Raymarine to Garmin

Fly4Kix

Fly4Kix

Active Member
Jan 27, 2008
125
Knoxville, TN
Boat Info
2005 Sea Ray 220 SD
2008 Sea Ray 340 DA
Engines
5.0L B3
8.1L
I’m about to upgrade the original C80 on our 2008 340 to a Garmin 943. The C80 has both seatalk and NMEA connections being used. Does anyone know how Sea Ray typically setup the transfer of data? I’m sort of assuming the seatalk is at least the arch top GPS antenna and possibly the original Northstar VHF. Our setup has what appears to be Vessel view 1.5 and depth/temp comes through the smartcraft. The Raymarine also displays depth so I’m assuming that at least is coming through NMEA(0183?). I’m building a NMEA 2000 network and was recommended to install a 0183 to 2000 converter but I’m having problems chasing that wire through all the bundles in the helm.
Any help or ideas would be really appreciated.
 
Craig said:
If you want smartcraft to convert to n2k get the sc gateway and all that data will be on your garmin. Don't really need the arch antenna unless your not getting a good signal from the garmin.
Click to expand...
Eventually I probably will, our boat has DTS so the SC gateways aren’t easy to access and are stacked on top of each other with no empty ports I could find. At this point I’m more trying to figure out how GPS position info was distributed.
 
Fly4Kix said:
I’m about to upgrade the original C80 on our 2008 340 to a Garmin 943. The C80 has both seatalk and NMEA connections being used. Does anyone know how Sea Ray typically setup the transfer of data? I’m sort of assuming the seatalk is at least the arch top GPS antenna and possibly the original Northstar VHF. Our setup has what appears to be Vessel view 1.5 and depth/temp comes through the smartcraft. The Raymarine also displays depth so I’m assuming that at least is coming through NMEA(0183?). I’m building a NMEA 2000 network and was recommended to install a 0183 to 2000 converter but I’m having problems chasing that wire through all the bundles in the helm.
Any help or ideas would be really appreciated.
Click to expand...
I would look for one of these in your current setup:
E8501 Cover.jpeg

While 00-era Smartcraft can read and display depth/temp, it is only one way and cannot provide data to other nav components. I believe a common Sea Ray solution was to use the pictured NMEA 0183/Seatalk interface to serve as the routing point for depth/temp/GPS and other data for use by both Smartcraft and the Raymarine components. If you have this interface, you should be able to tap depth sounder and GPS info and send it to your Garmin via NMEA 0183. But, ultimately you need to get a Smartcraft converter as recommended in the earlier post.
 
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The E85001 was one device that could be used with the C80, vhf and Smartcraft to share NMEA0183 AND Seatalk data, but wasn’t necessary. This device acted as a multiplexer for NMEA0183 as well as a Seatalk to NMEA0183 translator. However because the C80 could translate Seatalk to NMEA0183 natively, the E85001 could be replaced with a less expensive third party multiplexer. On our 280 I used an Actisense multiplexer to link the vhf, C80, heading sensor and Smartcraft.
 
alnav said:
I would look for one of these in your current setup:
View attachment 98193
While 00-era Smartcraft can read and display depth/temp, it is only one way and cannot provide data to other nav components. I believe a common Sea Ray solution was to use the pictured NMEA 0183/Seatalk interface to serve as the routing point for depth/temp/GPS and other data for use by both Smartcraft and the Raymarine components. If you have this interface, you should be able to tap depth sounder and GPS info and send it to your Garmin via NMEA 0183. But, ultimately you need to get a Smartcraft converter as recommended in the earlier post.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I'll have a look for that module next time I'm down at the boat.
 
Henry Boyd said:
The E85001 was one device that could be used with the C80, vhf and Smartcraft to share NMEA0183 AND Seatalk data, but wasn’t necessary. This device acted as a multiplexer for NMEA0183 as well as a Seatalk to NMEA0183 translator. However because the C80 could translate Seatalk to NMEA0183 natively, the E85001 could be replaced with a less expensive third party multiplexer. On our 280 I used an Actisense multiplexer to link the vhf, C80, heading sensor and Smartcraft.
Click to expand...

So either way, as you and @alnav have mentioned I need to looking for multiplexer unit somewhere in the helm?
 
@Fly4Kix just another way of looking at this. Before you try and convert anything I would make a list of your devices and how they communicate with each other, i.e. VV, SC, 0183 and N2K etc. That way you know exactly what needs to be converted and what protocols are used so you know what converters are needed, as you might want to replace some devices ( possibly GPS antenna) along the way and find you don't need a converter if you do. Also i would try and get everything to one protocol like N2K (NMEA 2000).
 
@SKybolt Agreed, that's exactly where I'm at with the project. I was hoping to cheat a little and find someone who had been down this road and knew the interactions between the units as installed. I've been over the helm a few times and haven't seen any modules resembling above, which is why I was curious what's coming in and out the seatalk and NMEA on the C80. I hoped if I started there it would become clear how it all interfaced.
 
Fly4Kix said:
Eventually I probably will, our boat has DTS so the SC gateways aren’t easy to access and are stacked on top of each other with no empty ports I could find. At this point I’m more trying to figure out how GPS position info was distributed.
Click to expand...

Looking at the RM manual, the GPS is likely SeaTalk (SeaTalk1). As mentioned above, the new MFD will have its own GPS receiver with an integrated antenna. The issue is then getting data back and forth from your SeaTalk1 Network which might include speed, temp depth from instruments, or a tridata, and position data to your VHF.

Here is a sample system from the manual. This would be a good starting point to draw your own map of your current system. If you can at least list every component in your system, and the connections on the back, it becomes easier to figure out what's talking to what.

upload_2021-1-23_11-4-18.png
 
Fly4Kix said:
So either way, as you and @alnav have mentioned I need to looking for multiplexer unit somewhere in the helm?
Click to expand...
I mentioned the Raymarine converter as it was fairly typical in E120 installs in the 00's. As Henry said, you may or may not have one. One tool that helped me out was the Sea Ray standard drawing for dual E120 installs. I got that from Sea Ray customer service. No idea if they are as responsive these days but might be worth a try.
Here's another thing to look for.
IMG_0067.jpeg

This terminal strip organized the NMEA/Seatalk signals on my boat as originally installed. The AP computer is above the strip and the Raymarine converter is to the upper left without its cover. Below the strip is part of the Smartcraft harness. Those are usually well marked so I would look for the NMEA 0183 branch of the harness and see where those wires lead on your boat.
 
Thank you all for your help and ideas, I really appreciate it. Seems like the next step is to really get in and wring out the wire bundles under the helm.
 
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Fly4Kix said:
Thank you all for your help and ideas, I really appreciate it. Seems like the next step is to really get in and ring out the wire bundles under the help.
Click to expand...

You can probably do the same without unbundling the wires by making a list/map of your components.

Get a picture with your cell phone of the front and back of each (and every) component in your system showing the wires to/from each. Write down part numbers. Then go to the Raymarine/Mfg's website and down load a picture of the wiring/back of the component. You should be able to make a fairly accurate map based on what you see and what the manuals show.

Here is what I made when I started... This is just PowerPoint that I imported pictures into and drew lines with. Paper works just as well at the boat.

upload_2021-1-23_14-17-10.png
 
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+47 on making your own wiring map or system diagram. Even if you plan to farm the work out to an installer it will help you understand how it works and let you understand what the installer wants to do. If you’re the installer it will keep you from pulling out your hair in the process (unless like some of us you are hair challenged).
 
Fly4Kix said:
@SKybolt Agreed, that's exactly where I'm at with the project. I was hoping to cheat a little and find someone who had been down this road and knew the interactions between the units as installed. I've been over the helm a few times and haven't seen any modules resembling above, which is why I was curious what's coming in and out the seatalk and NMEA on the C80. I hoped if I started there it would become clear how it all interfaced.
Click to expand...

I would do what @dtfeld described. It's really the only way to know what you have and where to start. As mentioned you probably have all Seatalk which is not directly compatible with NMEA 0183. Then there is SeatalkNG which is a hybrid of Seatalk and NMEA 2000, the SeatalkNG cable has the Seatalk yellow wire in it as well. So if you need to convert to NMEA 2000 Raymarines converter(E22158) will capture both Seatalk and SeatalkNG properly and with another adapter cable can be bridged to NMEA 2000 directly. The thing with Raymarine is they have tried very hard not to be compatible with anyone. If your going with Garmin you will need to get it all to NMEA 2000. This only gets the Raymarine network to NMEA 2000, the VV/SC is yet another converter as mentioned above.
 
If you don't have anything other than the c80 and it doesn't have its own transducer, your going to n2k anyway so just convert the vv. Then everything will work. If you have a Northstar 100 I'm sure the cord is rotten so you'll need to replace that too. No need to stay with anything 0183. If you have a sounder modual you need to use then that would be an exception.
 
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