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Ndavies · 04-01-2013, 12:43

Hi:
I have a frustrating connection problem!

I have Raytech ST60, Raymarine RL70CRC, and other seatalk instruments connected to a Raymarine NMEA/Seatalk Interface (E85001). I am trying to to get them to "talk to" a my laptop using an old copy of Raytech 4.1 that I found on my boat. I don't seem to be getting data from the interface to my laptop. If I open up the E85001. the Seatalk LEDs are lit, but not the NMEA LEDs. I am not sure if the issue is a software issue of an interface issue. According to the E85001 manual, the computer connection is to an RS232 interface. This seems to be wired correctly, but then I have to use a RS232 interface to USB adapter to connect to my laptop.

My laptop is runnign Windows 7, SP-1, 64 -bit. So my question is:
- is the old Raytech 4.1 software incompatible with Windows 7? (it does seem to run, but the problem is that it doesn't seem to detect any interuments); or
- is the problem simply with the RS232 to USB conversion?

If anyone has ideas or suggestions, I would welcome them. I would invest in the latest software if I have confidence that its a software issue, but don't want to spend the money if I am just fighting the hardware!

Thanks all

Redline452 · 08-01-2013, 06:22

I had/have a similar setup (RL70CRC replaced by E80/E120, various ST60 instruments and an E85001). I've found the E85001 can be somewhat fragile - my spare at home seems to have decided to no longer process NMEA except for one sentence.

Have tried Raytech in Planner mode without a lot of success, but have not put much effort into it either.

One test you can do is to run Hyperterminal, or download PuTTY, select serial, set it for the com: port of your USB adapter at 4800, 8 bit, No parity, No flow control, then connect and look for various NMEA sentences.

If the terminal program can't find the port, it's a usb driver/config issue.

If you seem to connect but see nothing, try shorting pins 4 and 5 on the RS232 connector and typing something - you should see your characters echo back.

If you do see a stream of NMEA sentences, then your electrical hookup and port config is OK, so try Raytech with those settings.

Ndavies · 11-01-2013, 20:20

Well i had some success today. I downloaded some free GPS software that was not much use for navigation as far as i could see - but it did hellp me identify which COMM port was in use, and see NMEA sentences. It turned out to be port 6. So I loaded up Ray tech 4.1 (using Windows 7) selected COMM port 6, messed with baud rate (set it to 4800), and it worked. I can now see all my instruments except radar. I am not sure if my plotter puts radar data on seatalk or not, so will have to do a bit more research on that - or try moving from the dock and see if that makes a difference, as it was saying it could not find my heading. Anyway, seems like significant progress.