Mercury GPS 300 / Maretron GPS 200 Antenna Receiver - Raymarine SeaTalk Network

TonyG13

My GPS has not been displaying on my circa 2014 Raymarine e97 MFD, VesselView display, or VHF radio upon start-up. All feed from the receiver as part of the Raymarine proprietary NMEA 2000 SeaTalk network. It will eventually work after a few minutes to an hour, but from my limited research seems likely cause is the battery in the unit has failed.

Since there were no external markings on the antenna, I removed it and inside it was marked "Mercury GPS300 P/N 8M6000911" - and another label "Maretron GPS 200" -- looking at the unit the battery is encased in an epoxy box -- so no easy fix to swap it out.

Did some more research and seems like the only compatible GPS receivers are the Raymarine RS150 and RS 130 - which seem to be plug-n-play with the Raymarine SeaTalk system. The RS130 is obsolete and the RS150 is ~$300. And a Maretron GPS 200 is even more money.

Are these really my only choice for a replacement? Is there a way to get a less expensive GPS antenna to hook into this system? 

LaRea

Well, you could get a Raymarine A06045 adapter cable and use any NMEA-2000 GPS receiver.  The cable will cost you $40, which eats into the cost savings.  

Liberty44140

Do you have an older gps mushroom antenna? My 2006 ray marine system on the 342 had an older ray mushroom, I think the RS130, and I was able to replace the battery in the antenna pretty easily.

the good news about the rs150 is that it’s up to date so if you plan to upgrade to a new axiom mfd you’ll already have the gps antenna ran and in place. I added an rs150 this summer to my axiom 12.

or have you checked eBay for a used 130?

TonyG13

I sent a query to Raymarine and to their credit they responded within a couple of hours:

"The RS150 is our current GPS antenna but any brand GPS antenna will work on STNG. You would just need to convert STNG to device net for the connection. For example, I have Simrad and Garmin branded antennas in my test stand and they all function great."

The bad news is techs talk tech and don't think about the average Joe who knows squat about connecting networks. I'm a plug-n-play guy with limited knowledge of how these things interface. While I think what he's saying is any antenna will work on the SeaTalk Network (STNG), yet I still probably wouldn't know how to "convert STNG to device net" - I just hear yada, yada, yada.

So - thank you @Liberty44140 -- I'll probably take your advice and get an RS150 since it is the up-to-date version, and plug-n-play.

But here's the biggest kicker: After reading my Raymarine MFD manual it says my MFD has a built-in GPS. So went down to the boat, found the internal GPS in the menu, selected it, refreshed the system - and viola! - my GPS is working -- all without the external antenna attached. So I now have some time to decide my next steps.

LaRea

That's great that your MFD has a built-in GPS.  It should work just fine on its own.  If you find that it's not reliable enough, maybe you could look into adding an external GPS.

DeviceNet is the type of cable used for NMEA 2000 networking.  The Raymarine A06045 adapter cable that I mentioned previously is the adapter that the tech was talking about.  It connects STNG to N2K (DeviceNet).  

LaRea

Seatalk NG and NMEA 2000 are basically the same thing, except Raymarine doesn't use DeviceNet cables.  Raymarine uses a proprietary cable with a 6th wire that allows backwards compatibility with older Raymarine equipment.  

TonyG13

@Liberty44140 and @LaRea - Thank you both! I think I'm starting to figure this out. What I really wanted to do was just buy a GPS antenna, plug it into the existing (already run cable) and be done.

Nowadays, it does not seem to be that easy. BNC, SeaTalk, DeviceNet connectors. Whew! But with your info I think I know what to do...

The bad, current external Mercury GPS has a five pin (DeviceNet?) connector and that's what is already fished up to the arch. A new Raystar RS150 has the proprietary SeaTalk six pin connector.

So if I get the Raymarine A06045 adapter cable and add it to the existing cable it should be plug-n-play? (Fingers crossed.) 

LaRea

Yes -- if the cable coming down from the arch is a DeviceNet cable, the A06045 should hook right up.  

There's a small chance that I have one sitting at home.  If I do, it's yours.  Will check tonight.

TonyG13

Thank you! If you do have one, I'll send some libation money your way! But you don't need to look too hard, I did find one on eBay for $40 -- and I found an RS150 on Amazon for $160 (it's a return in "very good" condition) so hopefully that will work out perfectly.

LaRea

I have a 6" cable, female SeaTalk NG 6-pin to male DeviceNet 5-pin.  If you want it, PM me your address and I'll pop it into the mail.  The libation can wait until next time I visit Chicago, and you can deliver it in person!

TonyG13

Took another look at the guts of the old GPS and what I thought was the battery was actually the GPS module. But I did find the battery. It is one of the smallest buttons I've ever seen. It's a MS621FE and appears soldered in place, so removal might permanently damage the unit. Glad newer units are more user serviceable.

TonyG13

LaRea said:

I have a 6" cable, female SeaTalk NG 6-pin to male DeviceNet 5-pin.  If you want it, PM me your address and I'll pop it into the mail.  The libation can wait until next time I visit Chicago, and you can deliver it in person!

I will - and I'll hold you to the visit! Sending a PM soon. Thanks!!

Liberty44140

Yea I’d leave that alone. My old one had a very common cr2032 that popped in and out. I wouldn’t mess with that.

When I was researching adding the rs150 to mine this year I saw that with nema2000 I could buy other brands, cheaper brands, and they would work with my system, but I decided to stick with raymarine since I have a 4 year old axiom. If you start researching nema comparable antennas you’ll find the same info I had.

all that said if the internal antenna works your golden. My internal antenna was taking 20 min to connect due to hard top but now with the 150 connection is instantaneous.