Question to Four Suns; FC3 and Pirate about GPS Upgrade

tawcat

New Member
Apr 14, 2007
699
Lake Ouachita, Arkansas
Boat Info
320 Sundancer
Engines
6.1 V drives
I ran across a Raymarine A435 GPS/CP. From this picture it looks like the antenna is what I have installed. So my question is how difficult would it be for me to make the switch to this unit? I'm thinking wiring would be about the same so the GPS could send data to Smartcraft. Any help?

Heres a link to pics of my antenna and a pic of the 435! Thanks so much.

http://community.webshots.com/album/563209256OzXrbl?vhost=community
 
I think that the Raynav 300, 320, and 435 all use passive GPS antennas. The intelligence that converts the radio signals to position are in the display unit for these system. The E, C, and older R series stuff had the GPS intelligence in the antenna, which transmitted NMEA 0183 or SeaTalk position sentences to the display unit. What do you have now?

Best regards,
Frank
 
What Frank said.

That is a picture of a passive antenna. I have one in my shop that I ripped off the boat and replaced with a Raystar 125. A Raystar 125 is white and a little bigger and uses a different cable. You can use the old cable, however, to fish the new cable through. The old cable on that passive antenna is coax. The new cable is for SeaTalk and/or NMEA 0183 and you'll probably need a SeaTalk junction box (cheap and Jim at BOE can sell you one) to hook the new Raystar 125 to the network. It's easy... If you don't have any other SeaTalk things on your boat (VHF Radio for example) then the Raystar 125 can hook right into your new device either via SeaTalk or NMEA 0183... even easier.

If you send me a link to your smartcraft manual, I can tell you how the new 125 would hook up. It also may simply involve just hooking up a splitter for the NMEA connections.
 
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I see you already have a 300. The 435 should be a direct replacement. Same technology used for the antenna and the display unit. The antenna cable should also be the same. I don't know if there is a TNC connector on the antenna, though. If the cable is attached, you might have to pull cable through the arch to the helm. It's not too hard to do.

Best regards,
Frank

BTW, Aren't we forgetting someone? What about Bill?
 
I've nothing to add to Frank or Gary's comments. The Smartcraft is looking for the NMEA0183 data only. It's a simple data and ground connection, but I cannot remember the colors.
 
I guess I should have read the post completely. I thought you were going to get a c-series display.... In which case that antenna will not work. If you can scrounge up that 435 unit, you may be able to use the same antenna but I don't have experience with the 435. The antenna cable for the RayNav 300 has a TNC connector on the end. I will tell you, however, those antennas are known to go bad. I replaced mine one time before I pitched it and stuck a raystar 125 in its place.
 
thanks to the three of you. i did think about the C-80, but after talking with the sea ray dealer, i decided to go with a GPS unit rather than one that can do everything. if i was a coast it would be a different story, but being inland and inland only, i don't think i need all the added attractions!

i am going to look behind the rn 300 this weekend and determine how easy a task may or may not be.
 
I went and looked at the 435 on the Raymarine web site and it is the same antenna as the Raynav 300. You should be able to just swap the head unit out with the same connectors and all will be fine... and you'll have a spare antenna to boot.
 
Well I am pricing a new blank panel so I can cut the hole myself. The existing template for the RN300 is cut and appears to be about 2" too long for the 435. I checked all the cables and it looks like all I need to do is make the hole fit the unit or vice versa (or buy a new panel), install the flush mount kit, connect cables and it should work. Looks like a can get a 435 for about $800, then of course add the map software and I'm peobably at $1,000.

The 435 uses compact flash, being that I have Garmin software for my lake, I may be able to cut and paste it to a compact flash card and have the lake!!!!

Any suggestions of mounting so as to save the cost of a new panel?

Thanks.
 
The flush mount kit is nothing more than a template (already included in the 435 manual) and a flimsy precut gasket. Save the $30 and apply it to a Navionics Gold card.

DSCN0762.jpg
 
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Sorry Garmin's charts are a proprietary format. They started with Russian satellite surveys and built their own nav database. Oh crap. I said that word again. Cupcake is going to be luddite-ing all over here again. The 435 uses Navionics charts. They are not compatible.

Best regards,
Frank (the luddite) C.
 
There you go whining about stuff you don't understand again. It's not proprietary because if you pay Garmin butt loads of money, they will probably give you the format.
 

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