Seatalk Fail Error

[Capn Dan]

Dan,

The Sea Talk circuit is all in display, not the masthead.

If the display is not powering up, you need to find out why. No power or a bad display. If one of the ST plugs is open (on the back of the display) , power up and test the grey and red terminal at the open ST plug to see if it has 12V.

Simply having the head not getting power will not take down the ST bus and cause the ST FAIL message. My guess is a bad head.

[boatbod]

Originally Posted by Capn Dan

Dan,
You most likely have a Sea Talk failure in the wind head. Understand that an instrument like a wind head can appear to function properly but it's ST circuit is bad. When plugged into your autopilot or interfaced with another ST instrument, the bad head can take down the entire ST bus. When this happens, the autopilot will display ST Fail.

I have to agree that failure of the wind instrument display stalk hardware is the most likely scenario here. I've seen it happen before - extremely irritating since the instrument is most likely fine other than being unable to interface with anything. As soon as you plug it in, it takes down the whole bus.

[CptJ-GS50]

Originally Posted by Capn Dan

Dan,

The Sea Talk circuit is all in display, not the masthead.

If the display is not powering up, you need to find out why. No power or a bad display. If one of the ST plugs is open (on the back of the display) , power up and test the grey and red terminal at the open ST plug to see if it has 12V.

Simply having the head not getting power will not take down the ST bus and cause the ST FAIL message. My guess is a bad head.

All instruments power up. Hooked up a new cable to the Seatalk terminals and had 12.69 volts on red 10.5 on Yellow at both ends of the cable. Plugged it back into the control head, received Seatalk fail. Unplugged it and checked the cable ends and the red still read 12.69 and the yellow was not 3.45.

I performed many experiments this past weekend and I tend to agree with you that the control head may be the issue.

At this point I think I am done spending time troubleshooting an outdated system. Looking at the Evolution 400 with P70 control head and an ES78 attached.

[CptJ-GS50]

Originally Posted by boatbod

I have to agree that failure of the wind instrument display stalk hardware is the most likely scenario here. I've seen it happen before - extremely irritating since the instrument is most likely fine other than being unable to interface with anything. As soon as you plug it in, it takes down the whole bus.

I have unplugged everything beyond the control head. At this point I am only working with Smartpilot/Seatalk to Control head, Fluxgate, Rudder. All other connections are out of the scenario.

If I diagnosed to the control head then all els can be singled out and tested. Or, that is my thought.

[Capn Dan]

Dan,

You are on the right track. Isolate the autopilot so that no other ST instruments are interfaced. Once you are satisfied that the AP is working correctly, you can then add a single instrument such as wind, depth, speed and see which one is causing the problem.

You can also power up any single instrument direct to 12V and then measure the yellow ST terminal voltage.

[CptJ-GS50]

Originally Posted by masonc

I would remove the equipment from the boat, set up the equipment on a bench using some short new cables. If everything powers up and seems to work, the return to the boat, but ohm out the cabling to see if it OK. If you don't find anything, use some spare cable to bypass the installed cabling. Then go back to the installed cable one run at a time until fails, or just replace it all.

I have not yet pulled the unit for a bench test but have tested with new cable to the control head. I made some comments today about that test.

[CptJ-GS50]

Going to close this thread down with a big THANK YOU to everyone whom has participated. Though I was not able to diagnose and repair the problem I did learn a tremendous amount. With this being an outdated system and the next compatible course computer up being out of production for 3 years. I made the informed decision to upgrade to the current systems. Scheduled for October 11th the installers will be out to install the Raymarine EV-400 system. The technological advances are amazing. Will put in the basic system now and plan upgrades as time goes on. Again thanks to everyone and I hope the info that has been posted here helps others in the future.

[ErikFinn]

Hi folks,
I have some update about my friend's situation having a similar "Seatalk Fail" problem. I met him and he said he received info from another friend who is supposed to be knowledgeable and who said that " Raymarine GPS must be working in order to activate Autopilot". That friend is not a RM tech but what do the CF folks think about this?
Absence of GPS would cause a "Seatalk Fail" error??

Edit: my friend's RM C130 plotter quit before he started having the "Seatalk Fail" error. So maybe there is a connection there..?

[boatbod]

Nonsense. No need for any gps for a raymarine autopilot to steer in a straight line.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by ErikFinn

Hi folks,
I have some update about my friend's situation having a similar "Seatalk Fail" problem. I met him and he said he received info from another friend who is supposed to be knowledgeable and who said that " Raymarine GPS must be working in order to activate Autopilot". That friend is not a RM tech but what do the CF folks think about this?
Absence of GPS would cause a "Seatalk Fail" error??

Edit: my friend's RM C130 plotter quit before he started having the "Seatalk Fail" error. So maybe there is a connection there..?

Autopilot needs a heading sensor not a GPS to work. Raymarine autopilots don't use GPS at all. The multifunction display uses GPS in "track" mode to measure off course distance. This data is sent to the Autopilot and it adjusts the heading automatically to stay close to the desired track.

A failed display unit could cause seatalk errors if it is still hooked to the seatalk network.

[electronicmarin]

Stalk fail is an error over the seatalk line that you can only see over the display of the autopilot (no other instrument complain about it).
90% of the cases the problem lies in the autopilot controll unit (smart pilot s1, s2 s3), in the other 10% the problem is a discontinued or damaged YELLOW cable from the seatlk line.
When you disconect the seatlk lines from the autopilot with a meter between braid (grey) and yello colors of the seatalk you should have like 10V pulsating- if you don't the problem lies in the autopilot controll unit. One easy test is also to disconect all the seatlak lines from the autopilot and only connect the autopilot display with 3 wires: red, yellow and grey...
Another problem sometimes is inside a multifuncion display that's connected on seatlk line, there is a secret Raymarine internal CONFIDENTIAL document that show how a certain component fail and that cause the problem, forr testing purposes the same thing, disconect the seatlk from the MFD and measure with a meter between the yellow and braid- DO NOT USE THE NEGATIVE WIRE OF THE BOAT but the braid!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sQBHckMuAs

that was an S3 with seatlk fail... one of the first videos I've made sorry for the bad quality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC3Lri8uMog

how to diagnose the fluxgate problems on raymarine (all the fluxgate from autohelm to the last spx are the same) even if is in italian you can understaind wha'ts going on and what the voltages are...

[Sailorman Ed]

Previous info in this thread will get me started but maybe someone will have some other thoughts.
I have a ST7001+ that generally ( but not always) works well in flat water but once the waves increase, I get the Seatalk Fail 1 or 2.
EVERY time I start up, I get " no rudder" ( maybe is no rud) it goes to standby and then I puss AUTO again and it generally works. It used to beep when it dropped to standby but this trip south to FL, it just drops off and strays off course. Am I correct that the autopilot should work fine without the speed or depth or wind instruments connected? I also sometimes get " NO SPD" message and it still works. As everything is getting old and a little corrosion, what can I do to get a tighter connection with the SeaTalk connectors?
thanks in advance,
Ed

[electronicmarin]

Originally Posted by Sailorman Ed

Previous info in this thread will get me started but maybe someone will have some other thoughts.
I have a ST7001+ that generally ( but not always) works well in flat water but once the waves increase, I get the Seatalk Fail 1 or 2.
EVERY time I start up, I get " no rudder" ( maybe is no rud) it goes to standby and then I puss AUTO again and it generally works. It used to beep when it dropped to standby but this trip south to FL, it just drops off and strays off course. Am I correct that the autopilot should work fine without the speed or depth or wind instruments connected? I also sometimes get " NO SPD" message and it still works. As everything is getting old and a little corrosion, what can I do to get a tighter connection with the SeaTalk connectors?
thanks in advance,
Ed

you have a wiring problem... corrosion/bad conections or somwere a cable that is rubbed on something....first discover where your cpu of the pilot is and check if you have a rudder attached on the connections with rudder writbng on it, the the sceond is to see if have only one seatlak connection conected to the autopilot cpu (the inside unit) folow that cable untill reach the display controll unit phisicali, if needed cut cable tyes and feel it with you're fingers... then if you don't find annything use a new cable to connect the display head to the cpu directly (you can build one youself with 3 small fastons instead of the raymarine connector)... try this and if you do not yet fix the problem write again here...