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Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3704 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/02/2007 : 15:21:49

OK, before I have to crawl all over the place in shoulder-numbing and hip bruising positions I could use some advice. I have a Raymarine Bi-data ST30 (depth, speed) and a 4000 Autohelm for our wheel. They are both dead as a door knob. When I turned on the breaker for them it did pop out but does not do so any longer.

The wiring seems to be like this: The Autohelm is powered from the breaker panel. The ST30 is powered by a SeaTalk cable from the Autohelm. When I put a tester to the SeaTalk cable I get power. Ditto when I scope the second (unused) SeaTalk port on the ST30. Power going in and out but the ST30 does nothing!

The 4000 does nothing either. Not a light or a buzz or anything. My next move is to wriggle my way to the back of the 4000 control head and see what is there. I already know, though, that the head is sending power to the ST30 over the SeaTalk. There is no power, though, going through the cable that connects the head to the motor on the wheel. I tested that at the wheel motor.

Am I missing something obvious here? I am planning to power the ST30 without the SeaTalk cable from the Autohelm (stand-alone)to see if that works. If it does then it points to the Autohelm. But it is sending power over that SeaTalk cable.

The Admiral saw my frustration and said "post it on your forum." I love that woman!

We cannot direct the winds but we can adjust our sails.

Edited by - on

SEAN
Admiral

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USA
772 Posts

Response Posted - 04/02/2007 : 15:36:04

did you call raymarine help line ?

when I bought my inverter (xantrex) they were very helpful with the install ,not much of a wait either .

Edited by - on

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 04/04/2007 : 06:47:43

Randy... I hesitate to answer a question I don't know enough about to perhaps be intelligent, but it is/was my impression that the sea talk connections are data lines.

I don't have an autohelm bi-data but do have the ST-400 autohelm and have the data lines connected to the gps. The autohelm (at least years ago) used a marking convention I disagreed with slightly in that they marked the data connections as plus and minus... not good IMHO because of the inference that + & - normally refer to the supply voltage connections and could cause some confusion and often did.

For example, the data in port marked NMEA + makes it easy to assume that the NMEA - port is the data out line... when in reality there is no data out line from the autohelm. Very often this line got connected to the NMEA in of the gps and of course the system wouldn't work. This not withstanding that the +- markings have nothing to do with power voltage connections as usually associated with +-.

Where I'm driving to... is I'm not sure the NMEA bus connections offer supply voltage connections needed for the instruments... that those are usually the red/black wire connections independent of data bus connections.

The fact that fuses were blown and now are not being blown is a clue that shouldn't be ignored. It could mean that something was wrong in the hookup or instruments and has now possibly burned open.

The instruments should power up and provide screen displays with no data connections.

btw... the NMEA - (minus) of the autopilot is actually the ground line for the data in loop of the autopilot but a gps has no data loop ground and uses the negative black supply line wire. So... the NMEA - (minus) of the autopilot is carried to the voltage negative line of the gps. There is a bugaroo here however, because it is tempting to assume that it can simply be made to the voltage negative at the autopilot which in fact is common to the voltage negative of the gps. In simply theory that reasoning is sound, but in reality the system will often not work wired that way. Why not - I don't know, but it often doesn't. So, take the NMEA - of the autopilot to the voltage supply minus at the gps.

Let us know what you find...

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 04/05/2007 : 13:06:57

Update - The ST30 bidata is no longer supported and no longer repairable

so I'll need to get a new device.

Since it uses the same size transducers and fits in the same size hole I'll get an ST40 bidata.

<s>As for the Autohelm, I have mixed feelings. In our lake and in the San Juans I don't think I will need it. Does anyone think there is a market to sell a device like that? It will cost $200 to fix, could I get more than that for the whole setup including wheel motor, flux compass, head unit, etc?

</s>

Late update - the Admiral wants to keep the Autohelm so off it goes to Raymarine for service.

Edited by - Nautiduck on 04/05/2007 22:49:23

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.