B&G V50 to Classic E120

craig_c · 24 July 2020, 20:35

For years I have prattled on about how good the old Raymarine E120 is.

I thought it was time to bring mine into the year 2020 and have it show AIS information.

To be clear I am not transmitting AIS but the option to see AIS info is another great safety feature.

I bought a B&G V50 VHF which has an internal AIS receiver. There are some deals on these around and I scooped one up for £230. Must be the end of the line or something but prices have been slashed on these. I got mine from Cactus but I see force 4 also have the same price.

https://www.cactusnav.com/dscais-rad...0-p-14723.html

The trusty Icom MC421 has been removed and I just need to wait on a jigsaw coming to fit the new B&G in.

Unfortunately my set up means I'll have to run a STNG convertor to use my Nmea 0183 port which is the only one I have left.

The B&G does do 0183 and 2000 however when using the 0183 I found I could have the following two states.

B&G with DSC GPS info ( no AIS shown on E120 ) - nmea 4800 baudrate on E120

or

B&G without DSC GPS info ( AIS comes up on the E120 ) - AIS 38400 baudrate on E120

Having spoke to 2 very helpful tech support guys at B&G and Raymarine I was given the solution of using the converter to turn the 0183 into 2000 and up the baud rate to the required 38400 for the AIS info and to get the plotter and VHF to talk to each other at the same time.

I have to take my hat off to both of these guys for still giving me support on a 14 year old chartplotter.

Hopefully it all works. I just need to wait on the 2 cables required, luckily I have a STNG convertor lying ready to go so Ill take pictures when its all done and accurately price the conversion.

Maybe this info will help somebody else!

philtrick · 26 July 2020, 16:51

I would go the St-stng converter and then get an adapter made for the B&g.

I'm running the opposite on my sailing boat, from raymarine sailing instruments to a V50 and Vulcan 7, it converts very well.

craig_c · 26 July 2020, 19:14

yep wierdly enough I had a STNG converter lying but it doesnt have the yellow plug. I noticed that the part number is identical to the yellow plugged version and I tried it today but no cigar...

Ordered a yellow plugged one that calls itself ST1 to STNG converter which is the one I was told to get and hopefully that does the trick.

My mate did a neat trick on his VHF and just Teed his connections from his antenna which I never thought about. He doesnt have AIS but he has his DSC running without any cables. I was maybe considering doing this to mine with cable from the VHF feeding the E120 AIS and the other feeding the VHF with its DSC GPS info

simple image host

Apart from the yellow plug and the writing I have no idea what this does....

jakew009 · 27 July 2020, 19:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig_c

yep wierdly enough I had a STNG converter lying but it doesnt have the yellow plug. I noticed that the part number is identical to the yellow plugged version and I tried it today but no cigar...

Ordered a yellow plugged one that calls itself ST1 to STNG converter which is the one I was told to get and hopefully that does the trick.

My mate did a neat trick on his VHF and just Teed his connections from his antenna which I never thought about. He doesnt have AIS but he has his DSC running without any cables. I was maybe considering doing this to mine with cable from the VHF feeding the E120 AIS and the other feeding the VHF with its DSC GPS info

simple image host

Apart from the yellow plug and the writing I have no idea what this does....

That thing in your photo is just a NMEA2k / SeatalkNG (multi) tee - it has no electronics inside.

The yellow plugged one is much more expensive and does the conversion to nmea0183 or whatever ancient protocol it is

When you get the yellow one I think you will have to move the two terminators from your existing thing to make it work.

craig_c · 27 July 2020, 19:26

you see I did consider it to be a multi T however the plain T is half as thin on the black part and this has a LED that lights up when you connect power to it. Regardless of that its not doing what I need it to so the right one should be here tomorrow. Thanks anyway Jake

jakew009 · 27 July 2020, 20:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig_c

you see I did consider it to be a multi T however the plain T is half as thin on the black part and this has a LED that lights up when you connect power to it. Regardless of that its not doing what I need it to so the right one should be here tomorrow. Thanks anyway Jake

Yes you’re right now I look at it. It’s weird how it doesn’t have the normal name on the side of it.

I’m kind of confused what you’re trying to do. Are you doing NMEA2k from the vhf to Seatalk1 (which is a Raymarine extension in NMEA0183)?

Why can’t you just connect NMEA out of plotter to NMEA in of VHF (to send GPS fix in) and then NMEA out of VHF to NMEA in of plotter (to send AIS back)?

craig_c · 27 July 2020, 21:20

When I plug into 0183 from the Nmea port I can have as above, AIS on the plotter or DSC on the VHF but never both from one cable

According to the raymarine tech, its all about multiplexing, sentences etc and thats the way he said to do it. Initially he offered an actisense and then he said oh but seatalk 1 to STNG will do it too so I went down that road.

jakew009 · 27 July 2020, 23:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig_c

When I plug into 0183 from the Nmea port I can have as above, AIS on the plotter or DSC on the VHF but never both from one cable

According to the raymarine tech, its all about multiplexing, sentences etc and thats the way he said to do it. Initially he offered an actisense and then he said oh but seatalk 1 to STNG will do it too so I went down that road.

I know nothing about this kind of stuff but I would think you need two sets of cables.

Firstly you would need two wires for NMEA out (+ and -) from the chart plotter to NMEA in on the VHF.
Secondly you would need two wires (again + and -) for NMEA our from the VHF to NMEA in on the chart plotter.

Then set the Chartplotter to 38kbps on the NMEA in.

If not how does your chart plotter get GPS? If you have an external NMEA0183 GPS antenna you could just split the wires from it and feed a second set to the VHF. That would give it its GPS fix and you already had AIS working.

Going down the NMEA2k route with adaptors and cables etc sounds expensive and unnecessary unless you’re going to replace the plotter

craig_c · 28 July 2020, 08:30

Weirdly, my chart plotter is using Seatalk 1 ( 6 pin raymarine plug ) for its GPS signal.

NMEA 0183 was feeding the old Icom DSC it's position.

more to follow today, hopefully the converter comes in early and I can get a play with it.

Had ordered a Quark converter for a friend's boat that's taking 2 weeks to arrive because of the courier. Was also hoping to try that too