down from the sensor. T he display unit has been declared dead by a local tech.

Is there any way to just buy a new display head and use the existing sensor, or buy a new display and sensor that will just screw into the fitting on top of the mast?

[Tom - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hello rxcraymarine,

A new display can use the existing masthead unit and cabling, or if you needed to replace the masthead windvane then a new windvane can use the old masthead connector and cable down the mast. The connections to the display are identical. There are two things to take note of:

• If you're using an old-style ST50/ST60 windvane (squared-off vane feather and cups, alloy cylindrical body between the vane and cups, as opposed to new-style which has rounded cups and vane and a plastic egg-shaped body between the two) with a newer display, you need to make sure that the wind speed calibration factor is set to the minimum that the display software allows (either 0.7 or 0.75 depending on version) rather than the 1.0 that was used for older windvanes. This is because the new windvane has better bearings and spins faster in the same windspeed.
• If you're fitting a new windvane to the old alloy masthead block, you need to remove the O-ring seal from the seat of the connector. This is because the new windvane seals with an O-ring around the exterior of the shaft, compressed by the ferrule, instead of inside the connector, and the interior O-ring can prevent the new windvane from fully seating home into the connector.
• Whenever you replace a windvane on an existing display, you should do a Factory Reset on the display in order to re-do the windvane linearisation process. The reset procedure is in Dealer Cal, described in the back of the display handbook.
  

Regards,
Tom

[rxcraymarine]

Tom,

Thanks very much for the help. Now I just have to decide whether to spend the money for the new displays, which involves a discussion with my wife.<g>