AIS for older electronics

[Skiper9]

I recently bought a 1996 Searay 500 SD. The working electronics are:

Furuno 1943C radar and GD-1900C plotter
Furuno RD-30
Robertson AP 300DLX autopilot
Autohelm ST50
Raytheon NAV/398

I believe most of these items are about 20 years old.

I would like to add an AIS transponder if possible. Are there any that will work with these electronics, or do I need to get a stand-alone unit?

Thanks for any advice.

[Sivaa]

NMEA network before introduced , OEM based network existed . Pin configuration if gathered from Internet or from technical support team - might be possible .

To the fact , AIS was not there during these unit's launching periods ? Whichever unit has software adaptability , can be opted . Spliced cables may not be avoided - I think so . Data cable configuration , product's recent software update can give clues . IC needs to be replaced with new one , possibly . Else , you can access AIS .

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Skiper9

I recently bought a 1996 Searay 500 SD. The working electronics are:

Furuno 1943C radar and GD-1900C plotter
Furuno RD-30
Robertson AP 300DLX autopilot
Autohelm ST50
Raytheon NAV/398

I believe most of these items are about 20 years old.

I would like to add an AIS transponder if possible. Are there any that will work with these electronics, or do I need to get a stand-alone unit?

Thanks for any advice.

I changed my navigation system in 2009 specifically because I wanted to use AIS and my old system (1995) would not do it.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Skiper9

I recently bought a 1996 Searay 500 SD. The working electronics are:



Furuno 1943C radar and GD-1900C plotter

Furuno RD-30

Robertson AP 300DLX autopilot

Autohelm ST50

Raytheon NAV/398



I believe most of these items are about 20 years old.



I would like to add an AIS transponder if possible. Are there any that will work with these electronics, or do I need to get a stand-alone unit?



Thanks for any advice.

None of this will display AIS so you are faced with a standalone solution.

[Skiper9]

I appreciate all of the help. Everything is over my head except for the standalone solution.

Is there a good choice for a decent standalone AIS unit that is reasonably priced, so it is not necessary to replace the navigation system?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Skiper9

I appreciate all of the help. Everything is over my head except for the standalone solution.

Is there a good choice for a decent standalone AIS unit that is reasonably priced, so it is not necessary to replace the navigation system?

Not really cause you really need chartplotter integration , the standalone units are poor seconds.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Skiper9

I appreciate all of the help. Everything is over my head except for the standalone solution.

Is there a good choice for a decent standalone AIS unit that is reasonably priced, so it is not necessary to replace the navigation system?

You can buy a VHF radio with AIS capability, for example Standard Horizon Matrix. I won't say it is really a great solution but it will show you all the vessel traffic around you that is broadcasting AIS, where they are relative to yourself on a small screen, and list all the AIS information such as speed and bearing and what will be the Closest point of approach (CPA) and Time to that closest point (TCPA). There are basic alarms. Of course it is broadcasting your AIS information as well, so others can see you. In my experience the user interface is not great but this will give you AIS at a fairly low price.

If you connect it to your laptop computer with OpenCPN on it you'd have a pretty good AIS solution.

[Pizzazz]

Your best bet is to buy a standalone AIS transponder, for example Camino-108 AIS transponder for $500. This is send, receive, nmea 0183 and nmea 2000 compatible. The transponder function is automatic, you need not think about it.

The receive function you can hook up to a serial to wifi converter ($20) then display it on your phone (it even integrates with Navionics, so you can overlay it on your navionics charts). This will give you a temporary solution until you decide to upgrade your chartplotter/radar. You can then reuse the AIS to feed your new system.

You can also consider an AIS receive radio (such as the Lowrance Link-8) that has a semi-decent AIS circular display. It will give you redundancy if your phone gets wet.

The key to modern system integration is the capability to display chart/radar/ais and even weather on a single display as it gives you a very clear picture of what is happening around you. You cannot do this with the current system but you can start buying the components today with future integration in mind.