When I got around to installing the AIS receiver in Sunny Spells, I had a bit of a frustrating time working out how to connect to the NMEA input of the Navman 8084 (similar to Navman 8084, Northstar M84 and Northstar M120). The handbook was no help at all…

A quick call to Navman confirmed what I had found elsewhere on the internet:

• The NMEA 0183 input is on the white “Fuel/Nav” input on the Navman/Northstar unit.
• You need one of the Navman/Northstar extension cables with an LT8 plug on one end and bare wires on the other. AA002412 is one of the part numbers but there are several others that would work (different cable lengths have different part numbers…). Your friendly Navman/Northstar dealer can help you order the right cable.
• The WHITE and BLACK wires on the extension cable are used for the NMEA 0183 input. Black (you guessed it…) is the NMEA negative (earth) and white is the NMEA positive.

Remember that the chartplotter will look for some inputs on the NavBus input if that option has been activated. For example, if NavBus is turned on, the chartplotter will NOT look for wind data on the NMEA input even if there is no wind data on the NavBus input – very annoying! The NMEA input automatically selects the high speed option (38400 baud) if a high speed data stream (such as AIS or a multiplexer with a 38400 baud output) is connected.