Seatalk1 - input

Seatalk1 is an old and outdated communication protocol, but it is still quite present on many boats. The Seatalk1 bus has 3 wires: black for GND, yellow for data, and red for power.

Wiring with power module

Wiring with power module

Important

Always follow our safety tips before making any connection.

Attention
12V SW must be connected for the power module to turn on.

You need to connect yellow wire to DATA connector and red wire to 12V SW connector.

When using the power module, if you open the main switch, all the devices on the Seatalk1 bus will turn off (plotter, sensors, displays...) but OpenPlotter will stay on until the system shuts down safely and finally turns off by itself.

Wiring without power module

Wiring without power module

Important

Always follow our safety tips before making any connection.

If you are not using the power module, you will need to connect yellow wire to DATA connector, red wire to 12V SW connector and also black wire to GND connector.

If you open the main switch, all the devices on the Seatalk1 bus will turn off (plotter, sensors, displays...) but OpenPlotter will stay on until you manually shut down the system and turn off the Raspberry Pi 5V power supply.

Configuration

To receive data via Seatalk1 you need the GPIO app. Go to the seatalk Seatalk1 input tab and click Add. Provide an ID for this connection, e.g. seatalk1, select gpiod in GPIOD Library, select the GPIO 20, check Invert signal and click OK.

The Signal K server will restart, and you should start receiving data from the Seatalk1 bus.

Configuration

Note

The gpiod library works on Raspberry Pi 3, 4, and 5 models, while the pigpio library only works on Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 models.

LEDs

□ off | ■■■ blinking | ▬▬ fixed

LED RX TX Description
Seatalk1 Seatalk1 wires are not connected or there is no data traffic.
Seatalk1 ■■■ Seatalk1 wires are connected and there is data traffic.