NMEA between Navman 3100 wind and Raytheon ST6000 autopilot

Hi,
I wish to connect my Navman 3100 wind instrument to the Ratheon ST6000
autopilot so that the later can stear to wind.

The Navman site gives details of which NMEA wire to where on the OEM.

Is it this easy?

My boat at the moment is half a world away so I cannot try it out.

I have connected the Garmin GPS to the autopilot and radar as well as
the laptop - piece of cake. Has anyone done this or can someone
provide further input?

Peter
N.Z. yacht Herodotus

 

Peter,
I am working on this same issue with a client. Navman has informed me
that their wind 3100 does not past other NMEA data through, and only
output some of the wind related sentences.

It should allow your autopilot hold point of sail. But to do this you
will need a multiplexer as Meindert has said.

Matt Colie

 

Now I wonder just WHERE he could get one of those??.....(c;

Don't forget to ask for your "Friend of Meindert" discount!

 

I also have the Navman 3100 and a Raymarine ST4000+ autopilot and
Garmin 276C GPS which I have tried to connect to get the autopilot to
follow the wind, but so far, I have not been able to get it to work.
Otherwise, the system is fully operational, all the navigation data I
need is visible on the 3100 Repeater (after Garmin fixed the BWC
sentence error).

I have taken the NMEA-out from the 3100 Wind instrument and led it
directly to the NMEA-in on the autopilot, as when I connected the wind
NMEA output onto the NMEA bus, the GPS data was affected, I assume
from having 2 NMEA 'talkers' on the same bus.

The direct connection from the 3100 wind to the autopilot has not
worked, the autopilot complains that there is no wind information.
The 3100 manual states that it outputs MVW and VPW, which should be
decoded by the autopilot.

I have purchased the Brookhouse NMEA multiplexer, but so far have only
played with it, I just havent had time to fully connect it and get the
laptop attached to see exactly what NMEA sentences are sent by the
3100 wind. Since 99% of the time, the 'steer to waypoint' function
is sufficient, I have put off figuring out the 'steer to wind' on the
back burner and have focused on sailing and racing the boat (J/35)
rather than messing around with the electronics.

As for the difficulty in hooking up the units, the Navman manuals are
pretty clear on the hookup. The white wire out of the 3100 Wind is
the NMEA out. The ST4000 manual is not as clear, as it has a Red and
a Blue which are NMEA +ve (Red) and -ve (Blue). I've hooked the
NMEA-out to both the red and blue and hooked up the NMEA (-) to each
also, but so far have not had any luck in getting it to work. Maybe
someone more gizmo savvy can explain +ve and -ve...

Good luck, I plan on spending some serious time working on the boat
soon, and maybe I will have time to get the Brookhouse multiplexer to
work.

 

The boat is half a world away at present but I am sure that it is a 128 - the
one with the external aerial.

 

Gentlemen,
Thank you very much for your advice. It is at times like this that I realise
what I am missing whilst cruising. To be able to just ask a question when a
problem arises and have it answered almost immediately by a host of people who
are happy to share their expertise and experience is something I am not looking
forward to losing again. There are only a couple of things we miss whilst
crusing - the net and good libraries. I used to grow lilies as a hobby as well
as fresh herbs but can compensate by visits to public gardens, but cheap and
ready access to the web is difficult unless one has a sat phone and unlimited
funds. Its a bit like the Archilles factor - do you stay home in a secure job
with all the trimmings of our modern technical civilisation or go sailing in a
small boat which can be uncomfotable and even frightening at times and experence
the places one wishes. We call it "Hobson's choice" but I am unsure if that
means anything to an American.

Nah! Buggar it! I have just had a vision of a hurried trip to New York when I
was at a IT conference in Boston. The short time I spent at the Met. museum,
climbing over the Peking by the Brooklyn Bridge as well as the two day visit to
Mystic Seaport are reminders that we have made the right decision. You can keep
the hot dogs and Starbucks coffee though, but I do like the cheap coffee and
doughnuts for breakfast as well as spareribs in all those delicious sauces.

Thanks again