27/10/2020

NMEA 2000 (+SeaTalk1) to WiFi and OpenCPN Setup

Example NMEA 2000 to WiFi Multiplexer setup with added SeaTalk1 data.

Thanks to Peter for sending in images of your marine electronics schematic and successful setup.

As you can see from Peter’s schematic, his challenge was to connect legacy SeaTalk1 equipment; Raymarine ST60 Wind, ST60+ Speed log, ST60+ Depth and ST60 Multi-display to view this on his B&G Zues Chartplotter on his NMEA 2000 (N2K) network and then view this with all N2K data on his PC and iPad.

Here you see his SeaTalk bus is connected through the Quark-elec A034 to his N2K backbone (The A034 itself is powered by the N2B backbone, so no additional wiring needed here).

So now the Raymarine ST60 data is visible on his B&G Zeus 9″ Chart plotter.

Secondly, Peter need to view his combined marine electronics data from his Raymarine ST 60 equipment and his N2K Vesper Marine (XB6000) AIS,  B&G radar and and possitional data from his Garmin 19x HVS GPS antenna. Peter wanted to access this combined marine safety and navigation data on his laptop and ipad. Specifically, in Peter’s case, OpenCPN and PC Plotter on his PC and iNavX and Navionics Boating on his iPad.

You can see the combined data feeding from both SeaTalk1 bus and NMEA2000 bus to the laptop. A USB connection was set up to OpenCPN and PC Plotter and the WiFi connection is also set up in the chartsoftware within minutes using the default password, provided. This allows for flexibility and convenience, this allows Peter to use his laptop elsewhere on the boat without the need to be physically connected via USB to receive his marine electronics equipment safety and navigation data, including AIS, GPS, radar, wind, depth, speed, heading on his marine PC software and other iPad and Android boating and AIS APPs.

Having access to all your marine safety data in one location can be crucial in the marine environment, where timely, data-led and decisive action can be a life-saver. And of course, the rest of the time, even in non-emergency situations, it’s also a whole lot more convenient to have joined up navigational data and this allows for a more pleasant boating experience.

Lastly, Peter also has the option to send waypoints from his PC to his autopilot as his system evolves. As the A034 has bi-directional WiFi and Bi-directional USB functionality, this can be easily achieved. The autopilot can be connected on the NMEA 2000 backbone or via a NMEA 0183 output (A034-B reliant) and controlled though waypoint setting on either an NMEA 2000 MFD or PC based navigation system, using for example OpenCPN.

You can see above what a flexible device the A034 is. In this case, Peter has not even touched on the NMEA 0183 input and output (A034-B) options.

As a default setting, the A034 will send out all input data on each output. To increase the resilience of his growing Bi-directional WiFi marine network, Peter can use the A034’s filtering and routing options.  Through these A034 Configuration options, Peter can manage the marine dataflow and reduce any chance of data overflow as his marine electronics system expands. He can filter out any input data types at the input data type level and through routing, he can control which output devices will receive data from each input device.

If you’ve got a schematic plan to check or want to confirm the best marine multiplexer or WiFi gateway for your boat, contact us with details of your setup/wishlist and we will be happy to help.

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