[CA] [CA11] Axiom Pro not recognizing external GPS

[rfadler]

Hi Chuck,

Just finished our multi-day passage. The MFD worked well. We didn't see any of the symptoms that happened in the past so I'd say we have a work-around.

I still can't see the Maretron GPS200 when I try to select a GPS source. I assume/believe that once I can specify the Maretron as the GPS source, I can turn on all the other sources with no interference.

Will this be a bug fix in a future release of Lighthouse?

Thanks,
-Rick

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Rick,

Q. Will this be a bug fix in a future release of Lighthouse?
A. The answer is dependent upon whether the software defect is determined by Raymarine's engineering team to be within the LightHouse 3 software or within the software of the AIT2000 and AIT3000 Transponders. Should the problem be determined to be within the LightHouse 3 software, then the problem will be racked and stacked with other feature corrections to be considered for inclusion within a future LH3 software update. Thanks again for including all requested supporting diagnostic information.

[DaTony]

Found this very useful thread trying to solve a similar problem: I am unable to select my EM-Trak B350 AIS as GPS source on my Axiom.

- EM-Trak B350 AIS connected via N2K. Axiom displays AIS targets just fine.
- Activated B350 GPS RMC output using ProAIS2 (just ticked the box and write config)
- Activated B350 N2K GNSS PGN output with $PSMT,0,3,0x2C75B2FA,1,n2kognss -1,0*39 (using ProAIS2 serial data tab, info provided by EM-Trak support)

Axiom displays LAT/LON/COG/SOG messages of the B350 in the NMEA diagnostics screen just fine. Still, the B350 is not available as GPS source in the Axiom Data Sources/GPS screen.

I switched off the internal Axiom GPS, restarted, waited for 6 minutes as stated earlier in this thread and then the Axiom adopts the B350 GPS position! The Axiom Satellites screen displays "B350 via STng(43)". I noticed that on the next Axiom restart the B350 is immediately adopted as the GPS source (so no 6 minutes wait).

This work around is not great but could be acceptable. However it introduces the next problem: The Seatalk-STng converter (E22158) nog longer provides a GPS position to my Sailor 6222 VHF.

It appears that the B350 GPS N2K output sentences are not 100% compatible with the Raymarine devices. Whether this is an EM-Trak or a Raymarine issue is up for debate; I'll leave that discussion to the experts.

Any suggestions to get the Axiom to show the B350 as a valid and selectable GPS source? Or to have the Seatalk-STng converter adopt the B350 GPS position from the N2K network?

Any help would be really appreciated.

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum DaTony,

Thanks for sharing the workaround which you have identified (i.e. configuring the internal GPS receiver of the system's MFDs to OFF. As has been indicated within this thread, the problem involving third party NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183 GPS data sources being recognized by MFD's running LightHouse 3 v3.11.42 is presently being investigated to include a solution within the upcoming LightHouse 3 v3.12.x software update. Raymarine has not yet announced a release date for this software update.

[DaTony]

Hi Chuck, thanks for your input; much appreciated. I have an additional observation. After I switched on the internal GPS again I noticed that in the GPS Fix screen the satellites are no longer displayed. When I checked the NMEA output of the Axiom ("this device") there are no GPS messages displayed, so no position messages either. Weird, because I do have a GPS position displayed on the home screen ("Internal GPS via STng(43)"). Note that my Axiom is known on the N2K network with device address 5.

So, although I reverted to the original settings the Axiom no longer displays the satellites and no GPS messages in the NMEA log.

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

DaTony,

Noted. As indicated, the problem of third party N2k and NMEA 0183 GPS sources is investigated by the engineering team to permit a solution to be included within the upcoming LH3 software update. Until such time as this has been addressed within a LH3 software update, it can only be recommended that a Raymarine SeaTalkng / N2K GPS data source be used with the system.