Cheap diy nmea to wifi adaptor - tested and working

ianj99

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Just wanted to report a successful trial of the setup using Splashtop on my iPad with the laptop down below running the Seapro software ... it worked like a dream! And I keep thinking of all the money I have saved!

Its the way to go if you have a laptop or pc powered up all the time.

No use to me as I switched to a tablet & nmea-wifi adaptor to save on the power used by the laptop and I am happy that the Xperia is upto the job. (Same charts, all the gps and nmea data from the same source that supplied the laptop and more waterproof than using the laptop in the cockpit, plus no mouse needed)
 
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Live in Kent, boat in Canary Islands
www.bavariayacht.info
We have a laptop on our boat that is powered by an inverter, to allow it to connect to the 12 volt battery system. We use the laptop to run Euronav's Seapro passage planning and charting software. The latest version of Seapro will allow us to "repeat" the chart display from the laptop to an iPad (which we have out in the cockpit (the laptop is secured down below)):

First of all, powering a laptop in this way wastes a lot of power, get a car power pack for it.

You shouldn't need any additional software, as SeaPro provides a feed. You just need to work out how to connect wirelessly. A router seems the best way, which do they suggest?

I run my laptop with the lid closed, you just need to adjust the Power Options.
 
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Clueless techie

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Thanks Nigel, yes others have advised against the inverter. Re Seapro and the repeater function ... although they suggested a router in the event I found a much cheaper option! See earlier post of mine re an app called Splashtop. It's magic!
 

Toutvabien

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I know that this is a slightly old thread but I have been following for a few months with the intention of creating such a wireless set up on Jigsaw to send the gps and ais data from my Standard Horizon GX2200e to my windows 8.1 tablet running Navmonpc and Open CPN. I now have purchased the wireless device described to capture the data from the 2200e and send it by wireless network to the tablet, it all looks quite achievable but I am just trying to confirm the best mechanism to connect the nmea0183 wires from the 2200e to provide the data. Is it just a question of wiring it up to the serial cable, once the correct colour wires have been identified, and connecting the serial cable to the wireless device?????
 

ianj99

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I know that this is a slightly old thread but I have been following for a few months with the intention of creating such a wireless set up on Jigsaw to send the gps and ais data from my Standard Horizon GX2200e to my windows 8.1 tablet running Navmonpc and Open CPN. I now have purchased the wireless device described to capture the data from the 2200e and send it by wireless network to the tablet, it all looks quite achievable but I am just trying to confirm the best mechanism to connect the nmea0183 wires from the 2200e to provide the data. Is it just a question of wiring it up to the serial cable, once the correct colour wires have been identified, and connecting the serial cable to the wireless device?????

I connected the nmea out from my multiplexer to the RS 485 terminals (not the D sub) and configured the unit to match the nmea settings. I tried it at 4800 and 9600baud (the latter simply because it was an option on a Smartfind AIS receiver and supported by the multiplexer & interface)
I was then able to pickup all the data including AIS on my Sony tablet.
Ian
 

ccgarnaal

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I connected the nmea out from my multiplexer to the RS 485 terminals (not the D sub) and configured the unit to match the nmea settings. I tried it at 4800 and 9600baud (the latter simply because it was an option on a Smartfind AIS receiver and supported by the multiplexer & interface)
I was then able to pickup all the data including AIS on my Sony tablet.
Ian

I have an emtrak AISB100: https://em-trak.com/.
Presently I connect this unit to a laptop with opencpn (via USB).
If I understand correctly I could wire the AIS NMEA output directly to http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111514368587?clk_rvr_id=910909515662&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true
And then receive all data on a tablet via wifi.
If so how do you connect them?
According to google NMEA out is yellow and brown.
Thus just connect yellow and brown to the RS 485 in on the wifi transmitter?

If this works I could cut my power consumption down at least 3 amps.
 

ianj99

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yes, this worked for me when I tried it with the NMEA output from various devices - gps/compass, multiplexer etc using the RS485 input.
 

ccgarnaal

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yes, this worked for me when I tried it with the NMEA output from various devices - gps/compass, multiplexer etc using the RS485 input.

Thank you.
I will order one and try it. If I This really works all the commercial NMEA to WIFI converter are 4 times more expensive then needed. As usual.
This is the best one I could find: http://www.ebay.com/itm/USR-WIFI232...N-Converter-/331269439903?hash=item4d2132819f

I'll get back to you with the results in a few weeks. When I received and tested it.
 

ianj99

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Thank you.
I will order one and try it. If I This really works all the commercial NMEA to WIFI converter are 4 times more expensive then needed. As usual.
This is the best one I could find: http://www.ebay.com/itm/USR-WIFI232...N-Converter-/331269439903?hash=item4d2132819f

I'll get back to you with the results in a few weeks. When I received and tested it.

That's the one I used.

To be honest, mine failed just inside Paypal's 6month claim window but they did refund me, although they insisted I send it back to China at my expense despite the location in the listing being in the UK. The seller was unhelpful. None of the leds would light up either on its mains adaptor or ships battery.
 

Plevier

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I'm wondering if this wifi converter solution would work OK using the NMEA0183 output from a Raymarine Classic C70 chartplotter as the source.
This is already connected to an AIS receiver and so set to high baud rate, but as I read the manual it bridges the low rate data from the SeaTalk bus (ST60 instruments and SeaTalk GPS receiver) onto it. It apparently outputs APB, BWC, BWR, DBT, DPT, GGA, GLL, MTW, RMA, RMB, RMC, RSD, RTE, TTM, VHW, VLW, VTG, WPL, ZDA
The AIS receiver does not have a separate GPS but works OK, so must be getting its location via the C70.
I don't know whether it re-transmits AIS locations; that isn't included in the list above AFAICS but I can't see why it shouldn't.

Anyone see any problems with this proposed setup please?
 

ianj99

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I'm wondering if this wifi converter solution would work OK using the NMEA0183 output from a Raymarine Classic C70 chartplotter as the source.
This is already connected to an AIS receiver and so set to high baud rate, but as I read the manual it bridges the low rate data from the SeaTalk bus (ST60 instruments and SeaTalk GPS receiver) onto it. It apparently outputs APB, BWC, BWR, DBT, DPT, GGA, GLL, MTW, RMA, RMB, RMC, RSD, RTE, TTM, VHW, VLW, VTG, WPL, ZDA
The AIS receiver does not have a separate GPS but works OK, so must be getting its location via the C70.
I don't know whether it re-transmits AIS locations; that isn't included in the list above AFAICS but I can't see why it shouldn't.

Anyone see any problems with this proposed setup please?

The interface is transparent so whatever goes in comes out over the wifi connection, you just need to set it to the same baud rate as the sending device. I've no experience of a C70, but other Raymarine gear I have does echo data from the ST bus to the nmea output but from your list, it doesn't look like it send the incoming AIS data back out.
 

Plevier

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Thanks. Looks worth a go.
However as I have a laptop with an old style serial input it's maybe worth wiring the NMEA to that and using navmon - or something else free - to check what's there first
 

ianj99

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Thanks. Looks worth a go.
However as I have a laptop with an old style serial input it's maybe worth wiring the NMEA to that and using navmon - or something else free - to check what's there first

Hyperterminal will do - you'll be able to see the raw data and recognise the sentences but Navmon is a handy utility.
 

ccgarnaal

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Thank you.
I will order one and try it. If I This really works all the commercial NMEA to WIFI converter are 4 times more expensive then needed. As usual.
This is the best one I could find: http://www.ebay.com/itm/USR-WIFI232...N-Converter-/331269439903?hash=item4d2132819f

I'll get back to you with the results in a few weeks. When I received and tested it.

Ok Thus I received the USR RS485: 610
And it works !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :cool:

How to:
Read first:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NMEA_0183
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-485
My AIS unit: https://em-trak.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/em-trak-B100-manual.pdf
The serial-wifi server: http://www.usriot.com/Down/WIFI/wifi-232-Convert-Server-V2.0.3-EN.pdf

Simply connect the high speed NMEA 0183 data send wires to the wifi unit. (Brown= + connect to terminal B)
(Blue = - connect to terminal A) Check your manual colours may differ.
I connected the ground terminal to ships negative not sure if needed.
Now you should see the RXD LED on the wifi unit flashing. Thus showing it's receiving data.
Set up the wifi server via its IP adress in your browser.(default= 10.10.100.254) And set baud rate to same as your AIS unit. 38400 in my case. This can be different, again check your manual. My AIS unit can also use 4800 when I use different wires.

Set up Open CPN to receive setttings: network, TCP, IP 10.10.100.254, port 8899, baud rate 38400.
And be patient it takes a few minutes to make the first connection. But its fast once up and running.
 

ianj99

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Great, its worked for you too.
Thanks for taking the time to update us with your results.
Ian
 

sailswim

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IanJ99 & others - thanks for all the useful info thus far

I was interested in what one contributor suggested as another way to do this (post #12)
Using a Serial-Ethernet convertor, combined with a Wifi router (I have lots of spare Wifi routers, with 12v PSUs drawing less than 1 Amp)

For example - http://tinyurl.com/gm4wazn
The specs on this module suggest it can run in TCP Server mode. Therefore I don't understand why "a notebook as a tcp server with Navmonpc routing the data" (post #13) would be needed, IanJ99 could you comment please.. or nigelmercier did you get this working?
Thanks

My hardware: dAISy AIS receiver (with NMEA 0183 / RS-422 output in addition to USB), Android tablet. I would hope to be able to use the RS485 Serial to TCP/IP Ethernet Server Converter Module which I linked to above to interface the dAISy receiver to the tablet over Wifi, via the Wifi router, without a laptop in the middle
 

ianj99

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IanJ99 & others - thanks for all the useful info thus far

I was interested in what one contributor suggested as another way to do this (post #12)
Using a Serial-Ethernet convertor, combined with a Wifi router (I have lots of spare Wifi routers, with 12v PSUs drawing less than 1 Amp)

For example - http://tinyurl.com/gm4wazn
The specs on this module suggest it can run in TCP Server mode. Therefore I don't understand why "a notebook as a tcp server with Navmonpc routing the data" (post #13) would be needed, IanJ99 could you comment please.. or nigelmercier did you get this working?
Thanks

My hardware: dAISy AIS receiver (with NMEA 0183 / RS-422 output in addition to USB), Android tablet. I would hope to be able to use the RS485 Serial to TCP/IP Ethernet Server Converter Module which I linked to above to interface the dAISy receiver to the tablet over Wifi, via the Wifi router, without a laptop in the middle

I used the nmea/serial-wifi module to replace the notebook/navmonpc and wifi router which I had been using - mainly to reduce power consumption.
Ian
 

Joker

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I have one of these from eBay, and it's worked very well so far.

I've been using it with Open CPN, but having reinstalled the program, I've lost the settings for the device.

If anyone has them to hand, I would be very grateful for them.
 
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