The Marine Electronics Hub
So I may be on semi vacation, and having a time, but I’m still looking forward to getting back to the lab where the network of NMEA instruments recently grew to include Furuno’s and Simrad’s latest. Check out the big picture here. I’ll be writing a comparative overview on these five brands soon after I get back, and I’m trying to sort out factors to check out. So far I’ve got:
While the extreme N2K cable mixing and daisy chaining shown yesterday did seem to work OK in lab conditions, here’s a smarter approach for a serious boat system (bigger here). The main change is…
The Panbo lab is a good place to push things in ways a smart installer never would; in other words, do not try this—bigger picture—on your boat! What I did here was to purposely break about every NMEA 2000 rule I could…
Thanks to a loan by the good John Gass of his test SeaTalk wind sensor, I’ve now got a Raymarine ST70 Wind Pod plugged into the lab’s ever expanding NMEA 2000 experiment. The Pod can supposedly gateway “any standard Raymarine wind transducer” onto SeaTalkNG and it was pleasing to see that it does indeed put out a standard NMEA 2000 Wind Data message (PGN 13036). All the displays read it fine…
So I hope yesterday’s goofy contest made a point about Raymarine’s STng cabling system. I do think the design has merit, particularly for production boat building, and there’s more of interest, like heavier gauge power wires, that I’ll get into eventually. But today I’m going back to the larger point that NMEA 2000 cabling is not that big a deal…
I’m on deadline today, and may find no more time for posting, but here’s a puzzle to ponder…
Another sign that 2008 is the year of NMEA 2000? Airmar tells me that orders for its various N2K Smart Sensors—depth/speed/temp info online now, high performance PB200 Weather Station plus GPS/compass and plain compass coming “soon”—are way ahead of projections. Plus the company is now offering “a full-line of affordable, NMEA 2000 certified cables and accessories…
Ah, another way to architect and install a NMEA 2000 network, economical too. If used to the max, Actisense’s brand new QNB-1 “Quick Network Block” takes the place of 6 regular N2K tee connectors, 8 cable connectors, and a separate power supply (like most of this). Plus…
Chris Witzgall from Apex, NC, recently wrote {slightly edited}: “Your site has been invaluable as I get back into boating after a long hiatus, and work out the electronics for our new-to-us Westerly Fulmar sailboat. I have settled on NMEA 2000. Our needs are relatively simple; here is what I have**, or will have*…
I thank Dan for yesterday’s NMEA 2000 homily (more guest blog entries welcome!), but I do want to play devil’s advocate. I’ve had my head in the Simrad Yachting 2008 catalog today (unfortunately not online yet), and I’m...
