Will garmin NMEA2000 GPS work with other brand plotters?

[dennisail]

I have a Raymarine 12" chartplotter and the GPS seems to have died. The raymarine GPS is insanely priced. Is there any reason this garmin GPS wont work? Isn't the whole point of NME2000 some sort of compatibility standard?

The chartplotter appears to have a regular NMEA2000 plug as well as the seatalk network.


Garmin 17X Nmea 2000 GPS Receiver Antenna NMEA2000 010 00694 10 FOR Gpsmap | eBay

[goboatingnow]

Yes in general it will work fine

Dave

[smac999]

I don't think raymarine uses standard nmea 2000 plugs. unless the newest ones finaly do. you'd have to adapt to seatalk NG. if you already have a 2000 network then yes plug it in. if you don't you might be building a part nema2000 part seatalk ng network.

[dennisail]

It has a 5 pin socket, which at first glance looks like NMEA2000. The manual says it is NMEA and can be connected to NMEA devices with the supplied cable (which I can not locate). However it is possible that the plug looks similar to NMEA2000 but is not. It has what looks like 4 pins in a square/rectangular arrangement with the 5th pin in the center.

Actually, I think this is the socket here. It has a subtle difference in that the outer pins are in a rectangular arrangement rather than square. Square being standard NMEA?



Raymarine Classic C E Series NMEA0183 Cable R08004 | eBay

[dennisail]

The manual says the C120 can do:

Seatalk
Seatalk 2
NMEA 0183
NMEA 2000

Now I don't have this cable, which costs $100 used (its a hot item thanks to planned obsolescence)

How do I get a new GPS working with this?

The GPS unit that came with it was a Raystar 125. We could not even get the LED to light up on it even though we tested it and the wiring was powered up (It was configured to work as a seatalk device). It also seemed to cause a seatalk data error corrupting the system. I have heard the 125 GPSs were known to be unreliable? I am not sure how old it is, but the boat was built in 2002.

[dennisail]

Also is there a standard for a NMEA 2000 plug?

Is there a standard for a NMEA 0183 plug?

If so what do they look like?

[savoir]

Changing brands will mean a new set of data cards. Are you OK with that ?

Garmin used to have proprietary data system called BlueChart. I think they still do. Raymarine use Navonics.

[dennisail]

I want to keep the C120 plotter! Its just the GPS antenna which is not working.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by dennisail

I want to keep the C120 plotter! Its just the GPS antenna which is not working.

You will need the cable unfortunately. The raymarine seatalkng connector is not to nmea2k standards but proprietary.

Dave

[dennisail]

So the connector is not the same, what about data compatibility? I assume this will not be an issue as long as I can wire it into the system? Can I patch it into a seatalk cable?

[nigel1]

Originally Posted by dennisail

Also is there a standard for a NMEA 2000 plug?

Is there a standard for a NMEA 0183 plug?

If so what do they look like?

In the case of Raymarine, I dont think they use a standard plug.
The plug in the picture is made by Switchcraft/Conxall. I've searched their catalogue on previous occasions, and this plug is not listed, so I guess its unique to Raymarine.
I bought a cable just recently (from the seller of the cable in the picture).
He must have realised that Raymarine no longer supply them, as the price has gone up up by 30% in the last 2 months.

Couple of things to check out.
The Raystar 125 has an internal button type battery, lasts maybe 10 years. Have heard that if the battery fails it can cause the antenna to have problems in acquiring a fix
see this thread from a UK site
Raymarine GPS

And from CF
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ps-100853.html

If you use the Evermore unit, I'm pretty sure you will need to connect to the NMEA port

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by dennisail

So the connector is not the same, what about data compatibility? I assume this will not be an issue as long as I can wire it into the system? Can I patch it into a seatalk cable?

Seatalkng ( not seatalk 2) is in effect NMEA 2k , so data is compatible

As an alternative why not feed the gos into the C120 via the nmea0183. Cheaper to do ( unless you're already using it )

Dave

[DotDun]

Cut the cables and splice them together. SeatalkNG and N2K use the same color code and are electrically the same.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by DotDun

Cut the cables and splice them together. SeatalkNG and N2K use the same color code and are electrically the same.

Just remember the backbone seatalk ng cable contains a seatalk centre pin ( I thinks it's a yellow wire ). The drop cables remove this.

Dave

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Just remember the backbone seatalk ng cable contains a seatalk centre pin ( I thinks it's a yellow wire ). The drop cables remove this.

Dave

Good point! I was referring to the drop cables.