Tech says toss Sea Talk Compass

[timjet]

I have an Raymarine RL80CRC Plus display along with a flux gate compass and sea talk compass. Additionally I have a autohelm (now Raymarine) autopilot, type 100 course computer and auto helm tri data depth and speed. I am replacing the GPS sensor with a new raystar 125+. This was all connected by both NEMA and Sea Talk. Since I didn’t think this was correct (both NEMA and Sea Talk) I called Raymarine and their tech walked me through how to connect it up using just Sea Talk. He also said I don’t need the Sea Talk compass and to disconnect it from my setup. He mentioned the flux gate compass will handle everything and leaving the sea talk compass connected will cause dual input of information. I did notice the Sea Talk compass is connected to the NEMA side of the RL80CRC display. The flux gate compass is connected to the Sea Talk connections on the course computer.
I find it hard to believe that the PO would have gone to the expense of buying a Sea Talk compass if it wasn’t needed, but again it is currently connected to the NEMA side of the display.
Can anybody confirm that I don’t need the Sea Talk compass and that the flux gate compass is sufficient for all functions of the RL80CRC which includes radar and chart plotter?

 

[Sea Gull]

Not totally sure if this is applicable to you but I found this in the manual for a model 150 course computer:

When you connect more than one compass to the autopilot system,
the course computer processes their signals in this order of priority:
1. Fluxgate compass
2. NMEA compass
3. SeaTalk compass
This means that if you want to use a NMEA compass as the primary​

compass, you need to disconnect the fluxgate compass.

Sounds like what the Technician is talking about.

 

[CSR_Admin]

It was popular for a while to install a Seatalk Heading Sensor to a Ray pilot to make them work better. I guess the prior owner did not get the memo to disconnect the other compass.

 

[timjet]

Thanks guys for the info. It looks like the tech was correct.
Can someone tell me what the difference between a Sea Talk Compass and a flux gate compass.
The Sea Talk Compass is currently connected to the RL80CRC NEMA Power Plug. It appears eliminating it will convert my system to Sea Talk which is what I think I want to do.
Incidently, the flux gate compass is connected to the Course Computer but it doesn't indicated if it's a Sea Talk connection or NEMA connection. Perhaps it doesn't matter but there are 6 wires from the flux gate compass to the course computer. It appears that Sea Talk only uses the yellow wire for bi-directional information transfer.

 

[timjet]

Well I did a little poking around and found this is my manual:"Accurate heading data is required for MARPA and radar/chart overlay and it must be provided on NMEA".
Looks like the tech was wrong and the heading sensor is required to get full functionality.

Still don't know what the difference between a heading sensor and a flux gate compass is.