Raymarine ST-60

[Pamina]

Hi,

I am looking for an installation with wind, log, depth, all transmitting data to my laptop using serial interface.

With the Raymarine ST-60 system, what are the pieces I would need to achieve that? The serial interface would preferably be NMEA, but any other open protocol is OK.

Regards
Tommy Rosengren, Uppsala - Sweden

[Doghouse]

google seatalk to serial. or seatalk to nmea. There is a guy out there (don't have link on this comp.) that has the spec's for uni and bi directional systems.

[Michael s/v Infini]

Hi Tommy: I'm presently doing the same hook up. The Raymarine SeaTalk system is proprietary, and you didn't mention the software you're using, but you can probably configure it to receive NMEA signal, as well as read your other ST-60 instruments. My laptop doesn't have serial RS-232 input; everything is USB. Some serial to USB cables work; some don't. Your Raymarine instruction manuals may help. Regards. Michael

[jstevens]

Tommy,
Someone out there may have interfaced SeaTalk directly to their PC, but I'm not sure what software you could use to decode it. None of the ST60 instruments I have (wind, depth, speed) have a NMEA output. As far as I know to get NMEA output from Raymarine you need another device on the SeaTalk bus. Raymarine has a SeaTalk to NMEA conversion box. A ST60 Multi-Function display also outputs NMEA as do most of their autopilots. There are also 3rd party conversion boxes (e.g., Brookhouse Mux). Given that 3rd parties have decoded and converted SeaTalk you would think there is a software package that would do it, but when I Googled for SeaTalk conversion I only got hardware products. Doesn't mean there isn't a product out there, but it doesn't appear to be easy to find.

FWIW, I use a Brookhouse Mux to send SeaTalk data to my PC.

John

[Doghouse]

http://www.thomasknauf.de/rap/seatalk3.htm

here is the link to build the interface. The web page also has all the seatalk commands so you could build a software converter.

[jstevens]

Doghouse,
Thanks for that link. I always wanted to learn details of the SeaTalk protocol since so much of my navigation devices depend on it. As far as building a PC interface I'll leave that to others, since a plug compatible hardware device only costs a few $100. Not much to save doing it yourself, although the experience and knowledge might be very valuable.

John