Category: NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Years ago I gave Simrad grief for developing its own NMEA 2000 cable and connector system, called SimNet, instead of going with the DeviceNet standard as NMEA wanted.  When NMEA 2000 was just getting started, SimNet confused end users and installers alike, as would Raymarine’s SeaTalkNG, and Lowrance’s first version of LowranceNet, etc.  I remain leery about proprietary cabling but I’ve never heard of performance issues with SimNet, and I’ve never had any trouble integrating SimNet devices into standard N2K networks, using male versions of the adapter cable seen above.  Until this week, however, I’d never tried it the other way around, building a SimNet network and adding in other manufacturer’s N2K devices as desired.  No problems so far…

There’s a lot to say about this screen and how the values got there, or didn’t, but what I like the most is how Maretron’s DSM250 is displaying the outputs of two NMEA 2000 depth transducers at once, and that I was even able to name their data windows in an informative way.  I think the screen will be useful in some tight gunkholing situations, and would be even more so on a larger vessel or a multihull.  Unfortunately this level of N2K data management is not yet available elsewhere, unless I’ve missed something…

Maybe you thought I was off drilling multiple holes in Gizmo’s bottom — and I was! — but I’ve also been toiling away at the lab’s test NMEA 2000 network.  You see, I’d heard that Garmin’s GXM 51 XM Weather sensor might be a bandwidth hog, and also that Furuno’s NN3D MFDs generate an inordinate amount of network traffic.  There seems to be some truth to both accusations, but don’t panic!  (And you N2K naysayers, please save your snarking until you hear the whole story.)  Yes, as you can see on the table above, removing either of these devices reduced bandwidth use of a fairly large network significantly.  But even with both devices live on the network, I didn’t see any data problems, and am pretty sure these Garmin and Furuno issues will only cause real issues on very large networks.  Let me break down the testing and what I think I’ve learned…

Thanks to Panbo readers “arisatx” and “Recovering Racer”, commenting on one of the FI-50 instrument entries, we’ve learned that Furuno is introducing the RD-33 data display with a bright, high res 4.3-inch color display and powerful abilities at not only displaying NMEA 0183 and 2000 data but also bridging either type between sensors and other displays.  There’s going to be a somewhat similar GP-33 GPS, too, and all the details look very good indeed…

I’ve recently been beta testing a suite of software products from a marine electronics newcomer called Avia Design, and I’m tentatively enthusiastic.  They are the first products I know of that are fully leveraged off the NMEA 2000 Third Party Gateway (TPG) discussed yesterday, and therefore a sign of many things to come (I think).  And they’re cool, or at least should be when finished.  Check out that real time polar diagram for performance sailors above — I’m not sure there’s ever been one before — and there’s plenty of power boaters too…

I’ve got a large NMEA 2000 network set up in the lab now, and it’s giving me a good chance to try out the Actisense NGT-1.  It’s fully NMEA certified now, and selling for $200 at some outlets, but I gather that the Third Party Gateway system (formerly known as the Intelligent Gateway) of which it’s a part is not yet fully detailed.  In other words, we don’t quite know yet how software that works with it will get NMEA approved and what, if any, restrictions there may be on how it’s sold.  For instance, bundling in an NGT-1, or a similar gateway, may required.  But I can tell you this:  Beta versions of TPG software are starting to look powerful…