Output Routes to Raymarine C120 Classic?

[RickyEM]

I have not been able to get routes or waypoints from OpenCpn to my Raymarine C120 classic. I am receiving AIS and GPS from the NMEA contacts on the chartplotter. Connected to the NMEA connector (in and out) on the chartplotter is my 650 AIS unit, a Garmin 640, VHF and the DB9 cable going to the laptop. The autopilot and all the transducers are on the sea talk bus.

I have tried putting the C120 chartplotter in NMEA receive mode before I "send to GPS" the route or the waypoint from the Route manager of OpenCpn.

Is this supposed to work? Any suggestions on how I might trouble shoot this. Please let me know if I have not provided enough information. Thanks in advance...

[alex2035]

yes it works, done it on different instalations.
you have to connect in + out on the DB9 for this to work. but you cant have that lot of ins going to nmea on the 120, perhaps you have a multiplexer of some kind? perhaps a wiring diagram could be of help.

all transfers I made where direct DB9 in/out to C120 nmea out/in with its dedicated cable.
transfers are made through nmea of course, and C120 has to be put "on hold to receive" then OCPN sending the data.


alex

[RickyEM]

Sorry have been out of Internet . Thanks for ur reply.

When u say I can't have many inputs to C120 NMEA bus, is AIS, GPS and laptop too much? There is also a Raymarine "pc/seatalk/nmea interface box" at Nav station. I am not sure how that is connected. The Raymarine tech told me I only had the 3 aforementioned inputs to c120, but I guess that doesn't make sense as the interface box must be connected somewhere??

When it is working, and C120 is in NMEA receive mode, what confirmation or message is given on C120 that route has been transferred from opencpn, do routes show up in C120 routes list?

When it is working, how long does it take to transfer a simple rout of say 5 waypoints?, seconds? Minutes? How long do I need to leave c120 in NMEA receive mode?

Thanks for your time....

[RickyEM]

Originally Posted by RickyEM

Sorry have been out of Internet . Thanks for ur reply.

When u say I can't have many inputs to C120 NMEA bus, is AIS, GPS and laptop too much? There is also a Raymarine "pc/seatalk/nmea interface box" at Nav station. I am not sure how that is connected. The Raymarine tech told me I only had the 3 aforementioned inputs to c120, but I guess that doesn't make sense as the interface box must be connected somewhere??

When it is working, and C120 is in NMEA receive mode, what confirmation or message is given on C120 that route has been transferred from opencpn, do routes show up in C120 routes list?

When it is working, how long does it take to transfer a simple rout of say 5 waypoints?, seconds? Minutes? How long do I need to leave c120 in NMEA receive mode?

Thanks for your time....

I just looked at the interface box mentioned in previous post. It takes a sea talk cable as input and has two NMEA output cables one is to a ssb unit and one is to a USB cable. So it shouldn't affect the NMEA input to the c120...

[alex2035]

When u say I can't have many inputs to C120 NMEA bus, is AIS, GPS and laptop too much? There is also a Raymarine "pc/seatalk/nmea interface box" at Nav station. I am not sure how that is connected. The Raymarine tech told me I only had the 3 aforementioned inputs to c120, but I guess that doesn't make sense as the interface box must be connected somewhere??

the NMEA/Seatalk box serves as a convertor and NMEA connection manager. but take note that seatalk takes priority over NMEA on it.

When it is working, and C120 is in NMEA receive mode, what confirmation or message is given on C120 that route has been transferred from opencpn, do routes show up in C120 routes list?

yes, they show inmediatly on chart and list. I think there is no confirmation of transfer "ala" garmin, cant remember now.

When it is working, how long does it take to transfer a simple rout of say 5 waypoints?, seconds? Minutes? How long do I need to leave c120 in NMEA receive mode?

nothing, seconds, 5 waypoints route? 1 second
it is OCPN that gives you the clue, not C120.

I guess U need to clarify the NMEA/seatalk bus to make sure this works, it might be wired previous to this to serve other connections. you need to make sure you have a clear wired path of nmea in and out from/to PC/c120. The manual for the black box has some graphics explaining this, there where 2 boxes, one old one with nmea in and out and the newer one, with a RS232 output specifically for PC, but it works about the same. (manual page 17/18)

relating to your last mention about connections in the box, where does the NMEA IN of that box comes from? it should be from the PC if you want to do transfers. and this USB cable, this should be a serial/USB converter cable, is it wired IN and out? it should be.

alex

[RickyEM]

Originally Posted by alex2035

relating to your last mention about connections in the box, where does the NMEA IN of that box comes from? it should be from the PC if you want to do transfers. and this USB cable, this should be a serial/USB converter cable, is it wired IN and out? it should be.

alex

The interface box is the new one the E85001. There is no NMEA input to the interface box so I don't see how the box can help with me getting NMEA to the C120 unless it is over the the seatalk connection, right?

The NMEA IN connections on the interface box are empty. Indeed that whole side of the box (NMEA IN, Seatalk, Alarm) is empty. There are three cables attached on the other side of the interface box. One cable is attached (3 wires) to seatalk which I assume is the INPUT to the box from the seatalk bus. Two cables are attached to NMEA OUT. One is marked to go to the SSB which is at the NAV station and one cable goes to a serial to USB converter (this exact one from sealevel : Search results for: '2105' ) which can be plugged into the laptop. There is no cable attached to the RS232 connections.

Currently, I am NOT using the USB cable from the interface box to the laptop as it doesn't provide the laptop with AIS only GPS. And when I tried to use it to upload routes it also did not work.

In addition to this interface box there is a com cable recently installed by a raymarine tech directly to the in and out NMEA connections of the C120. I asked him to do this because I couldn't get the routes to upload while using the interface box cable. The tech told me there were three other cables going to the in/out NMEA connections of the C120 in addition to the DB9 cable he installed: 1) 650 AIS unit 2) Garmin 640 back up chartplotter 3) VHF. He also said that on the sea talk bus is the Autopilot and all the transducers (speed, depth, fishfinder, wind...).

In summary of openCPN functionality. I am getting AIS and GPS on my laptop but cannot yet output routes and waypoints.

Thanks again for your help

Is this making sense, have I described it completely enough.

[alex2035]

I was driving to marinas this morning when I realized my explanation would not help you much, the black box is only "providing" nmea out for these 2 elements. but one of these will help us, the serial/USB converter.
I am short of time now, as soon as I get to my bench again, I would tell you how to solve the problem, cable by cable, color by color . it will involve getting to the C120 data cable connector on the back , and that converter. There is NO possible transfer from the black box to the C120 because the transfer is through NMEA, NOT Seatalk, sorry for the mix-up. Meanwhile try to get hold of the NMEA DATA IN/OUT cable for the C120 , this cable IS supplied in the package, and you should have it, I recall most times clients forget where they stored it, or even thrown away! (5 pin round connector with exposed wire tails the other end)

this cable tied together to the serial connector will allow the transfer of data from/to both.
alex

well, I didnt even read your description, but let me sort it out ASAP.

[alex2035]

Where do you get the data that OCPN receives? from a DB9 connected to the C120 NMEA DATA Cable? or that serial/converter on the black box?, I am confused cause you told about the tech doing a DB9 connection.

The box was probably placed because of the limitationes of ins/outs against the lot of intruments needed to provide/receive data. I guess OCPN listens from the black box.
AIS is using the DATA IN cable of NMEA DATA cable, VHF( sure) and Garmin (probably) use the DATA OUT part of that cable?

[RickyEM]

Originally Posted by alex2035

Where do you get the data that OCPN receives? from a DB9 connected to the C120 NMEA DATA Cable? or that serial/converter on the black box?, I am confused cause you told about the tech doing a DB9 connection.

The box was probably placed because of the limitationes of ins/outs against the lot of intruments needed to provide/receive data. I guess OCPN listens from the black box.
AIS is using the DATA IN cable of NMEA DATA cable, VHF( sure) and Garmin (probably) use the DATA OUT part of that cable?

The data I get used in openCPN from the C120 is provided by the DB9 cable which the tech just installed. The tech said it would also allow me to upload routes but it hasn't, not yet. The tech is in Florida and I am now in the Abacos. That DB9 cable goes directly from the NMEA IN/OUT on the C120 to a serial/USB converter to my laptop. There is no AIS in the black interface box. The AIS 650 is attached to the NMEA on the C120 just like the DB9 cable is and just like the Garmin is and I guess just like the VHF is...That is what the tech told me.

Is this making sense?

[alex2035]

Originally Posted by RickyEM

The data I get used in openCPN from the C120 is provided by the DB9 cable which the tech just installed. The tech said it would also allow me to upload routes but it hasn't, not yet. The tech is in Florida and I am now in the Abacos. That DB9 cable goes directly from the NMEA IN/OUT on the C120 to a serial/USB converter to my laptop. There is no AIS in the black interface box. The AIS 650 is attached to the NMEA on the C120 just like the DB9 cable is and just like the Garmin is and I guess just like the VHF is...That is what the tech told me.

Is this making sense?

More or less, there should be ONE and ONLY one NMEA talker in any one input. Your C120 has one in one out. There is something not working there?. Troubleshoot it yourself if you feel audacious. At least the DB9 /data cable part.

Look at the end of the C 120 NMEA DATA cable (the exposed cables), BROWN and GREEN should be wired together , AND this should connect to PIN 5 of the DB9 connector (follow cable and unscrew the caps to reveal, or measure from the outside if moulded), the tiny numbers are embedded in front of connector, PIN 5 is one end of top row (NMEA BOX operating manual page 18 has a diagram).

Then verify YELLOW cable from C120 NMEA DATA Cable goes to PIN 2 on DB9
Finally, verify WHITE cable from same goes to PIN 3 on DB9

For some reason and from my experience, all this cabling should be done, because even if you only need to "send" waypoints to C120 it will refuse to do it until you connect ins and outs as told.

Once you see this conditions met, try to do a transfer but I suggest you do not have any other of the connected elements switched on, leave them away for the transfer. Have C120 and OPCN up running only and do your trial. it should work. remember first prepare C120 to receive then put OCPN to the work.
good luck.

[RickyEM]

>>>>More or less, there should be ONE and ONLY one NMEA talker in any one input. Your C120 has one in one out. There is something not working there?. Troubleshoot it yourself if you feel audacious. At least the DB9 /data cable part

I turned off all other devices connected to the NMEA in/out on C120 (AIS, VHF, Garmin 640, GPS) except the laptop. Unfortunately, this did not change anything about uploading routes.

[alex2035]

cables where wired as specified ? version of OCPN? software version of C120? old version could have problems and bugs on some functions. have you tried the procedure with another software? (GPSBabel is free and does this) . have you checked the NMEA configuration in C120 is at 4800 bauds?

please try to transfer waypoints first, old C series would not do routes.

[RickyEM]

I am using most current version of openCPN (not in beta) 3.0.2

The tech just upgraded my software on C120 to 5.16

Trying to just sending waypoints now.

NMEA on C120 is set to 4800.

I will try the other software you suggest. In the meantime can you look at my laptop/openCPN settings (attached) and see if they are correct?

[NEVERMIND]

Hello,
You may find an answer on this site:

Pratiques et Techniques de la Plaisance

JP

[RickyEM]

Originally Posted by alex2035

cables where wired as specified ? version of OCPN? software version of C120? old version could have problems and bugs on some functions. have you tried the procedure with another software? (GPSBabel is free and does this) . have you checked the NMEA configuration in C120 is at 4800 bauds?

please try to transfer waypoints first, old C series would not do routes.

GPSBabel asks to choose between either "file" or "device" as output. Among the file formats there is Raymarine Waypoint file (.rwf). Among the device format it offers to choose between the following devices for output on COM ports. Raymarine is not among the devices?

DeLorme PN-20... USB protocol
Garmin serial/usb protocol
Magellan serial protocol
NaviGPS GT-11 dowload


What do you suggest?