Raymarine / lowarance gps aerial question !!!!!!!!!!!

[skipalong]

i have a lowrance gps 9200c with red backbone and nmea and raymarine c80, my raymarine has currently shit its aerial ! my question to those with a wealth of knowledge instead of replacing my $500 raymarine raystar125 aerial can i run it through nmea of my lowrance gps aerial into the backbone, thus giving me an aerial again. the raymarine goes into the unit via 3 pin seatalk plug currently. ??????? thanks in advance

[Moonlighter]

I did a quick google on the Ray C80 and Raymarine say that it is NMEA2000 compliant.

That being the case, the answer to your question is, I think, most likely "yes": If your Lowrance 9200's antenna (LCG2000 I imagine?) is on the NMEA network (which it seems to be from what youve said), all you'd have to do is to connect the Ray C80 to the network and then it will be able to see all other network devices including the Lowrance GPS antenna, and then it will/should be able to use the data it provides. You may have to go into the network options menu on the Ray once its connected to the network, find the "data sources" menu and select the Lowrance antenna as the GPS data source.

I take it the Ray C80 is not currently on the network? That being the case it should be able to be quite simply connected by adding 1 x T piece to the network, and connecting the Ray to it with a drop cable. Cost of the above items is only a few $.

Be interested to hear how you go. Maybe call Raymarine to double check.

Cheers

ML

[SatNav]

1. Firstly would not assume the Lowrance 2000 network will connect directly to the Raymarine?

2. What would be guaranteed would be a NMEA out from the Lowrance unit (not directly the GPS itself) to the NMEA in (5 pin connector) of the Raymarine plus appropriate NMEA settings on both devices.

[Moonlighter]

Hi Satnav

The NMEA2000 standard was established as an industry wide standard and that the electronic/data protocols involved as well as the cables and connectors are all standardised (there are 2 versions of the cables - light and heavy, but nearly all recreational boats use the light cables).

Unlike the old NMEA 0183 standard where you had to solder wires together, the new 2000 version was designed to overcome all of that and make it "plug and play". This removes issues with baud rates etc.

So it doesn't matter whether it is a Garmin, Lowrance or Raymarine MNEA 2000 network, they will all plug together and talk to each other. See http://www.blueheronmarine.com/expertadvice for more information in that regard - Blue Heron are a great source of info on NMEA2000 networks.

In practice, I know for a fact that you can connect Garmin devices to a Lowrance NMEA 2000 network, and that you can even mix Garmin and the latest red (black) plug versions of the Lowrance cables in the same network without any dramas. A friend has recently purchased and installed a Lowrance GPS antenna on his NMEA 2000 network and is using it to provide GPS data to his Garmin GPS.

So that's why I'd be pretty certain that if the C80 is NMEA 2000 certified as it claims to be on the Raymarine website and if the Lowrance GPS antenna he has is also NMEA 2000 certified, then he should be able to achieve what he has suggested, and fairly easily too, just a T connector and a cable to connect the Ray to the existing network.

Cheers

ML

[SatNav]

1. Being "pretty certain" and "should be able to" does convey some doubt about IF it will work and that's fine as this is something you can not guarantee or you have never attempted apart from hearsay and is all related to so called standards and we all know about "standards".

2. NMEA out of the Lowrance to NMEA in of the raymarine is something that can be guaranteed to actually work, no questions asked.