Comments on my earlier report, from reader Tanja Heringa in The Netherlands, have prompted this follow-up to clarify a few things.
First, here is a sampling of received NMEA messages from the AIS receiver. Looks like ! at the front and .. at the end, just as you describe. Thanks to Ben at Panbo for explaining how to grab screen-shots off Raymarine chartplotters; that’s a handy thing for boating gear bloggers to know!
Second, getting it all connected: This image shows which color wires I had to connect. The black cable is the Raymarine NMEA cable, and the tan/gray cable is the RS232 9-conductor cable supplied with my SR161 AIS receiver. I’ll be honest: it took a bit of trial-and-error to find the right pair of wires…on both sides!
Your comments indicate you’ve got it right, though: RS232 pin 2 (brown wire on the cable supplied with my SR161) is data out, and that connects to NMEA data in (+), which is the white wire on a Raymarine NMEA cable. Then you connect the SR161′s pin 5 (data ground, the yellow wire on my cable) to NMEA data in (-) on the Raymarine NMEA side, which is green.
Third, I’ve got C-series software version 4.26, so I don’t know if 4.25 is recent enough to work right. If you’ve got it all connected right, and you’ve got AIS messages in the NMEA buffer on your C-80, and you STILL don’t see AIS targets on the chart, maybe you need the newer software.
Or wait, maybe you haven’t turned on the AIS "chart layer". Make sure you’ve got these configured correctly:
Good luck, Tanja, and let us know how it turns out!
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Tim, thanks so far but…
I’ve checked all the connections, updated my software version and checked the chart layer options…still not working. The NMEA buffer looks good, but the AIS icon in the top right corner shows a red cross through the AIS antenna! The only thing I can think of, is that it doesn’t work because I have not connected a GPS. That will be the next step (this weekend). I’ll keep you informed!
Tim,
Do you have a source for those neat wire connectors shown in the photo above?
Larry H
You can probably find them at a really well-stocked eletronics supply house. Especially one catering to computer and telecommunication technicians and installers.
acehardwareoutlet.com in Brooklyn has 3M Scotchlok Connector UR, which take either two or three 19-26 AWG wires , their sku#30221uR-idc on sale 100 for $14.49. Thats about two-thirds off retail. You can buy a bubble pack of 5(?) at Radio Shack at a buck apiece!
the UPC is 051115151002, 0547563907 shipping to Maryland was $8.00
make that sku#3022217, at
http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(45wt2f45bbz532zmjllrfq55)/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=3022217&