Raymarine Output Problems

[labatt]

Here's one that seems strange to me...

I have a Raymarnie C-Series chartplotter. The chartplotter is interfaced, via SeaTalk, to receive data from our ST60+ wind, ST60 depth and ST60 speed. The info all shows up correct on the chartplotter.

The chartplotter is interfaced via NMEA to my laptop which is running Maptech Chart Nav Pro. All the information is coming across correct (boat speed, GPS coordinates, depth, etc.) EXCEPT wind speed (true OR apparent). The wind speed will be 20kts, and it will appear as 20kts on the chartplotter, but it will appear as 35.6 knots (or some other seemingly random number) on Maptech. The only thing that IS correct is that when the wind speed is increasing, it increases on Maptech, and vice versa.

Any ideas?

[jones2r]

Does MapTech have a setup routine? If the numbers you have given correlate accurately, the readout may be in kilometers per hour rather than knots.

[labatt]

Nope... speeds are all in knots. I tried resetting them but they still come out weird!

[baran]

Unfortunately, I dont have a response to offer... But this thread is so relevant to what I had been trying to decipher, that I thought you might have some guidance for me :-)

I am trying to choose a nav software for our first boat, which we have already outfitted with all raymarine electronics. We have the E-series chartplotter, ST 60 instruments, radar, ais, gps and autopilot.
I am convinced that Maptech Chart Nav Pro is the best solution out there, but I am cautious about the integration with raymarine.

Other than the problem that you mention above, have you had difficulties making the systems work? My understanding is that the raymarine electronics should be able to transfer data via NMEA 0183, but I must admit to not having done any of that before myself.

I'd love any guidance and advice you might have to offer, including pointing me in the direction of other threads if this was already discussed here before.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Sima, s/v Leander

[sailingdog]

Have you checked to see that you have the latest software/firmware updates on your Raymarine gear? Have you checked to see if there are any patches or updates for Maptech's software?

Have you tried using Hyperterminal to see what data is actually coming across the NMEA connection??

[SanderO]

You might have to turn on the wind data output in the control panel. Drill down and see if you have it set properly.

jef
sv shiva

[labatt]

Jef - I do get wind data, it's just the wrong speed (substantially higher than the wind is blowing). All of the wind data (apparent, real, direction) comes from the Raymarine C70 chartplotter via NMEA0183, which gets it from the ST60+ wind instrument via Seatalk. The Charplotter displays the wind speed correctly. I verified it is coming from the chartplotter by turning off the wind output from it via NMEA and Maptech no longer received any wind information.

SD - I've been planning on doing the upgrade to the latest version of software on the chartplotter for a couple of months but haven't gotten around to it yet. Perhaps with the resurrection of this thread I'll be motivated to do it this weekend. I haven't looked at the data with HT. Is NMEA data in cleartext or am I going to have to do some sort of binary decode on it? Funny thing about the upgrade - it adds the ability to use Navionics Platinum on the C-Series which gives you access to current and tide data, and it came out two weeks after I bought my gold plus chip. It would have been nice to have that information for my trip from Annapolis to Lake Champlain! Oh well, tis fate.

Baran - I really like the interface for the Maptech product line. It's straightforward to use, which the Raytech software is not. I believe there are some additional integration points between the Raytech software and Raymarine products - I think there is a Radar capability in it. I've found that the Maptech software allows you to zoom in and out and relocate your position a lot easier than the Raytech software. Trip planning also seems much more straightforward. The Raytech interface is almost like taking the C-Series or E-Series chartplotter interface and putting it on a PC. With regards to transferring information, I have not had any issues with anything other than the wind instruments, but a person in a slip next to me does not have the same issue and runs the same software. As an alternative, from my understanding, you can hook a remote display to an E-Series and get a remote keyboard and directly control your E-Series remotely.

[brak]

NMEA data is cleartext. If you connect the terminal software to your serial port and set it up correctly (4800 baud, the default in terms of CTS/bits/parity etc), you will see it come up on the screen line by line.
Lines begin with a short keyword and a set of numbers, usually comma separated.

Specifically, wind data is marked with MWV keyword. Here is the link that describes all the keywords, including MWV - http://gpsd.berlios.de/NMEA.txt

So, if you see the MWV data in terminal and numbers appear to be correct - there is an issue with your PC software.

[Leopold]

Labatt,

20=35. 20 knots equals 35 kilometers?

have fun
-Leopold

[labatt]

Leopold - one would think, but units are set correctly across all instruments. It's one of the first things I looked at, but thanks for the idea!