On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:18:09 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Hi Guys,

I am looking at connecting Maxsea so that it is able to receive info
(NMEA) and send info to a Raymarine S3 Corepack Autopilot.

I have some questions however:

1. Can this bi-directional setup be done with one cable? My research
tells me yes, but I need it confirmed?

You need three wires: data in to the computer, data out from the
computer, and ground.

2. I have heard about people having to convert from seatalk to NMEA -
but the S3 has NMEA in/out connectors so I assume I dont have to do
any conversion?

Yes, you can use the S3's NMEA input instead of a separate
NMEA-Seatalk interface.

3. Sounds like I need to use a optical isolater, like :
http://www.navstore.com/detail.aspx?ID=1724 coupled with a USB to
RS232 convert?

You should not need opto-isolation, but if your computer only has USB
ports, and no read serial port, you will need a USB-RS-232 adaptor.

4. What gauge wiring should I use?

Small. All my NMEA-0183 wiring is done with Belden 8451, #22 shielded
twisted pair. (There's lots of it in the scrap heap at work...)


5. The S3 gets a variety of info from a varity of sensors, ie Water
Temp, Wind info GPS sentences - I assume this is then all included in
the NMEA output from the S3?

Should be.

All and any suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers

-Al

--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca