- #Maretron nmea 2000 multiport install
- #Maretron nmea 2000 multiport upgrade
- #Maretron nmea 2000 multiport software
(Radar, sonar, and video are too verbose to use N2K, and while Ethernet is often the cabling employed, the overall connections remain proprietary.) So while most new multifunction displays, autopilots, instruments, and sensors support N2K, many of the folks who sell and install them are still inexperienced with the nitty-gritty. It really wasn’t until 2008 that NMEA 2000 became the dominant way to pass around succinct data messages.
At any rate, some companies were slow to adopt N2K, while others used loopholes in the standard to create N2K variants obviously meant more to integrate their own devices than to plug-and-play well with competitors. My guess is that the original marketing premise-to make the then-prevalent mixed-brand “best of breed” helm concept work better-got torpedoed when new multifunction displays proved that one brand alone could own the whole helm. Many of the very manufacturers that worked together to develop the 2000 standard a decade ago appeared to get cold feet as it was actually introduced. And finally, various strategies are emerging that enable older electronics that use the original NMEA 0183 standard or such offshoots as Raymarine SeaTalkNG to marry a NMEA 2000 network, thus allowing a boat to evolve into the new standard.Īh, but of course: There are confusions and complications.
Moreover, the standardized N2K plugs and cables containing the wire pair on which all this data travels also contain power wires bearing enough juice to run many types of sensors and some power-efficient instrument displays, further simplifying a boat’s wiring. NMEA 2000-compliant sensors and displays can share not just such familiar data messages as wind, depth, and go-to waypoint, for example, but also a growing list of more esoteric items, including fuel-flow rate, bilge-alarm status, and system-control commands. That’s the promise of the National Marine Electronics Association’s 2000 data-sharing standard, and I’m here to tell you that it makes all of the above quite possible, and more.
#Maretron nmea 2000 multiport software
What if your boat could have as many different wind displays-dials and/or graphics-as the crew could possibly need for trimming perfection, a wind rose overlaid around the helm plotter’s boat icon for situational awareness, and the same data delivered to, say, the performance software the offwatch likes to fool with on the nav station computer?Īnd what if the masthead wind sensor easily networked with the GPS, a knotmeter, and heading sensors so you could select among readings for apparent, true (relative to boat), and ground (relative to Earth) wind on any of those displays? And finally, what if the various components of this system could be sourced from multiple manufacturers according to your personal criteria, be they accuracy, style, durability, or price? But a sailboat skipper really wants wind data everywhere.
#Maretron nmea 2000 multiport upgrade
If you want to use the QNB-1 as a complete backbone you have to wire in two short cables with terminators attached.| Stripped back cable from Maretron (above, left) and Raymarine reveal similarities: White and blue wires carry data red and black wires are for power.|įor some of us more elderly sailors, just getting a wind gauge in the cockpit was a big deal reasonably accurate at-a-glance apparent-wind direction and speed was a significant upgrade from neck-wrecking Windex pointers and overrated ear-lobe anemometers. But it does have little jumpers (not visible in the picture) that can be set to terminate either or both ends of the backbone. Note, though, that the FI5002 is a lot less weather proof than the QNB-1, and lacks built in fuses and status LEDs. As you can see in the photo below, and bigger here, Furuno used Wago terminal blocks which can be unplugged for easy wiring. But I must say that fixing wires to the terminal strips can be tedious, and downright hard in tight quarters (I did most of the wiring on a bench).īut maybe the hard-to-wire complaint is just due to my experience with how easy it is to wire Furuno’s similar FI5002 junction box.
While using regular tees and fixed cable lengths would have been messy in the small confines of my console, this junction box let me cut cables to length and still end up with a fairly waterproof system. The built-in fuses and LED status lights made the install easier, and those cable glands provide good strain relief on a variety of cable sizes (add Tommy Tape when they don’t). I used Actisense’s QNB-1 Quick Network Block, above and bigger here, to create Gizmo’s little NMEA 2000 network, and it pretty much lived up to expectations.