I have been following the posts during the past few months and the more I read, the more confused I got. Within the next few weeks I have to decide on a course of action. So far, my plans were to install a PB200 at the top of my main mast. However, reading the posts, I am getting the impression, to have a GPS and Compass up there, may not be the best solution. Someone suggested to install the GH2183 GPS & heading sensor at deck level. In my mind, this would imply then, the purchase of the PB200 would be overkill since the I would be doubling-up on GPS and heading sensors. Perhaps, the PB150 and the GH2183 would be a suitable combination? I am using Raymarine and PC hardware.
I will very much appreciate any and all comments to help me with making a decision. The sailing season will start soon... :-)
Cheers,
Ronald
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A lot of people believe unconditionally that to mount your GPS or compass on a masthead is wrong.
Airmar claims stabilization features in the PB200 which should make this kind of installation ok. And there are some videos on the web (panbo even?) of the PB200 accurate handling the data even when swinging around in a test setup which moved in one plane (i.e., left to right, but not simultaneously left\right, up\down, & for\aft). To my knowledge Airmar does not publicly endorse masthead installation for sailboats. Read their doc though, all their selection criteria scream masthead. They do mention that the higher the installation the less accurate the pitch and roll readings will be.
In the face of ambiguous information, and not wanting to be a pioneer, I instead went with a Maretron WSO100 weather station at the masthead and Meretron GPS200 on the stern pulpit.
Hope that helps.
The Airmar PB200 looks like the ideal device for my powerboat. But I loath the prospect of having to deal with the compatibility problems of getting it to play nicely with my two SeaTalk networked Raymarine E120s.
There are a few blogs around that talk about conflicts between the device and chartplotters where they both want to compute the difference between true and apparent wind for example.
These fears were all solved of course when Raymarine announced they would be marketing the Airmar PB200 as their own model A22157. Their 2010 brochure says it will be available 'mid season' so I held on for that.
So we are now in 2011 and Raymarine have gone a little quiet. Or even completely silent to the extent that a query posted on their website as to when it might be available does not even attract a response.
Does anyone out there know a) is Raymarine ever going to release this device; b) can the Airmar branded device be installed without compatibility trauma and; c) is there an alternative product available with the same functionality and is known to actually work?
Many thanks,
Michael.
Interesting, Michael. I don't think Raymarine's rebadging of the PB200 was ever mentioned here in the U.S. But I found the European 2010 catalog and don't see any reason to believe that the A22157 is at all different from a regular PB200 except for the label and maybe a SeaTalkNG plug instead of a standard NMEA 2000 one.
Conflicts are possible because the PB200 puts out so many data types and Raymarine MFDs don't yet have the ability to choose sources, but do you already have STng/N2K sensors that might be made redundant?
Also, do you have links to the sites where problems are discussed?
Hi Ben. Thanks for the great blog.
My potentially conflicting/redundant sensors are a Raystar 125 GPS and a fluxgate compass.
I would like to replace the Raystar 125 with the PB200 mainly because the 125 currently holds the best free airflow position up on top. I already have a second GPS antenna attached to my 0183 AIS and this steps in nicely (although is noticibly a little more bumpy) if I turn off the Raystar 125.
The PB200 would I think provide good redundancy for the fluxgate compass would it not?
How would you recommend I config the PB200 as far as all the outputs go or would you just leave it stock?
Again, I guess my concerns here are that neither Raymarine nor Airmar will vouch for compatibility without conflict.
In terms of other blogs where issues are discussed the best thread is probably this one http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/airmar-pb200-weatherstation-31747-2.html which I know is certainly not new to you.
Thanks again for this fantastic resource.
I use the PB200 with the Raymarine chart plotter for a few years.
The ideal settings are not difficult to determine. Depending on how you connect it, 0183 vs 2000, there are some better choices of settings then others. When connecting using 0183, you need to disable the output of true wind. Either the chart plotter or the ST60 wind display (I am not sure which) seems to insist on calculating the true wind. Having them both do it caused some occasional misreporting of data.
There is a neat option where the PB200 will only output GPS information as a backup, if it does not detect another GPS source.
Send me your email address and I would gladly forward you the settings I use.
Dan
Many thanks Dan.
I am thinking 0183 so all config help would be much appreciated.
wig'at'flatback'dot'com
Michael.
If you are able to use Airmar's Weathercaster program you can disable anything that you want, so get the PB200 and a PC/N2K interface compatible with Weathercaster. The Actisense device is you best option as it is compatible with a whole lot of other software as well.
Thanks Kees.
Hi Dan,
Could you also email me the settings and any advice, then setting up the PB200?
Regards
Søren
sl|at|nautiskteknik.dk