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Dan Corcoran (b393capt)

Steve asks about PB200

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Im a beginner. I have a brookhouse multiplexer, an st60 and have just got hold of a pb200. The multiplexer has been great so far and it all works. Now i want to fit the pb200. Can i just disconnect the old transducer wiring from the st60 and connect the pb200 wiring directly to the multiplexer? If so, what goes where? I would really appreciate some advice please.

9 Replies

  • The PB200 offers an NMEA-0183 and a NMEA-2000 signal output.

    Which are you using?

    Do you have the Airmar Weatherstation software, and an interface to a PC? (The PB200 may need to be programmed. Based on the other devices in your network)

    Does your Brookhouse convert the PB200 output to the raymarine seatalk protocol used by the ST60 ?


    With the

  • The instruments are nmea 0183 I believe.
    I would have thought I could wire the pb200 to the back of the st60 and let the brookhouse do the rest but i don't know what goes where. The current wind transducer is connected to the St60 and the imux picks up the data after that.

  • The PB200 output is not at all similar to the output of the ST60 wind sensor.

    It in fact uses inputs as well, such as STW.

    PB200 supports NMEA-0183 and NMEA-2000 signalling, depending on the cable type you use.

  • Ok. So i need to hook the pb 200 up to the back of the st60 then. Now if i can just figure out which coloured wire goes where. Any ideas please?

  • Sorry, but that's not going to work. The ST 60 Wind can two things. Mainly, it can display wind info coming from an attached Raymarine analog wind transducer and output the data on a SeaTalk network. The PB200 can not connect directly to the ST 60 via either NMEA 0183 or 2000.

    The ST60 Wind can also display wind data coming to it over SeaTalk and it may be possible to connect the PB200 to it using an 0183-to-SeaTalk converter. Maybe the Brookhouse iMux will do it as I presume it's the one with both SeaTalk and NMEA 0183 ports. But you really should check with Brookhouse.

    Another solution might be using a SeaTalkNG to SeaTalk converter (NG = new generation SeaTalk, very similar to NMEA 2000), but you'd still need to set up a small N2K network to power and network the PB200 and converter. If you have the NMEA 2000 type PB200 you really should consider a NMEA 2000/SeaTalkng instrument display like the Raymarine i60 or i70, I think.

  • The PB200 is an amazing wind sensor, I am really pleased with the performance over a wand system.

    One of the reasons you need a box to convert the signals, is that a cup & vane sensor output's analog signals to the ST60 display, where as a PB200 output's one's and zero's (NMEA 0183 or NMEA 2000). An ST60 accepts analog signals (or) Seatalk networking (two different sets of terminals on the ST60. Something needs to convert between NMEA0183/0200 and Seatalk.

    Dan

  • I have contacted Brookhouse, he just lives up the road. I reckon we can hook up the pb200 to the imuxST and it will feed the ST60.

  • Ok. So i need to hook the pb 200 up to the back of the st60 then. Now if i can just figure out which coloured wire goes where. Any ideas please?

  • If you have the Brookhouse that has the optional Seatalk support listed on the website, and you have a seatalk network wire from your ST60+ (black rubberized boot connector) to other Raymarine products in your boat, then you need to splice into that seatalk network the the seatalk connection on the brookhouse.

    Not sure where you get the instructions to do that. You can do it cleanly with a 3-way or 5-way bridge, or your can splice into existing wiring. When you find those instructions (brookhouse, raymarine technical support forum ?), they should roughly show that you can cut the network wire (while boat powered off) from the ST60 to your next seatalk device. It won't matter where in your seatalk network you splice it, so choose the closest seatalk wire to your pb200/brookhouse. Inside the seatalk cable you would find 3 wires (red, yellow, and bare ground). Tap the yellow and ground wire into the brookhouse (not the red wire !!). Those instructions you find should show you only need the yellow (data wire) and the ground as connecting the red (power wire) is not needed, and usually problematic because the brookhouse should instead be powered direct from 12v rather than drawing from seatalk, and you don't want two power wires going to it.

    Your going to need to decide if you want your ST60 in normal or repeater mode. If the PB200 is set to transmit true wind information, the ST60 needs to be set to repeater mode.

    If you don't have the PB200 programming software, WeatherCaster, you might be able to get around it. You will need to experiment and figure out if the PB200 is set to output true wind (start by setting st60 wind to repeater mode, and see if true wind words). If it is, set the ST60 wind to repeater mode, and make sure the brookhouse is optioned to send speed through water from seatalk to PB200, which the pb200 uses to calculate true wind. Even if you don't care about true wind, you need to be sure you don't have both the PB200 and ST60 attempting to do it, or you will get spurious readings on your ST60 apparent wind.