posted 07-18-2012 02:43 PM ET (US)        

The manual for the GX2100 shows the connections as follows: IS THIS CORRECT?

GX2100 (GREEN)- NMEA Ground (-) ….……..Connect to NMEA Common (-) Connections of GP-32 (BLUE) TD-C/SG
GX2100 (BLUE)- NMEA Input (+) ………………Connect to NMEA (+) Output of GP-32 (YELLOW) ………………..SD
GX2100 (GRAY) - NMEA Output (+) ………….Connect to NMEA (+) Input of GP-32 (GREEN) ……………………..RD
GX2100 (BROWN) - AIS Data Output (+) …Connect to NMEA-HS IN (+) Input of GP-32 (WHITE) …………..TD-H

I also have an Auto Pilot interface which I have wired up as shown:
GP-32 WHITE WIRE TD-H TO AP RD-H
GP-32 BLUE WIRE TD-C/SG TO AP RD-C

posted 07-18-2012 10:02 PM ET (US)            

I think you will not be able to use your auto pilot at the same time unless you have more than two ports.

The radio's AIS connection will take two wires one + one - and will need to be set to high speed (At least I had to set it to high on my Garmin 3206).

The Radios DSC connection will need two wires one + and one -.

I assume that your Furuno is probably out of NMEA 0083 wires after connecting both the DSC and the AIS features of the Radio.

posted 07-19-2012 08:46 AM ET (US)            

The GP-32 is a GPS receiver, and it will send position data to the radio, so the radio will know the boat's position and be able to transmit it via digital selective calling.

I am not certain what is going to happen with the connection between the radio OUTPUT and the GPS receiver INPUT. Usually you have this connection to permit the radio to send data to a chart plotter. The GP-32 is not a chart plotter. I don't know what it is going to do with data from the radio. The radio is also an AIS receiver, so it will be sending AIS information. I think the radio is going to be sending data in the NMEA sentences DSC, DSE, and VDM. If the GPS receiver knows of those sentences, I guess it will be able to use that information. I looked on-line for more information about the GP-32, and I did not see a list of NMEA sentences it can operate with as incoming data.

The radio has two serial data outputs. The one noted as "NMEA" or the GRAY conductor is a 9600-bps transmit rate. The one noted as "AIS" is a 38400-bps transmit rate. It appears the GPS has an appropriate high-speed input called "NMEA-HS IN."

You can have two listeners or inputs connected at the same time to a single talker or output, according to NMEA specifications that I have seen. You cannot have two talkers or outputs wired together at a single listener or input.

I am confused about the GP-32 wire that is WHITE. In one case you show it as an input (when you connect it to the radio's output) and in another case you show it as an output (where you connect it to the autopilot's input).

posted 07-19-2012 03:26 PM ET (US)            

The radio will use the info to plot AIS and DSC information on the radio's screen. So you do not need a chart plotter for these features to work.

Personally I have found that I much prefer the chart plotters screen over the GX2100 screen.

I have had AIS targets show up on my chart plotter at 23+ miles. The radio's screen will only show 15 miles out.

After thinking about my original post, I am doubting my statement. I have it in my head (but I don't know why) if a device uses both the data in and out of a GPS chart plotter you can not connect a second unit to the same data out. If that is not true than you should be able to use the same GPS data out wire as the DSC radio for the auto pilot regardless of the GPS unit being a chart plotter or not. Again this should not apply to you if your unit is only a GPS receiver it will not want info from the radio so the radio will only be a listener just like the auto pilot.

I am currently sharing a data out wire with my fuel flow meter and my auto pilot. But neither of these devices send info back to the GPS.