Garmin + A031 + A026 (and seatalk1)

[Anonymous]

Hello! First post here.

I’m trying to get my system working correctly on my boat:

I have an old raymarine ST60 network with autopilot. The pilot integrates with a Garmin chirp 54cv  via NMEA 0183 and can follow a course without problems. I recently added the QK-A026 as an AIS receiver and a QK-A031 to integrate the AIS and sea talk data and send it to the Garmin plotter.

the garmin is connected to the quark protocol bridge which feeds Nmea data to the pilot, VHF, and A026.

the A026 is not connected to a gps antenna and it’s gps feature is disabled. (Positional data is provided via nmea from the plotter)

the vhf, seatalk1, and A026 send nmea data to the A031 which is sent back to the plotter.

currently I get AIS data displayed on the plotter without issue.

here is the problem: the A026 seems to be creating problems with the system. When the A026 is connected to the plotter, the seatalk data becomes corrupted and unreliable, and the plotter and pilot have a hard time communicating. (For example, when following a plotter course, the pilot frequently misses turn commands and re-initiates the ack request. Similarly, the seatalk data becomes “frozen”, such as depth, wind direction, and heading; ie: sideways boat icon on the garmin)

when the A026 is disconnected all these problems go away. Seatalk works fine.  (occasionally I get a “lost heading sensor” alarm which is probably just a bad data packet) and the pilot can follow a course with turns without any issues.

I tried running the A026 with gps enabled and disabled with the same result. I connected the A026 to my SH GX2000 and it displays AIS data BUT : SOG and COG begin to blink.

whereas I understand (now) that quark offers single package products that combine the jobs of these devices into one unit, I already bought the two before I found out. Lol.

Does anyone have any helpful hints or ideas that could help solve my issues? Thanks for the help!!

[Anonymous]

Diagram for clarity. 🙂

[Anonymous]

Hei Nathan, Im sorry I cant help you with you problem but I was wondering if you could help me.

I see you have the AS03 in your diagram. How did you determine that you needed that?

I suspect my Garmin Chartplotter is outputting RS232 signal since it only has one terminal for Talker. Did you try connecting without the AS03?

Kind Regards,

Johann

[Anonymous]

Hi Johann, was told for most of Garmin chartplotter you need swap two wires to get it work. If its RS232, which normally only have TX or RX shown on the wiring diagram, you need connect it to one of NMEA terminals(normally positive, but not alwasy), and then connect the GND to the other terminals. Good Luck.

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