Help getting HDS8 gene to "talk" to AP

[coralee]

I think I have everything set up correct but the Simrad AP14 is not getting any input. I sure could use some help to verify stuff including the HDS settings to find out what I'm missing. Here is what I have:

Anyone able to help?

Thanks

[HONDAM]

Did you connect the Out of the Lowrance to the In on the autopilot? Colors usually do not match up.

[coralee]

As far as I can tell yes. The tx is send on the hds and the rx is receive. I have the Yellow TX+ connected to the data in and the blue TX- connected to the comm. It appears to be just like it shows in a diagram in the AP14 manual.

I'm getting satellite info to the HDS and telling it to go to a trail and it produces the straight line to the start of the trail but the AP beeps twice when NAV is pushed and that is supposed to indicate that no info is being received.

[coralee]

Update

I was told to test the voltage on the sending wire and it should read up to 5 volts. It does not seem to be sending through the NMEA0183 wire so I am assuming at this time its a setting issue in the HDS. Any ideas? or anyone using the same NMEA to send and can tell me their settings?

Thanks

[tntmud]

I wish my boat was here to look but I had the same problem with the Elite 7Hdi (which runs the same nema wiring as the hds) to my Raymarine autopilot and believe I had to use the yellow and then just the common ground which is just the shielded wire. It also would not work with the actual receive wire which im sure was also blue. I should be over to the boat in the next few days I think and ill take a look or have someone else take a pic for me

[coralee]

Yes please send me a pic or info as to how you got it to work. I think that sounds like something we were trying to figure out as the yellow tx+ seems correct but the AP calls the other wire "comm" and I think its a common or ground and not the other blue. I did try to jump that comm to the battery neg terminal but that didn't work so maybe connecting to the shield???

Thank you-I look forward to the info.

i'm still trying to get voltage from the yellow also and not succeeding, so ???

[coralee]

Thanks to all for advice which kept narrowing it down and yes it was that the comm on the AP had to be connected to the shield on the HDS. Both manuals were fairly poor and the simrad even showed an alternate wiring where the same yellow wire was the out to in and the comm was just jumped over to the battery neg but that did not work. Thanks again to all especially TNT who nailed it.

I'm ready to roll

[tntmud]

Glad to hear you got it working as I have not made it to my boat yet. I spent MANY hours searching different forums when mine wouldn't work and don't remember now where I found the info I needed. I called Raymarine and Lowrance a couple different times and that was just a waste of breath once they heard I was hooking someone elses product to theirs. Now I just need to figure out how to get my Lowrance to talk to my VHF to make the DSC work. More pulling hair out to come I suppose

[coralee]

Well I called Lowrance several times and they own Simrad or both are owned by Navico so it was theirs either way, the first they took my number and never called back the second was a very helpful guy (simrad) who got me close and told me to call back if I needed to.

Sure glad to have it figured out. Thanks again