Radar shown on MFD or keep on a separate display

[Russo]

I am getting to the point where I will likely be adding a radar to my small center console fairly soon here. My MFD is a Lowrance HDS carbon 12”. It has the capability to do split screen which I often do while using the up down and chart etc. I am wondering if anybody has us strong opinion on why they do not want their radar also on the same multifunction display? My thought process is that it would be cheapest to go about it in that fashion to begin with and then if I wanted to I can add a second display unit later.
The other side of that coin is that I will be limited to a Lowrance or Simrad radar. At least as far as I know.
I know that there are options from Furuno, Which can be had for around $2000 with a separate small display. I realize these are nowhere near their top of the line, but I also believe they have been on the market for many many years and as a result assume they are of a good quality and do the job. I forget the model number I think it’s an 1815? something like that.
Thoughts? Pros/ Cons appreciated.

 

[Hismosa]

Used furuno units pop up pretty often and you can probably find dome and display for under a grand. But I would just use splitscreen if you feel you need a radar, although I doubt it's going to get much use in a small CC.

 

[Reel 007]

I am partial to stand alone radars, if your MFD is anything like my Simrad NSS EVO3 the display has a 1" border around it making it more of a 10" display, split screen and you are now looking at your radar on a 5" screen.
I would suggest if there is room, get a stand alone radar.

 

[Russo]

Used furuno units pop up pretty often and you can probably find dome and display for under a grand. But I would just use splitscreen if you feel you need a radar, although I doubt it's going to get much use in a small CC.

I want it to make the crossing at night to Cat and also for night fishing around the island. It just seems like good insurance?

 

[Big_Tuna_]

Radar is a must have for night and early morning fog.

Split screen would be fine for now. Get a used 4G if you are trying to save money or a new simrad/lowranc halo20+. Network it to your hds carbon12 , and you can add another lowrance/simrad screen later if you want.

 

[Russo]

Radar is a must have for night and early morning fog.

Split screen would be fine for now. Get a used 4G if you are trying to save money or a new simrad/lowranc halo20+. Network it to your hds carbon12 , and you can add another lowrance/simrad screen later if you want.

This is kind of where I was leaning. Spend a little bit more money on the dome today and connected as a split screen. Even if it’s not the ideal circumstance I can likely get a smaller display later and use it exclusively for the radar.

 

[a7ewizard]

I'm in the split screen camp. Radar overlay on the chartplotter is a great feature.
Holding a heading in dense fog or night time with no reference point on the horizon is a full time job. Working a radar and looking for targets will distract you from you heading duties. You also need to look out because smaller boats often don't have good returns.
An auto pilot should be a consideration.

 

[Russo]

I'm in the split screen camp. Radar overlay on the chartplotter is a great feature.
Holding a heading in dense fog or night time with no reference point on the horizon is a full time job. Working a radar and looking for targets will distract you from you heading duties. You also need to look out because smaller boats often don't have good returns.
An auto pilot should be a consideration.

I actually do have an auto pilot. Unfortunately because it is Raymarine it doesn’t work directly communicating with the Lowrance. It’s not that big of a deal though. I just get my heading in degrees and then set it on the auto pilot control. It’s not perfect but it’s also not a large enough problem to throw the amount of money it would take to remedy at it in my opinion.

The radar interests me primarily because I would like to try and get more nighttime Seabass and squid going out at Catalina.

Having been at the helm on large boats (which do not belong to me) that are fully decked out when the fog rolls in so thick you can’t even see the end of the bow I have learned to really appreciate radar.

 

[butcherboy]

..

 

[Russo]

Agreed. I thought it might be nice to be able to keep on so you have a good idea of where the island actually sits in relation to your position at all times. Not that it’s not on the plotter. Also for crossing in the dark etc is a given.
It just seems like it would open up the ability to not have to leave because you’re concerned it’s going to get dark while you’re crossing or not being able to leave at 3 in the morning to head out to the island because you won’t have daylight for hours. I don’t know maybe I’m overthinking it.

 

[Big_Tuna_]

FYI you can link your raymarine autopilot with a lowrance unit. Connect the spare port on your autopilot headunit to your nema2000 network using a seatalk to nmea cable. Youll then be able to point to a waypoint on your lowrance and then confirm tracking to engage the course on the autopilot unit. Not fully integrated but it helps

 

[Big_Tuna_]

I've got a halo24 radar, simrad evo3, hds9 carbon, and raymarine autopilot ev1, course computer and heading sensor all networked together. Let me know if you have questions

 

[Russo]

I will take a look at it again. When I first got everything used obviously, it was installed on the boat. I looked into it and I think the issue was maybe that they were just different vintages.
I don’t believe the Raymarine unit was new enough to support Sea talk/ nmea2000. It’s been a couple years and I can’t remember the specific details but I did try to go down that road. As I said before it was not super bothersome to me. Effectively all I can’t really do is set my course and engage auto pilot through my MFD. I just set it with the knob on the autopilot head unit.
It also doesn’t show the heading in the auto pilot screen on the MFD. But again, in the grand scheme of all the stupid things I’ve had to fix on the boat it’s not keeping me up at night. Ha ha

 

[ShadowX]

The answer is simple. Use what you have for now and if you don't like it, add another dedicated screen later. The 12" display is more than enough real estate for a radar overlay. We have a 12" EVO3 and a 9" EVO3 and we only display radar on the 12". There is no point in not using the overlay unless you don't have an electronic compass. You need the compass to overlay radar on your chart plotter.

 

[Thozguys]

Use a single MFD and overlay the radar on the chart screen that way you dont have to use the split screen...

 

[Derby]

Both, buy another MFD. Get a radar with dual range. 4G or Halo 20+

 

[nefarious235]

Overlay is a game changer

 

[sickcat]

Radar is a critical tool when your around the island or out in the shipping lanes in low vis. People are hurt every year running into the island. Island almost always wins.

Can't speak to Lowrance specifically but in general set the radar overlay up with colors/contrast that work for you. Play with it in good conditions until your very comfortable with what your looking at with your eyes looks like on the screen.

 

[Russo]

Radar is a critical tool when your around the island or out in the shipping lanes in low vis. People are hurt every year running into the island. Island almost always wins.

Can't speak to Lowrance specifically but in general set the radar overlay up with colors/contrast that work for you. Play with it in good conditions until your very comfortable with what your looking at with your eyes looks like on the screen.

That is about where I am at with it. $2500 is a lot. Unless you compare it to just about any collision, boat sinking or injury scenario. Then it just seems like bargain pricing.

 

[SeaHawk IV]

My vote is for a second screen.

Use the 12" screen with radar overlay and second screen for sonar to monitor depth, speed, COG, compass heading, etc.

But if you don't use radar at night that often, just stick with the 12" and split the screen.

 

[tbev]

The answer is simple. Use what you have for now and if you don't like it, add another dedicated screen later. The 12" display is more than enough real estate for a radar overlay. We have a 12" EVO3 and a 9" EVO3 and we only display radar on the 12". There is no point in not using the overlay unless you don't have an electronic compass. You need the compass to overlay radar on your chart plotter.

I have a 12in evo3 and a 7in evo3 and I just bought a halo20+. Although I haven't gotten my AP to work just yet I have everything it needs including a Precision 9. In this post you said a compass was necessary for the radar overlay, is the P9 going to fit that bill or do I need something else? Do you recommend anything else I'm leaving out. ?

Also, do you have a separate switch on the dash to turn on\off the radar? I was going to run a separate buss that gets powered from the master mfd but I don't know if I want my radar powered up all the time.
Thanks bud.

 

[ShadowX]

I have a 12in evo3 and a 7in evo3 and I just bought a halo20+. Although I haven't gotten my AP to work just yet I have everything it needs including a Precision 9. In this post you said a compass was necessary for the radar overlay, is the P9 going to fit that bill or do I need something else? Do you recommend anything else I'm leaving out. ?

Also, do you have a separate switch on the dash to turn on\off the radar? I was going to run a separate buss that gets powered from the master mfd but I don't know if I want my radar powered up all the time.
Thanks bud.

Yes, the Precision 9 is all you need to run the radar overlay. The P9 has a compass and gyro built in. The only feature it lacks is a GPS sensor. You can use the internal GPS from your EVO3 units or buy a separate Point-1 GPS/compass if you need an external GPS unit. Most people prefer an external puck since you can mount it on the roof and get better signal.

These new generation radar does not need an on/off switch. You can wire it to the yellow standby connection on your Simrad EVO3 if you want your fish finder to turn on the radar. However, you can use the software to turn on the transmit on the radar on your screen. If the transmit is off, the radar would go on standby power which has very low power consumption. When you use the software to turn the radar back on, it is almost instant and does not require a warmup period. This is how most people wire it up.

To turn the radar on and off through software, you basically go to the radar or chart screen on the Simrad unit. On the right hand side, should be a menu. There is an option to turn on and off using the radar "transmit" option. On the chart screen, the on/off feature is under the "Overlay" selection. You first select the radar as the overlay for your charts, and then under that dropdown menu, you can then select the "transmit" option. You may need to press the down arrow because they intentionally put the transmit option on the next page so people don't accidentally turn it on and off on the main page. The instructions are in the manual.

I have a 3G radar instead of the Halo, but the wiring should be similar. There are several options to interfacing to the Halo radar. Depending on which option you choose, you will need to buy the correct cable or box.


Option 1: RI-12 interface box (more expensive)

Per the manual, it shows wiring to the RI-12 interface box shown below. The manual claims you need this box for MARPA, but I don't believe its needed. The Simrad unit should be able to display MARPA as far as I know (I might be wrong).

RI-12 interface box: (SKU: 000-11467-001)

The connections seems straight forward on the box. The cable with yellow connector goes to your fish finder unit. There is a NMEA2000, Power, cable to sonar Network connection and a RJ45 (similar to ethernet) connector.

You will need to run the Halo cable from your console to the the Halo radar unit.

Option 2: Direct connection with Simrad ethernet adapter (cheaper)

Per the manual, it should come with a 20m Interconnection cable. shown below. You will need to run that cable up to your radar unit first. I suggest you tape up that RJ45 (telephone jack) connector with tape very well to protect it during the pulling of the wires. Worse case if it gets damaged, it can be replaced with a new connector, but its best to avoid damaging it.

In this configuration, you will need the following RJ45 to Ethernet adapter cable. This cable is about 6 feet long. If you need it longer to reach your unit, you can either run the Halo wire closer to the unit or buy an extension cable. This cable basically plugs into the RJ45 (telephone jack style) connector to the round Simrad Ethernet cable (yellow connector).

RJ45 to Simrad Ethernet adapter cable: (SKU: ‎000-0127-56)

In this configuration, the wiring is straightforward. You plug the RJ45 plug into the adapter cable and the yellow connector to your 12" EVO3 unit directly. Note, only the 12" EVO3 unit will have radar on it if you plug directly in. If you need the radar on other remote screens networked to the 12", you will need to get a separate NEP2 box and connect this connector to the NEP2 box instead.

You then connect the red and the yellow wire to the battery +12V bus with a fuse and the black wire to the ground. The yellow wire is a remote turn on/off connection. You can wire it to a switch if you want or tie it to the yellow wire on the fish finder so that if you turn on the fish finder, it will turn on the radar at the same time. Most people wire it right to the power lead since the unit doesn't use a lot of power when its not transmitting.

Option 3: Adapter to an existing 3G/4G radar previously wired up

In this option, it assumes you previously have a 3G/4G radar with the wires running from the fish finder to the radar unit on the roof. If you don't want to run the new Halo wires, an option is to buy an adapter cable shown below. The adapter converts the 3G/4G to Halo20 connector on the radar unit. All you have to do is plug this adapter into your existing cable and plug the other side into the Halo radar.

3G/4G to Halo20 adapter: (SKU: 000-14551-001)

 

[tbev]

Thanks bud, I appreciate your help. I think I'm going to order the adapter. What else do you use the ri-12 box to connect?

 

[ShadowX]

Thanks bud, I appreciate your help. I think I'm going to order the adapter. What else do you use the ri-12 box to connect?

The RI-12 box is just a cleaner way of connecting the radar cable to power and to directly plug into the NMEA2000 backbone. This way, the radar would have direct access to the compass data

The RI-12 is an updated version of the older RI-10 interface which converts the RJ46 jack to the Simrad Ethernet connector (yellow). It also has the older SimNet connectors which is basically NMEA2000 but with a proprietary Simrad connector. The new RI-12 uses a standard NMEA 2000 connector instead of a SimNet connector.

You really don't need either because the RJ46 jack has all the signals that directly goes to the Simrad Ethernet connector. The only three other wires is the red (power), yellow (standby) and black (ground).

This is just an expensive box that the Simrad EVO3 unit doesn't need, but it looks nicer.


RI-10:

 

[tbev]

This s the cheapest I have found it, an I guess I can always use a few more jigs. Can you confirm this is the correct cable for me please, I think I may need a few extra feet anyways.


MARPA should work with this right, I've seem a lot of other posts but not confirming the P9 is enough. Simrad site says it requires a 10hz heading sensor and the P9 is 20hz, 20,hz, 10hz so I think that should be good but I dunno.

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