Beginners question about instruments

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ifoxwell

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Hi all

In brief can you mix and match different manufacturers components, head units, sensors and so on

Im not just talking the normal wind, speed and depth, but what about AIS, radar, Autohelm inputs etc?

Thanks

Ian
 
Provided that the instruments talk the same language ..... NMEA0183, NMEA2000, whatever, then there should be no problem. You can usually buy converters for legacy or non-compatible equipment, if necessary. However, precise information about the equipment involved is useful.

Richard
 
RichardS said:
Provided that the instruments talk the same language ..... NMEA0183, NMEA2000, whatever, then there should be no problem. You can usually buy converters for legacy or non-compatible equipment, if necessary. However, precise information about the equipment involved is useful.

Richard
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A cautionary note here, NMEA is a digital standard and is appropriate for digital sensors that use a datalink. Even then, care has to be taken. I have a digital radio and a computer, both are supposedly NMEA 0183 however they both require different versions of the protocol so I have two GPSs working in isolation feeding each device.

Analogue sensors are mostly not compatible across different manufacturers.
 
Also the wiring may be different from each unit although there is meant to be a standard , colors will vary from each component especially NMEA183
But I found if you follow the guidelines of the manuals which will tell you what each color represents then it is easy to follow . had no issues getting my Horizon built in GPS VHF talking to my Nasa GPS repeater One new piece of equipment talking to an older one, just follow the colors
 
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ifoxwell said:
Im not just talking the normal wind, speed and depth, but what about AIS, radar, Autohelm inputs etc?
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Radar scanners are usually specific to the plotter/display and usually won't work with other manufacturers' kit.

Autopilot interfacing is also potentially tricky, and for best results you need the plotter to be the same make as the autopilot.

Whilst different makes of instrument can usually be interfaced, using NMEA0183 or NMEA2000, there are benefits to having a one-make system. Firstly, you can be assured that everything will talk to everything else, and secondly it's easier to do software updates.
 
ifoxwell said:
Hi all

In brief can you mix and match different manufacturers components, head units, sensors and so on

Im not just talking the normal wind, speed and depth, but what about AIS, radar, Autohelm inputs etc?

Thanks

Ian
Click to expand...

Hard to say without knowing exactly what you want to connect to what.
 
pvb said:
Autopilot interfacing is also potentially tricky, and for best results you need the plotter to be the same make as the autopilot.
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I've had success connecting the more basic autopilots, such as Simrad wheel pilots, with other equipment. Steering to wind, routes and waypoints seems to work OK. For more advanced systems, where the AP can be completely controlled by the MFD (for instance) interfacing fully and getting those extra functions is very unlikely.

As you say, one make system would be best, but if there is still a lot of useful older kit onboard some level of interfacing may be possible.
 
Sandy said:
In theory yes, in practice no.
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I have a mixture of manufacturers' devices on my boat (albeit Raymarine is in the majority) and I have nothing that should work in theory but does not in practice.

The important thing is understanding the theory so you know what can be expected to work in the first place :p

Pete
 
moomba said:
Also the wiring may be different from each unit although there is meant to be a standard , colors will vary from each component especially NMEA183
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Hah - leisure NMEA0183 wiring colours are so non-standard that I didn't even know there was a standard :D. But you're right, it turns out the 0183 spec does assign colours for everyone to ignore :p.

I haven't noticed any variation from the standard with N2k, but it's not really relevant anyway since these are almost always plug-in connections rather than bare wires.

Pete
 
Sandy said:
In theory yes, in practice no.
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Sorry Sandy, but that's not usually the case. I have carried out many installations using various manufacturers components.

It is true that some things won't usually work, radar has already been mentioned. There are others, wind speed and depth sensor (that the OP mentions) often won't interchange, although in the case of depth it's usually due to the connectors being different.
 
PaulRainbow said:
It is true that some things won't usually work, radar has already been mentioned.
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Yep - and that's a combination that doesn't work in theory so should never be planned in the first place, not something that will leap out and surprise you during a project as Sandy's post implies.

Pete
 
Things like wind speed and depth are reasonably compatible - in practice most of the big name manufacturers rebadge NMEA2000 (or even NMEA0183) sensors from other manufacturers.

As PVB has already explained, radar scanners are almost always specific to the matching head unit - even within a single manufacturer, compatibility between different generations of scanner and display is often not good.
 
maby said:
Things like wind speed and depth are reasonably compatible - in practice most of the big name manufacturers rebadge NMEA2000 (or even NMEA0183) sensors from other manufacturers.
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I was talking about NMEA 0183, i meant to add that. With N2K, wind and depth sensors will often interchange. You are spot on about the re-badging, for instance, the DST 800 is manufactured by Airmar and badged for several companies, Garmin, Raymarine, Simrad, B&G etc. Most will interchange unless you get one of the Raymarine badged versions with a Seatalk NG connector or one that needs an iTC-5
 
If I were starting from scratch today (or a pile of mixed old cra*) I would strongly suggest NMEA2000. Simple wiring, mixed manufacturers (if you must!) and ease of configuration count for a lot.
Going for NMEA0183 stuff is close to choosing coal fired power rather than solar/wind.. If you really have the choice don't look back!
 
pvb said:
I think that's a bit negative; it is possible to interface a lot of stuff (sometimes with limited functionality).
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Sir, you do not work in my world where limited functionality means people can die. Anyway, enough about the day job.

There are often subtle nuances in the implementation of a standard by different manufacturers. Having struggled with a mix of kit on the boat, Garmin, Raymarine and Stowe where even the simple things are apt to go wrong, hence my love of using old fuddy duddy things like a chart, pencil and a sextant.

The Stowe stuff is being removed from the boat next summer and the Raymarine stuff will be superseded by a very high tech Hydrovane.
 
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Even with N2K there can be subtleties.
I have a B&G Vulcan and a Garmin Steady Cast heading sensor. Both N2K, but there is a calibration option that is only available if you have a Garmin chartplotter.
Additionally, from what I can see it's only possible to update the software from a Garmin Chartplotter. i.e. the B&G won't update non B&G equipment.
 
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