Autohelm st6000

[ColinHulse]

How do I "hook" my gps up to my AutoHelm ST6000?? There is a connection
on the back of the display panel ..two wire. The nice folks at the store just keep telling me to replace it all. Can I eliminate the fluxgate if I have the GPS interfaced? Help

[soul searcher]

On the brain box part of the pilot(the box that every thing is hooked to ) there is a nmea in terminal this is what you want to hook to. the brain box will convert the nmea sentance frome the gps to seatalk so the pilot can use the data. If you are useing a garmin gps you will have to change the output format away from garmins proprietary language to nmea.
Do not get rid of the fluxgate. Gps goes out = useless pilot.

[sailingdog]

Colin-

SoulSearcher has it pretty much nailed. GPS can only give you a direction of movement, not a heading for what direction the boat is pointed in. If the boat is moving backwards or being set by the current, the GPS will give you the actual course, not the compass heading of the boat.

To interface with the GPS, your GPS must have a serial NMEA 0183 port. Some of the less expensive handheld models do not have any interface other than the USB one. Those will not work with the Autopilot.

[trantor12020]

I'd connected my Garmin handheld to Raymarine ST4000 autopilot. The gps cannot direct the autopilot to change tack when waypoint has reached. The autopilot will sound alarm and you have to push button to accept before the waypoint change. But I understand for autopilot to change tack automatically, the gps will have to be from Raymarine "speaking" Seatalk language.

[PBzeer]

As Matt said, the fluxgate is part of the package, otherwise it would come with GPS instead. What you need, from your GPS (which you don't indicate what it is, ie: a chartplotter, GPS w/software, handheld) is a ground/neutral and data out wire, to hook to the gray box NMEA input. So it depends on what kind of output your GPS device has.

Currently at Dinner Key Marina, Florida

[soul searcher]

But I understand for autopilot to change tack automatically, the gps will have to be from Raymarine "speaking" Seatalk language

This is what drives me nuts about garmin and raymarine. they can't just use an internationaly accepted standard they have to have thier own language to try and force you into buying all your stuff from them. Furuno, northstar,
Simrad don't seem to feel it it neccisary to confuse things by programing out puts with their own language I wish I had the bucks to throw out every garmin and raymarine POS I have on my sailbat. and put in decent electronics that have no problem communicating with each other. At work I have stuff from 4 different manufacturers that are all interfaced and play perfectly together. I hate it when companies pull this crap. They have to get every last cent they can out of you. they are electronic crack dealers all they have to do is get you to buy that first piece.
Sorry for the Rant.

[sailingdog]

Actually, most of the companies out there have some proprietary form of communications between their gear... It isn't just Garmin or Raymarine... Furuno, NorthStar, and Simrad also do it.

[RickBowman]

Great rant Soul Searcher...that's part of the reason why I quit the Ray Marine dance...the bigest reason for quitting was independability. To many frustrations for one life time.
"As the complexity of a system approaches infinity, the time between failures approaches zero."

[PBzeer]

Personally, I wouldn't want my boat to tack automatically. I want to tack, when I feel it's time, not because I've reached, some predetermined point. While it's nice to sit back and let "Otto" do the work, I wouldn't want it to be so automatic that I lose concentration. That's why I didn't bother running my GPS to the Autopilot. Checking the course and making adjustments as necessary, keeps me aware of what's going on. Steering to a waypoint, without me needing to do anything, could be a dulling type of thing.

Currently at Dinner Key Marina, Florida

[soul searcher]

I agree with that John its borderline urban legend about setting the cruise control and getting in the back seat of the car.

SD you'll have to prove that one to me unless you consider the the latest version of nmea a proprietary language.

I have a furuno Loran,Biggest bad boy navnet furuno makes a furuno 1100 bottom machine a northstar 952x, a simrad ap 20. and Icom radios with dsc, SSb and vhf and I dont have a single multiplexer or converter to get them to communicate with each other.
On the Soul Searcher I have a ray marine converter that switches nmea into seatalk so my gps can comunicate. after its told what language to speak. cudos to garmin and Raytheon for at least making the conversion possible.
But if they ever get replaced It won't be with the same brand of gear.
I like to have the ability to pick whitch components I like from different companies and not have to buy extra gear to let them work up to their potintial. Northstar Hands down makes the most user friendly gps I have ever seen, furuno is the bomb when it comes to radar. and Simrad pilots have proven to be good gear to me over the last seven years with my old boat. I work around a hundred other fisherman that all have tried and disposed of a lot of opptions and we all share info with each other on what works and what doesn't. you will not find the same equipment that is used on pleasure boats mostly do to price. and that erks me too when it comes to something as important as navigational gear it should all be the very best that can be produced. they need to put there greed aside. The muti functions that are comming out now are an example of that convienance and immidiate gratification. I like the navnet it is a cool machine but I still have the northstar and the loran and the bottom machine as separate intities. If I go Blind (no Bottom pic) and def (No Position) at the same time, I cant do my job and loose money. Any way I don't want to go back to soap on a rope a stopwatch and compass to find bottom so so I guess I'll have to deal with it.
But that doesn't mean I have to like all the players.