Category: Network & control
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! …
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…
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 had a working GPSMap 640 at FLIBS, and I found a couple of nice surprises on it…
Everywhere I wandered at FLIBS, there was someone fooling with, or showing off, their iPhone. And that includes me, sort of, as…
So what do get when a very successful software developer cuts loose on an Azimut 55? Among many other things, the biggest iPod interface…
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…
Big yacht IT is challenging, and thus I nearly had to tickle local marine networking ace Nik DeMaria (Blue Maple Systems) to capture his naturally grinning good nature, above and bigger here…
A day aboard the 120’ tri-deck Sandrine will definitely rank high in my summer ‘08 highlight list. Wow! While I’d actually attended her debut in Miami, and was already familiar with the OctoPlex distributed power system she showcases, it takes a while to comprehend how powerful the system is…
At least one Navico competitor is having fun e-mailing around this scan of a major ad blooper that ran in at least one New Zealand marine publication. Of course the intended headline was “True Multifunction” not “True Malfunction” and no doubt someone is very embarrassed about the mistake. In fact, “multifunction”—as in multifunction display, or MFD—is not…
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