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Thank you @Yoda715. I disconnected the wires remote at the helm but when I do that I get a Stereo Communication Error. I assume if I disconnect at the remote it will be the same.
I didn't disconnect at the helm, so not really sure. But I know that both the Connext from the helm, and the commander, both communicate to the Tuner using the same wire. So somewhere in the boat, is a Y cable that connects both the Connext system bridge and the commander remote in the stern. I had success in controlling the tuner via Connext with the commander/remote disconnected. Admittedly I didn't try turning the volume up and down, but it powered on and connected to my phone via bluetooth.
I didn't disconnect at the helm, so not really sure. But I know that both the Connext from the helm, and the commander, both communicate to the Tuner using the same wire. So somewhere in the boat, is a Y cable that connects both the Connext system bridge and the commander remote in the stern. I had success in controlling the tuner via Connext with the commander/remote disconnected. Admittedly I didn't try turning the volume up and down, but it powered on and connected to my phone via bluetooth.
Reason I’m asking is if the system can work with the remote unplugged - and since I don’t use it- I wouldn’t be forced to replace it. Just let it installed unplugged as an ornament
If not I will need to find a replacement for it.
Reason I’m asking is if the system can work with the remote unplugged - and since I don’t use it- I wouldn’t be forced to replace it. Just let it installed unplugged as an ornament
If not I will need to find a replacement for it.
Yea, from what I've observed you can do most things from Connext without the remote, but not all. I think in order to remove bluetooth paired devices or to change radio presets, you have to use the commander unit. If that's not a deal breaker or important right now then yea, I think you could get away without a commander. However, I would say best to keep one available in case you do reach a point that you need to do those operations of device or radio management.
Thank you @Yoda715. I disconnected the wires remote at the helm but when I do that I get a Stereo Communication Error. I assume if I disconnect at the remote it will be the same.
I didn't disconnect at the helm, so not really sure. But I know that both the Connext from the helm, and the commander, both communicate to the Tuner using the same wire. So somewhere in the boat, is a Y cable that connects both the Connext system bridge and the commander remote in the stern. I had success in controlling the tuner via Connext with the commander/remote disconnected. Admittedly I didn't try turning the volume up and down, but it powered on and connected to my phone via bluetooth.
The plug you're looking for is right behind the cupholder next to the swim deck remote. Just pull the cup holder and reach around in there. You'll find it fairly easily.
So I purchased a brand new PA4A unit. Before proceeding with the replacement I did a few tests and this is what I found:
- if you unplug the wired remote at the main unit under the helm you will get a com error message
- if you unplug the wired remote at the stern, where the cup holders are on the swim platform the main unit will still be able to work and there is no error message.
- if you plug the new PA4A wired remote directly to the main unit at stern you will get a com error
- if you plug it at the stern / swim platform everything is fine.
Anyway the new unit solved my issue. Thank you for the help.
There is no need for the gateway if your boat came with a pa4a and connext v1 7inch screen. The jadb connector for the pa4a black box will be the same and just plug in the new jensen or polk unit jdab to that. That connector goes to a customized version of the gateway linked above. Basically Actia/Actisense makes the gateway hardware and it is a registered nmea device. It has a whole bunch of hardware I/O pins but which ones are active and what they do will be controlled by the firmware. For the aforementioned pa4a gen 1 connext boats the gateway is already installed with custom firmware to communicate over the legacy yamaha radio canbus instead of NMEA2K.
The fuel sending unit also connects to the gateway in order to send its info over the radio canbus (I know not inutitive but that is the way its is).
When connext turns on it sends a signal to the gateway that triggers a relay in the power distribution block that then sends power to the hot side of a fuse in that same block that then gives the black box head unit its power. This black box sends and receives the control functions through that gateway over the jdab wire. The gateway translates the jdab to the legacy radio canbus and visa versa between the AIO Connext computer/screen also made bu Actia/Actisense). When you adjust the volume with the Connext rotary encoder joystick (again also made by Actia/Actisense) it sends NMEA2K signals to the Connext screen which translates them into the legacy radio canbus which then send the signal to the gateay which then translates the radio canbus into jdab to fianlly send the signal to the blackbox headunit to adjust the volume. Anyone want to guess why Connext is so flaky? The swim deck remote simply connects over jdab to the black box head unit. When the remote goes bad it acrews everything up because the jdab networking wire provides node power.
Actia/Actisense makes the touch screens and those joysticks for most boat brands that dont use simrad or gramin screens. Malibu, Axis, Pavati, Yamaha and others all use their hardware and the custom firmware/software is also developed by them. I have a guess that the team working on the Yamaha stuff are college interns and the team working some of the other brands are the A team. That or Yamah is trying to hit a price point That ties hands over at Actia. At least that is how it feels.
I was trying to find a way to retrofit a jl audio NMEA2K source unit into my boat and still have that connext rotary joystick control volume. Yep won’t work unless you have connext 2.0 which ditched the radio canbus and put the radio, gps speed (nmea 0183 on connext v1 boats), engine rpms, fuel sending unit, and alarm relay all on NMEA2K instead of the legacy radio canbus which prior to connext was used to send data to the tach screens. Connext 1.0 was a parts bin engineering overlay nightmare that got a lot better integrated with Connext 2.0. Polk (ASA electronics would have likely stepped to the plate with a n2k radio for v2.0 but yamaha was likely fedup with all of the swimdeck remote failures and salt/sun damaged swim deck speaker grilles.
So there the long but full story on all of this based on fact and some educated guesses.
Hey @Mainah which boat years have which versions of Connext? My 2015 242LS is throwing constant stereo comm errors. I tried disconnecting the swim deck remote behind the speaker but that didn't help. My bluetooth hasn't been working for some time and I'm wondering if it just finally gave up. As you probably know the PA4A and PA450UM are both discontinued.
I'm just not sure if my connext is using the NMEA or if it's just using a straight "remote" connection to the Polk. If it's using NMEA I'm wondering if a different head unit (Fusion) that's NMEA compatible would work? I was poking around and I didn't notice a converter from the polk "remote" to the NMEA to the connext, but I could have missed it.
If there was a way to turn off the stereo comm error and constant alarm beeping I would just go totally disconnected from the connext but it's really, really, really stupid that the stereo comm error is a warning that requires the alarm to go off and can't be permanently disabled.
Does the remote work? The remote is a component of the stereo so if it failed it could create the issue your dealing with. There are some other remotes that could potentially be used but they may not have all the options and will not work from the connext screen.
Does the remote work? The remote is a component of the stereo so if it failed it could create the issue your dealing with. There are some other remotes that could potentially be used but they may not have all the options and will not work from the connext screen.
Nope the remote has been toast for a while but only today I started getting errors. I disconnected the remote today but errors persist.
there was no Y connector behind the remote so I know I didn’t disconnect the connext remote wire. I’m guessing that it must be behind the helm somewhere but I didn’t look for it.
Hey @Mainah which boat years have which versions of Connext? My 2015 242LS is throwing constant stereo comm errors. I tried disconnecting the swim deck remote behind the speaker but that didn't help. My bluetooth hasn't been working for some time and I'm wondering if it just finally gave up. As you probably know the PA4A and PA450UM are both discontinued.
I'm just not sure if my connext is using the NMEA or if it's just using a straight "remote" connection to the Polk. If it's using NMEA I'm wondering if a different head unit (Fusion) that's NMEA compatible would work? I was poking around and I didn't notice a converter from the polk "remote" to the NMEA to the connext, but I could have missed it.
If there was a way to turn off the stereo comm error and constant alarm beeping I would just go totally disconnected from the connext but it's really, really, really stupid that the stereo comm error is a warning that requires the alarm to go off and can't be permanently disabled.
This may sound ridiculous but I was having the same issue. I think it was a voltage issue. The DVSR wire at the battery was never hooked up, so after connecting it and charging the batteries my com error and beeping stopped.
This may sound ridiculous but I was having the same issue. I think it was a voltage issue. The DVSR wire at the battery was never hooked up, so after connecting it and charging the batteries my com error and beeping stopped.
I’ll double check that….but this started out of the blue as we were cruising around. But I did check the batteries as part of it with a multi meter and they were both 12.3 or so
This link has a lot of info about the MARC200 remote. It could get back use of the radio and you could mount 2 new remotes one by the steering wheel and a new one with some type of way to cover the old hole described in the thread. For blue tooth you could get a separate 3.5mm adapter plug for blue tooth. The connext screen sucks for adjusting the stereo I would prefer one of these remotes to control it while driving,
This link has a lot of info about the MARC200 remote. It could get back use of the radio and you could mount 2 new remotes one by the steering wheel and a new one with some type of way to cover the old hole described in the thread. For blue tooth you could get a separate 3.5mm adapter plug for blue tooth. The connext screen sucks for adjusting the stereo I would prefer one of these remotes to control it while driving,
But without the factory head unit won’t the connext just constantly alarm? I’m not as worried about losing connext functionality as I am about having to reset it every 5 minutes
This is the MARC200 its only $18.00 cheap enough to plug in and see if it eliminates the alarm code . I can 100% confirm that it operates the PA4A with no head unit / knob remote that was deffective and failed . You just don't have all the features but enough I have two of them installed
This is the MARC200 its only $18.00 cheap enough to plug in and see if it eliminates the alarm code . I can 100% confirm that it operates the PA4A with no head unit / knob remote that was deffective and failed . You just don't have all the features but enough I have two of them installed
So it’s my understanding that the head unit is behind the helm. It’s the big black box. The remotes (connext being one of them) are only to control the functions on that head unit. So if the stern remote is disconnected and connext is reporting the comm error and that the audio unit is off, that seems to indicate an issue with the actual head unit itself? I may order one of those remotes and plug it in right behind the helm to at least see if the head unit is getting power and functioning properly.
The PA4A does not support NMEA - it uses a simple remote based connection which the Connext works with, probably a simple protocol. I'm guessing a remote or the black box master is defective?
The newer Connext screens use NMEA to control the Fusion head units.
The PA4A does not support NMEA - it uses a simple remote based connection which the Connext works with, probably a simple protocol. I'm guessing a remote or the black box master is defective?
The newer Connext screens use NMEA to control the Fusion head units.
I disconnected my remote at the stern. There was no Y back there though. Trying to trace the wires for the connext to make sure it’s still connected at the helm there must be a Y behind there somewhere. Just sucks that the head unit doesn’t have any visible indicators to see that it has power…
And it’s actually more infuriating that the connext throws stereo comm errors and alarms if you decide to use something else. Should be a toggle to indicate if you are using factory stereo or not.
And it’s actually more infuriating that the connext throws stereo comm errors and alarms if you decide to use something else. Should be a toggle to indicate if you are using factory stereo or not.
I read elsewhere that the Connext doesn't need to be connected to the stereo and they ran their own controls and ignored the Connext screen. Try disconnecting the Jensen cable going to the Connext and see if stops throwing alarms?
