x-5 with p70 Display Question about Information Sharing Between Different Instrument

[jablonsa]

I bought an x-5 autopilot system with the new p70 display for my sailboat.
On the boat I have a
-st60+ wind instrument (NMEA 0183)
-old speed and depth instruments I want to replace with (NMEA2000) instruments from Airmar.

With the P70 being nmea 2000, the st60+ being nmea 0183 and the instruments being NMEA2000 will the x-5 course computer which has ports for all of them translate the information between each device back and forth.

Basically will the course computer translate the NMEA2000 speed instrument information so that the ST60+ NMEA0183 wind instrument will be able to calculate true wind direction.

I want to minimize the amount of displays and make the system simple. Im also considering the tridata st60+ raymarine display with appropriate speed and depth instruments for that. Some clarification would be much appreciated. Man all this is soo confusing when the manual fails to address these basic issues.

[Shoalcove]

Here is the question I sent Raymarine last week:
"Can I set up an X-30 to use the new P-70 controller and still take Seatalk data from my ST-60 speedlog? How is it set up"
and here is the answer they emailed me:
"The X30 has both seatalk ng and seatalk 1 so you can interface the new P70 controlhead and the ST60 seatalk instruments. You will require a seatalk ng backbone kit for the P70 and the X30."
I'm not familiar with the X-5 but would imagine that it has similar capabilities.
I hope this helps!

[goboatingnow]

Just be aware that the course computer does not act as a good bridge between seatalk and seatalk ng. Some parameters are converted others are not. The list is in the manuals.

[Shoalcove]

Thank you! I'll be sure to check.

[jablonsa]

@ Shoalcove
looking at the p70 manual it says one option is to simply get a seatalk to seatalkng adapter cable. They go for around 14$. The below picture is from page 26 of the installation manual for the p70. The adapter cable is number 6 in the diagram.


My question is not so much will all the info show of my st60+ and NMEA 2000 system show up on the p70 but will nmea2000 info be translated by the course computer back so the st60+ wind instrument be able to calculate the true wind info if i were to get nmea2000 speed instrument. I will keep looking at the manual to see if it holes the answer somewhere.

[goboatingnow]

The X-5 course computer as well as the X-30 does not bridge ANY seatalkng to seatalk data. Youll need raymarines convertor to do that. Intersting NMEA 0183 data is bridged onto seatalk.

Dave

[Shoalcove]

Dave, that was my understanding as well. I wasn't sure that I couldn't simple plug in the Seatalkng stuff to one plug and the Seatalk to the appropriate X-30 plug but upon further reading it appears if need to use the converter to connect all via Seatalkng. As you say, the NMEA0163 is separate. Is my view correct?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Shoalcove

Dave, that was my understanding as well. I wasn't sure that I couldn't simple plug in the Seatalkng stuff to one plug and the Seatalk to the appropriate X-30 plug but upon further reading it appears if need to use the converter to connect all via Seatalkng. As you say, the NMEA0163 is separate. Is my view correct?

Yes most definitely so. Ray never saw the course computer as a general purpose bridging unit. Where it did do bridging it tended to only autopilot related functions.

Dave

[Shoalcove]

Thanks! I appreciate the clarification. I'm hoping to have a new system in by spring and have been getting quite the education in various systems and protocols.
Best regards!

[tackdriver]

I hope you boat is fairly small. The Raymarine x-5 is a very light duty autopilot. I went through 3 of them in 8 months on a 38 foot boat that was not heavy to handle. The gearboxes are woefully under designed. I ended up buying a second one and had one in for warranty replacement while using the other. They start off nice and quiet, and then you'll notice as the gearbox gets louder and louder until it starts jumping teeth.
If you can I'd take it back.
cheers
JMB