Connect laptop to Chartplotter

[wkeith]

2004 Carver 466 with Raymarine RL 80C chartplotter looking to connect laptop to receive information. How can this be done?
Thanks!
Walter

[bud37]

Raymarine has a forum with lots of info.....I just checked and it appears to be transitioning to customer help ....worth a look anyway.

https://forum.raymarine.com

[Viper]

You'll need software for that plus a way to get GPS data into your laptop. I used to run Fugawi but they are no longer in business. Worked great though. Was able to store an endless number of way-points, routes, pictures, etc. Raymarine used to sell their own computer navigation software with the interface cable you'd need to hook up to your laptop, don't know if that's still available. There are several threads on here though with alternatives that might be useful using wifi, third party charting services, etc. I'm sure the guys will chime in with some examples of what they're doing.

[km1125]

You should also make sure you have the RL80C and not the RL80C+ IIRC, the first uses HSB and the second uses HSB2 and that might make a difference in your final solution.

[Viper]

If you can do some basic wiring, you can make your own cable for GPS data transfer. When I did it, it was with a serial port (remember what that is?!). I made up a cable with a serial connector and hooked up the wires to the little white junction box used in most Raymarine installs at the time. The GPS cable connection was made in this box so you just have to tap in there to pick up the data. There should also be generic GPS data output from the display through one of the cables. The only thing I had to figure out was the serial port pin configuration and which pin each GPS wire went to. Pretty easy to figure out thanks to Google. Ran a little inverter off the cigarette lighter to power the laptop.

[wkeith]

Viper, thank you very much this is great information. Will give this a look and try to get this going.
Thanks again,
Walter

[Viper]

Did you come up with anything?