MacGregorSailors.com

I got the brand new iSteer autopilot remote system for Raymarine autopilots to add to my EV-100 autopilot system. This adds a WiFi base-station that can be linked to your smartphone which with an app then becomes a complete wireless remote for your autopilot, with all of the typical functionality of the autopilot interface. It also includes two wireless key fob remotes that work over 433MHz (like a garage door opener) so you can use it without your iPhone.

http://www.madmanmarine.com/

My primary goal was to get to a system that would allow me to steer the boat safely from inside the cabin while looking out the forward windows or hatch for use in wet weather--essentially to enable a "pilothouse" function.

When I contacted Neil at Madman, he was worried that the iSteer was designed for older Raymarine autopilots that had SeaTalk. My new EVO-1 is the first generation of Raymarine autopilots that is SeaTalk"ng"" only.

SeaTalk is Raymarine's proprietary extension to the NMEA 0183 protocol: It uses their own connectors and a few unique codes, but is otherwise NMEA 0183. SeaTalk"ng" is exactly the same thing to NMEA 2000: Their own connectors and a few proprietary extensions, but otherwise NMEA 2000. My boat has an NMEA 2000 backbone with all the Raymarine devices adapted to NMEA 2000.

I called Raymarine to ask how their SeaTalk to SeaTalk"ng" adapter device worked, and they indicated that it should work just fine with an autopilot remote, as it actually has electronics in it to convert sentences from SeaTalk protocol to the very different SeaTalk"ng" protocol. It's how they adapt their own Raymarine branded wireless remotes to the EV-100.

So Neil shipped me out the iSteer device, and I ordered the SeaTalk"ng" adapter along with a SeaTalk"ng" to NMEA 2000 adapter because my backbone is NMEA 2000 DeviceNet connectors and I adapt all the RayMarine SeaTalk"ng" connectors to that.

When everything arrived, I chopped the SeaTalk cable that came with the adapter and connected it to the bare wires on the iSteer (it's bare wire because it would normally plug into the screw terminals on an older autopilot. This was trivial, as the wire colors all match correctly: Red to red, yellow to yellow, black to uncoated ground.

The SeaTalk adapter looks like a connection block with five ports: A blue one on each end, two white "ng" ports inside that, and a yellow "SeaTalk" port in the middle. If you're using the block in the middle of your backbone, the bone goes in one blue and out the other. You can then use the two white ports for "ng" drops and the yellow drop for your SeaTalk device. If you aren't using the block in the middle of your backbone but instead at the end of the drop, you terminate the two blue ports, plug your seatalk device into the yellow port, and your "ng" cable into a white port where it goes to the backbone. You then cap off the other white port. The adapter comes with all the necessary plugs, terminals, and cables and the instructions explain all this.

I plugged the iSteer chopped cable into the middle yellow connector on the SeaTalk adapter, plugged the NMEA 2000 to SeaTalk"ng" cable into my backbone and into the white connector on the SeaTalk adapter, and put in the two blue terminal resistors in the SeaTalk Adapter's blue ports because I was using this as a drop cable and not part of my backbone.

Powered it on, and voila, everything worked correctly immediately. Connected my phone to the iSteer WiFi base-station and it was immediately able to correctly control the autopilot with no issues.

Big recommend for those of us that want to be able to pilot from inside the boat. Finally there!

"Without a remote control an autopilot is just an expensive ocky strap!"

I wonder how many people thought they left out the 'J' in that statement?

Matt, do you get the sense that Raymarine will ever fully go over to the dark side of NMEA2000? This unit does look reasonably priced though - got a picture of you iphone app in action?

R.

Crikey wrote:Matt, do you get the sense that Raymarine will ever fully go over to the dark side of NMEA2000? This unit does look reasonably priced though - got a picture of you iphone app in action?

R.

I'm really peeved about the state of NMEA-2000. I'm a professional network integrator and have been for my entire adult life, and so its been my job to deal with network incompatibilities for decades. The way I've dealt with it professionally is to simply completely avoid computer network gear that didn't 100% fully implement IEEE standards, and because my networking brethren do the same, gear incompatibilities and even entire networking standards such as Token Ring and FDDI fell by the wayside and Ethernet took over everything. Now we live in a world where televisions and refrigerators can be connected to the Internet with ubiquitous standards that are low cost and work everywhere.

So the fact that two of the three major manufacturers of marine electronics decided to work on and ratify a standard controller area network standard and then deliberately subvert it by implementing their own incompatible network standards and pointlessly proprietary command sentences is a really crappy thing to do. The NMEA 2000 standard is actually really well considered, and the fact that Navonics (SIMRAD, B&G, Lowrance) and Raymarine both developed their own cabling systems for absolutely no reason other than to make it pointlessly difficult to integrate other manufacturers.

I made the decision early on to stick to NMEA 2000 compliant manufacturers (Garmin, Maretron, and everyone else) and avoid Raymarine and the Navonics brands, but the EV-100 was such a compelling autopilot and so much less expensive and easier to install than the next best unit from Garmin that I broke that rule, and now half my network devices are SeaTalkNG with adapters on the MacGregor. And my new boat came with an all-B&G system, so that's all she wrote there--it already has a SimNet backbone and so everything has to be adapted to that.

It's actually trivially easy to add the various necessary adapters, but you have to think through exactly what you need and identify and order the correct parts. I happen to live near a large West Marine that stocks all this stuff but for most people it's very complicated.

Ultimately I think these two manufacturers have been rewarded by the market for doing this. Because of the silly complexity, most people stick with the backbone that comes with their boat or autopilot/chart plotter, and they've sown enough confusion in the market that many DIY folks think they're locked into a brand. So no, I don't think Raymarine (or Navonics) will change to standard DeviceNet connectors.

NMEA also failed to completely specify the standard: There are no standards for configuring devices such as senders and sensors or for calibrating them, so every manufacturer makes up their own device specific codes and then copyrights them so other MFRs cannot configure the devices. This means you have to buy an MFD (multi-function display) from the manufacturer to configure their devices. All of the mfrs have this problem, partly because it serves them and partly because there's no good way around it. But it makes a $200 tank sender cost an extra $1000 if you want to be able to use it.

The situation is even worse with Marine Ethernet, which is used for high-speed data like radar overlays: While the busses are universally Ethernet, there is no standards body and all three manufacturers have developed their own completely incompatible connectors with no adapters and they've developed their own protocols that are completely incompatible. So far, this seems to apply only to Radar, but you essentially must purchase the brand of radar that matches your chart plotter now, locking out manufacturers who make radar but not chart plotters.

Kind of sucks.

That is interesting - guess there really is no such thing as plug-and-play

On a personal note, I have a Garmin 546 chart plotter that can determine a course based on destination and depth. What brands or models of auto pilots would easily receive this course data?

Hi Robert,

All of them. You just need the right adapter

Honestly waypoint and track data is standardized, so there's no issue regarding the data or the protocol, only the connectors. It was easy to adapt the Raymarine EV-100 autopilot to my Garmin chartplotter--I think I only needed two adapters.

Until Vic's autopilot hits prime-time, there's no cheaper or simpler autopilot to install than the EV-100. No calibration required, drill a few holes, pop off your wheel, done. The entire install took less than four hours if you don't count the three days it took me to get my wheel off.

"Without a remote control an autopilot is just an expensive ocky strap!"

Whom ever made that statement has obviously never had an autopilot!!

Hy Mastreb

Are you still happy with the isteer remot from madman?

Maybe I will order one soon including the 2 or 3 remote fobs...

kurz wrote:Hy Mastreb

Are you still happy with the isteer remot from madman?

Maybe I will order one soon including the 2 or 3 remote fobs...

Hey kurz - I don't think Mat monitors this site anymore and I am pretty sure he no longer has a MAC. By the way - I posted the picture of that hole you were asking about on that other thread.

ok, thanks.

Do you use a remote for the ev-100?

yup

which one? The original raymarine S100?

yup yup

Does anyone know if the Raymarine will talk to B&G? I have a Zeus2.

An autopilot from B&G will cost me over $2400.

I wrote a whole long ranting post about equipment incompatibilities before I deleted it.

One of my pet hates in life is companies that make their own proprietary plugs, languages etc in order to extort consumers into buying only their equipment so it can have "connectivity" with the thing they bought last month,

This seems worse in the marine world, apparently boat owners are all filthy rich and have limitlessly deep pockets and will be willing to pay huge amounts of money for technology that is already old because the product has Raymarine or Garmin sticker on it.

Companies like Madman Marine have proven that the development costs of this equipment are not as huge as the big manufacturers claim, Madman Marine is a one man band, hand makes his products and only orders in small quantities yet still manages to come up with cheaper, more functional and better quality products than the made in China (yes thats where Raymarine, Lowrance etc products are made) offered by the money hungry, gouging, purveyors of the none compatible products offered by the big brands

Hi Mike;

ok, so I take it the answer is no? (read dry humor here)

Glad to see a fellow Aussie making some useful electronics.

Navico do have sales on items like rate compass, rudder angle sensor, and the computer, but never on the drive mechanism.

I thought I had outsmarted them when I found a compatible electronic piston driven arm from http://www.jefa.com/steering/products/drives/linear.htm, only to get sticker shock!

I solo sail most of the time. I would love to be able to go up on deck to raise the asymmetric Spinnaker without worrying about heading off in a different direction. Yes, in light winds, it's a non-issue. When the wind is up 7-10kts and the lake is crowded, I'm really not comfortable being up on deck more than about 45 seconds. The cost of the drive plus the other Navico sensors and computer put this into the $3000 ish USD price bracket.