Adventures in NMEA 2000 Wiring – Part I
Guest entry by Dan Corcoran —
Breeze Pleeze has received nearly half of her new NMEA 2000 backbone, actually two of them, and I thought I would describe the thinking behind my network design.
Category: Network & control
NMEA 2000 opens up, in a Dutch attic!
I love this photo. It may look messy, but not only is one man’s fine N2K+++ yacht system being tested here, but the standard itself is getting explored, possibly to the benefit of many boaters. This is Kees Verruijt’s attic somewhere in the Netherlands and, as explained on his new Yacht Electronics blog, that Commodore PET is the “PC” he first learned programming on back in 1979. The rest of the gear is going on Merrimac II, a Stadship 56 now under construction that Kees and his family have obviously put a lot of thought into. Kees wants to extend the usefullness of his NMEA 2000 data system, even to his iPhone, and he’s had to go to some serious trouble to do so…
NKE Regatta processor, wicked fast
I have no idea why Bob Congdon, former U.S. Sales Manager for B&G, is now working for Euro Marine Trading, the U.S. distributor for NKE…and I question the ravings at Sailing Anarchy on the...
Airmar PB200 hands-on #1, & into the delivery box!
I’m once again way behind on testing borrowed products, and my apologies to all manufacturers involved. The Airmar PB200 Weather Station dissembled above is a case in point. I mentioned how well it feeds NMEA 2000 data to the lab network back in February, and Dan Corcoran shared his beta testing experience before that, but there’s a lot more to say. For instance, I didn’t really understand how it delivered both NMEA 0183 and 2000 data — did it use one of the various junction boxes available to translate from one protocol to the other? — until I got my hands on the sample. Now I know that the PB200 flat out does it all! …
NMEA 2000, the power “problem” part 1
Sigh, that’s my first NMEA 2000 network, circa Spring 2005, when there wasn’t much more than Maretron to hang on it, and not many boaters were interested anyway. Now many N2K devices have joined these on the lab’s snaking backbone (and there are many others I’d like to try), N2K is an active topic on Panbo forums and elsewhere, and the network for my maybe-new Gizmo boat is going to be a serious undertaking. The Standard has come a long way, and methinks it’s time to reveal a little drama that went down along the way. Yes, those gray Micro cables and the yellow powertap did incur drama, even soap opera…
Sailing with an Airmar PB200 – Part II
Many readers have commented on my Sailing with an Airmar PB200 entry. I enjoyed reading and responding to comments, and offer this diagram in response to some questions about mounting the PB200.
Garmin at FLIBS, 640 & GWS 10
Garmin had a working GPSMap 640 at FLIBS, and I found a couple of nice surprises on it…
FLIBS, the iPhone effect
Everywhere I wandered at FLIBS, there was someone fooling with, or showing off, their iPhone. And that includes me, sort of, as…
Gigando iPod interface, on Alexis
So what do get when a very successful software developer cuts loose on an Azimut 55? Among many other things, the biggest iPod interface…
Garmin in the weeds, an N2K gripe
Here’s some follow up on Russ Cooper, the Panbot who recently commented that he’s “spent >$10,000 to get an N2K coolant water pressure gauge that works…and still doesn’t have one!” He has a legitimate gripe, I think, though…
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