raymarine gyroplus 2 - nema 0183?

[Duetto]

hi,

we have a 2003 ms pilot 34. all electronics are original, raymarine and to the best of my knowledge seatalk. it is equipped with a dsm250 sounder for sonar. i'm having problems with the dsm250 and would like to totally remove it. unfortunately it has a transducer specific to the dsm250.

i would like to remove the dsm250 and its transducer and replace with a nema 0183 transducer. aside from physical issues (i.e. thruhull size) i would need to find a nema 0183 in port. i noticed that the gyroplus 2 doc shows a nema 0183 in port with the annotation "not used". the gyroplus 2 is quite close to the thruhull and would be an easy connection.

does anyone know if this is a) a useable but unused port or b) non-functional port?

thanks in advance,

john

 

[boomerang]

Im not sure what you're looking to connect the nmea transducer into. Do you want to keep the Gyro plus compass connected to your Raymarine MFD display for chart stabilization and your problem is that the Gyro plus is using the only available port in the Ramarine MFD ?
A nmea depth transducer will fill the hole of the DSM250 transducer. If you have a Raymarine autopilot of the same vintage as the other equipment, you could put the nmea depth data into the pilot corepack empty nmea in port ,using it as a multiplexer to display digital depth, provided it is interfaced to the MFD.
Personally, I wouldn't spend too much money on an outdated system.
The easy fix is to locate a working DSM 300 on ebay to get your system going until you decide to upgrade.

 

[Duetto]

Im not sure what you're looking to connect the nmea transducer into. Do you want to keep the Gyro plus compass connected to your Raymarine MFD display for chart stabilization and your problem is that the Gyro plus is using the only available port in the Ramarine MFD ?
A nmea depth transducer will fill the hole of the DSM250 transducer. If you have a Raymarine autopilot of the same vintage as the other equipment, you could put the nmea depth data into the pilot corepack empty nmea in port ,using it as a multiplexer to display digital depth, provided it is interfaced to the MFD.
Personally, I wouldn't spend too much money on an outdated system.
The easy fix is to locate a working DSM 300 on ebay to get your system going until you decide to upgrade.

my thought is if i can use the gyroplus nema port it gets depth info onto the seatalk network and my mfd. i have no use for sonar which i believe is the only reason i have a dsm250. i do not have an autopilot.

 

[boomerang]

OK I understand. If the gyro plus compass has an available nmea port in, then you have a workable plan. I've installed quite a few gyro pluses in the past, but honestly, it was so long ago I dont remember if I used the nmea port or if was a functional port or was for future versions of the compass. Regarding the proposed new nmea transducer being close to the gyro compass simplifying the connection process, you would still need to run 12v to the nmea transducer, so there is that to consider.

 

[Duetto]

OK I understand. If the gyro plus compass has an available nmea port in, then you have a workable plan. I've installed quite a few gyro pluses in the past, but honestly, it was so long ago I dont remember if I used the nmea port or if was a functional port or was for future versions of the compass. Regarding the proposed new nmea transducer being close to the gyro compass simplifying the connection process, you would still need to run 12v to the nmea transducer, so there is that to consider.

the gyroplus has 12v....this is why i'd like it to work. running a cable to mfd directly would be way harder.

 

[SoWhat]

DSM250 is simply an analog to digital converter. Very old technology (as is nmea 0183.) They are available on EBay for $50. Simplest solution.

 

[Duetto]

DSM250 is simply an analog to digital converter. Very old technology (as is nmea 0183.) They are available on EBay for $50. Simplest solution.

it does sound simple but how do i know that i'm not paying $50 for what i have....MAYBE a flaky dsm250? now if you could tell me how to test the 250 outside of transducer, rl70c, connections, i'm listening

 

[SoWhat]

Manuals for RL70, DSM250, Gyroplus, etc are still available online. figure out the pinouts/wire colors and get your multimeter out. Or do what your car dealer does. Replace everything until it works.

 

[Ka_sea_ta]

the dsm 250 transducer is analog, the dsm is the receiver and transmitter for the transducer. The dsm converts the analog information to digital. The dsm connects to the MFD with a raymarine proprietary protocol (HSB) that is not NMEA 183 compatible. IIRC there are indicator lights on the DSM which should provide hints if the transducer is functional....

 

[Duetto]

my goal is to eliminate the dsm250 if possible, not fix it.

the question i asked was if the nema in port on the gyroplus is functional/can be used. basically i was asking if anyone was using that port. based on responses i'm assuming the answer is no.