FA-150 Heading input question

chtucker

Furuno Fan
I figured I should start a new thread, as this is a different question...

Is heading input required into the FA-150? Will the unit be in alarm without it? Will it transmit heading that is calculated from GPS?

I have been told that it is not necessary and I am trying to confirm.

THANKS FURUNO FOR BEING SO HELPFUL!
 
Problem solved.. I was able to get a PG 500 heading sensor inexpensively

So..

I have FA-150 AIS system
GP-32 for external GPS
PG 500 for heading input to the AIS

For NMEA 2000 output I went with the IFNMEA2k2. This will input the AIS data into my TZ Touch Chart plotter.

I also contact the USCG and inquired about the legailty of 28' recreational boat utilzing a Class A AIS. They expresed that it is legal and there is no issue. I have a follow up question with the USCG VTS center inquiring about NOT inputing my destination and will that raise any issues.

Thanks for the great customer support!
 
I have the AIS installed and reprogrammed for my vessel. Everything appears to work except for the heading input. The GP-32 inputs the external GPS on the COM-4 connection, pins 9 and 10, using them blue/white wires. The com port settings are for 4800bps (IEC61162-1)

The PG500 heading sensor is connected from the 12 VDC Combination port. The NMEA and AD-10 port are not connected to anything. I tried a variety of output settings (4800bps and 38.4 baud) and made the corresponding changes on the AIS. I also have tried changing to output interval to the four different frequencies. Lastly I tried the different output sentence combinations. I have the blue/white wires connected to pins 9&10 on com port 5.

I am still getting no display of heading on the FA-150 display and of course the corresponding alarm. Any thoughts on what I could be missing?

I am assuming I have a configuration error on the output of the PG500r. I swapped the inputs around (moved the com 5 plug to the com 4 plug) to see if it was a FA-150 configuration issue. GPS works on com 4, heading does not.

I have not calibrated the heading sensor, but it does show a green solid status light. It is a new install. Is it not outputing heading till i run through a calibration procedure?

The AIS data is out putting correctly through IF NMEA2000 converter, the AIS is tramstting my ship data accurately I just can't get the heading inputted properly into the AIS.

The PG-500 is brand new out of the box.

I appreciate the in depth help. I know that this device is not usually installed by an end user
 
Because the FA150 is an IMO device, it is looking for TRUE heading. When using the PG500, normally you would wire and set it up in TRUE mode. Once in TRUE mode, you would wire the four wire AD10 heading from the compass into the FA150 (Com6 pins10-13). The FA150 will not accept heading via NMEA 0183 from the PG500.
 
Got it!

Thanks, I had my suspicions, The manual page with input sentences was vague but did indicate that.


Howard
 
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