Installing ST60 Tridata – Help to properly establish SeaTalk Connection

[Alex F]

I have two chartplotters on my boat, Raymarine SL530 and Raymarine C70 (MFD). They’re connected via SeaTalk cable, which goes to the junction box to connect GPS and both chartplotters. I just purchased ST60 Tridata and trying to find a way to connect it to C70. The puzzle for me is that C70 has 3-pin SeaTalk connection already used. From what I see the SeaTalk cables are sold with flat 3-pin connectors on each end. Can I use, for example 3ft SeaTalk cable (D284), cut one plug off and connect the open wires to the junction box where my chartplotters are connected (blk/red/ylw) and the other end with the plug to the ST60?

There’s another SeaTalk 5-pin connection on C70. Is there a wire that has 5-pin connector on one end and 3-pin connector on the other end, which could be used connecting C70 with ST60 Tridata?

I’m also thinking that one other option is to take out the 3pin plug from C70, plug it in to ST60 and have new wire (D284) go from ST60 to C70. Would that work, will the ST60 pass all the GPS data to C70?

Here's the view of connections for my C70.

Here's the view of ST60 Tridata connections.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
Alex.

 

[fc3]

Just connect the wires as you suggested in the junction box. Three wire Sea Talk is power, data, and ground. Data is low speed serial of a CSMA/CD type, I believe. The five pin is Sea Talk 2. Not the same animal.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[Alex F]

Thanks Frank,

I was just a bit confused that they don't sell the wires with one stripped end just for going to the junction box. Not that it's a big deal to cut the 3-pin end rather want to make sure that I'm not messing things up.

 

[Alex F]

I had installed ST60 Tridata unit and using SeaTalk cable D284 had connected it to the same connections between SL530 and C70 in the junction box. There are only 3 wires RED, YLW and GRND, so I had connected them to the same color wires in the junction box. When the ST60 is ON (while C70 is OFF) it show “- - -“ for DEPTH and SPEED while shows incorrect (32.0 degrees) reading for Sea Temp. When I turn ON C70, which gets the reading from my DSM30 and transmits it via SeaTalk the DEPTH data is displayed in C70 as well as SL530 units. ST60 shows “0.0” for SPEED and “- - -“ for DEPTH reading while showing more reasonable SEA TEMP reading (75 or 79 degrees, which anyway seam to high for sea water and a bit too low for air temp.).

Over the past weekend I opened and rechecked the connections, but it all looks fine and I don't see any other way to connect the wires (only 3 colors). I used the tested and here's what it showed:
- between red and grnd I have steady power
- between grnd and ylw there's a puls (power jumping high/low), which I understand how SeaTalk is transmitting the data.

So it looks like all is in place but I can't get ST60 to show the DEPTH and SPEED.

Any ideas?

 

[osd9]

Alex:

Where did you read sea temp and depth before you put in the ST60? Which unit powers the transducers for speed and temp....the SL530 or C70?

On whichever unit you answer to above, I would suspect that you have to configure that unit to turn 'on' NMEA/Seatalk outputs to transmit. I not that familiar with either as I have the RL series, but in mine, there are subscreens in the configuration menus for such activity.

Good Luck.

 

[fc3]

One other thing, if you are powering the ST60 from another source, do not connect the red wire on the Sea Talk cable to the C70.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[Alex F]

...Where did you read sea temp and depth before you put in the ST60? Which unit powers the transducers for speed and temp....the SL530 or C70?....

Dom,
Prior this installation I had depth only on my SmartCraft Tach., which is still there as a separate and backup unit with it's own original transducer. Temp wasn't available anywhere (at least I couldn't find it). So, I installed DSM30, B60-20 (temp & depth) transducer and ST60. The feed from DMS30 goes to C70 and it interfaces with SL530 and now with ST60 via SeaTalk.

I've been going throught the C70s menu to see if there's a setup to output additional info, but nothing. I'll check to see if something might be available in SL530.

One other thing, if you are powering the ST60 from another source, do not connect the red wire on the Sea Talk cable to the C70.

Frank,
Since all the power source and grnd were available in the junction box I didn't run any separate feeds. So, the connection is exremely simple. I recall reading somewhere that C70 to ST60 might require SeaTalk converter. But, I can't understand why if both units have SeaTalk input, which mean that they should be able to interface as-is.

 

[Alex F]

Just a quick update for anyone who was following the thread or has similar issue. Let me start with the statement that ST60 units have different models. One can serve as a master and repeater while the other model is repeater only. I have the one that has dual modes. So, the issue I have is due to the fact that my unit was configured as a master. As I understand, there should be only one master in the network, so mine is C70, which distributes the data via SeaTalk to my other plotter SL530 and ST60. So, there was a configuration conflict between C70 and ST60. Thus, after changing the setting on ST60 from master to repeater (via Intermediate calibration) I was able to see the DEPTH reading on my ST60.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[almostenuff]

One other thing, if you are powering the ST60 from another source, do not connect the red wire on the Sea Talk cable to the C70.

Best regards,
Frank

I plan to power my ST60 from the "Depth Sounder" switch, so I thought I would use the black and read from 1 Seatalk cable for that and use another cable to run to the junction box using only the black and yellow. Does that sound correct?

 

[fc3]

You may use separate cables or you may split a single cable. Tie all the grounds together and ground it properly. Then yellow to the junction box and red to the switch. Easy as cake.

 

[almostenuff]

You may use separate cables or you may split a single cable. Tie all the grounds together and ground it properly. Then yellow to the junction box and red to the switch. Easy as cake.

I would think that would work. I called and talk to Raymarine today and he said NOT to do that. He said that Seatalk is made to be powered together. He said that I should just run all 3 Seatalk cable wires to the junction box and let that power the instrument. If not, I MAY have some of the problems that he has seen others have had with separate power supplies. I'm not sure what to do now. Thanks for the info though.

 

[Alex F]

I don't understand what's the issue with using the power from the same source as other units in the junction box? I did it and it worked fine.

 

[almostenuff]

I don't understand what's the issue with using the power from the same source as other units in the junction box? I did it and it worked fine.

Alex, you're right, there really isn't a reason not to other than I thought I would use the separate depth sounder switch that is OEM. I think I'll follow the advice from Raymarine since they know their product best. I'll just heat shrink the wires from the old switch and go directly to the junction box. Thanks for the opinion

 

[Alex F]

Alex, you're right, there really isn't a reason not to other than I thought I would use the separate depth sounder switch that is OEM. I think I'll follow the advice from Raymarine since they know their product best. I'll just heat shrink the wires from the old switch and go directly to the junction box. Thanks for the opinion

Well, IMO having dedicated switch and having different power source are two different goals. You can always add dedicated switch to the (+) side that leads to the ST60. To accumplish this you don't need a different power source.

BTW, if you have ST60+, then just use DEPTH button to shut off the unit. No need for extra switch. But, if you have just regular ST60, then you may need a switch, only if desired.

I had regular ST60 on my 320 and didn't add the switch. The unit was off when I shut off the batteries, which pretty much every sunday during the season. So, if it stays on for few days, no big deal. It doesn't draw enough juice to worry about.

 

[fc3]

Sea Ray wired my device in that fashion. I also have a friend from HS who is an engineer at Raymarine and he was okay with wiring it that way. Doesn't really matter how you do it, but it would be incorrect to connect B+ (switched or unswitched) to the red wire of the chartplotter. You should never connect power to the red wire of a Sea Talk device that has a separate power lead.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[Asureyez]

As things can get pretty crowed on the NMEA junction boxes, I found that Ray Marine has these Sea Talk junction cables ... one plugs in to a head and the other end has three Sea Talk plugs so one of two of these can get the whole rig talking the same language and NMEA cables become un needed in most cases. To the extent you can cable up everything on Sea talk the better your system will run, less data strings to transmitted and less confirmation stings between devices, then everything runs faster and updates quicker. I'm sure BOE sells them or there is always the bay.