Computer Gurus, NMEA to Ipad/Laptop Questions

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Slowboat35

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I have been looking enviously at instrument repeaters and nav data being displayed below at the nav table either on a laptop or tablet/ipad.

There are apps listed here Top 5 Best Marine Data Apps that will display the data taken from a NMEA network using TCP/IP over WiFi
I have a Raymatine e75 chartplotter on my NMEA2000 network which sends data to the Rayview app and the spec says it has a WiFi output. Is it this spec? It doesn't say so specifically.
Or do I need an additional NMEA to WiFi converter?

Any other pointers on which way to go with this? Reccommended apps? Raspberry Pi dedicated system or ipad/laptop?

Opinions?
 
Unfortunately the raymarine WiFi doesn’t transmit nema data over TCP/IP or UDP in either 0183. Or 2000.

best way to get that data to a laptop tablet or phone is via a dongle

yacht devices do a small one with either the seatalk NG connector or device net one. Probably the easiest to set up abs plug in.

plenty of others to choose from. Actisense, quark elec, and some AIS units like the larger vesper units include WiFi.
 
jwfrary said:
Unfortunately the raymarine WiFi doesn’t transmit nema data over TCP/IP or UDP in either 0183. Or 2000.

best way to get that data to a laptop tablet or phone is via a dongle

yacht devices do a small one with either the seatalk NG connector or device net one. Probably the easiest to set up abs plug in.

plenty of others to choose from. Actisense, quark elec, and some AIS units like the larger vesper units include WiFi.
Click to expand...

you could also go hole hog abs use a raspberry pi with an appropriate HAT and openplotter/signal k to do the same thing and more. But it will take a bit more effort!

you would need a PI 4, a 16 gbSD card, hat (possibly a PI can M) cable to go from your device net/seatalk ng to the pi and some additional patience!
 
If I use one of those will it support multiple simultaneous units? eg an ipad displaying chart data using app A and a phone displaying speed/course etc data using a different app in the cockpit ?
 
Thanks for all this - more questions if you don't mind.

If I added an AIS transponder with wifi it would kill 2 birds with one stone. These units come with a gps antenna connection. If it's part of an NMEA 2000 network won't it get its GPS signal from the chartplotter and not need its own dedicated antenna?

What do I miss out on if I connect a cheap 0183 yakker to the network instead of a more pricey 2000 item? Wouldn't I need another converter to put that into a 2000 network? Is that a sensible thing to do?
 
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I don't know about your plotter, but the Yakker on mine would only give out information the plotter generated itself - ie poition, COG, SOG, waypoint data etc. whereas the Yacht Devices wifi on 2000 gives out everything that was going round the system 2000 eg speed through water, log, wind, AIS etc. It may well be that an AIS transponder with wifi does the same - I don't know - it would be worth investigating.
 
jwfrary said:
you could also go hole hog abs use a raspberry pi with an appropriate HAT and openplotter/signal k to do the same thing and more. But it will take a bit more effort!

you would need a PI 4, a 16 gbSD card, hat (possibly a PI can M) cable to go from your device net/seatalk ng to the pi and some additional patience!
Click to expand...
This pi can M hat looks interesting. I have the pi with open plotter and tested getting my n2k data from my B&G Zeus3 onto opencpn last year. I remember being surprised how easy this was but can't remember how I did it - wifi? Would this data also be available to signalk which I haven't looked at yet?
What benefit does the hat give?
 
Slowboat35 said:
Thanks for all this - more questions if you don't mind.

If I added an AIS transponder with wifi it would kill 2 birds with one stone. These units come with a gps antenna connection. If it's part of an NMEA 2000 network won't it get its GPS signal from the chartplotter and not need its own dedicated antenna?

What do I miss out on if I connect a cheap 0183 yakker to the network instead of a more pricey 2000 item? Wouldn't I need another converter to put that into a 2000 network? Is that a sensible thing to do?
Click to expand...

Any AIS Tx has to have it own GPS antenna so cannot just have GPS input as data. But its GPS data can be used externally. If connected to your chartplotter (via NMEA2000/STng network) you should see it as an alternative GPS source in the menus.

If you are thinking of adding an AIS transponder then the Vesper XB-8000 unit will take NMEA2000 input data and send to WiFi.

I actually use a Vesper XB-6000 which converts all input NMEA2000 out to NMEA0183, and I have that output connected to a NMEA2Wifi (could also use the Yakker) - this is a slightly more complex solution than just an XB-8000 but cheaper and the XB-6000 has a built in GPS antenna.
 
Ningaloo said:
This pi can M hat looks interesting. I have the pi with open plotter and tested getting my n2k data from my B&G Zeus3 onto opencpn last year. I remember being surprised how easy this was but can't remember how I did it - wifi? Would this data also be available to signalk which I haven't looked at yet?
What benefit does the hat give?
Click to expand...
Yes so the pi brings logging and signal k to the party.

The pi can m hat powers the pi and does the n2k interface in both directions and, has a barometer, and the ability to interface with loads of different sensors to many to list, but humidity and temperature from fridge, engine room for example is really easy.

however the B&g navio WiFi already support nema 0183 over TCP/IP so you Already have pretty good functionality. Even the radar data can be accessed!

Im just using an antisense ngw-1 connected via a cheap serial HAT but I had them laying around. I think I would go for the pi can m if I was starting from scratch

or to be fair on unlimited budget I would be just installing the b&g catalog
 
Maybe I don't need wifi if the gateway has a USB port. That'll plug into an Ipad and feed the required data to the app, won't it?
I only need instruments and a chart/IAS display at the nav desk.
 
Slowboat35 said:
Maybe I don't need wifi if the gateway has a USB port. That'll plug into an Ipad and feed the required data to the app, won't it?
I only need instruments and a chart/IAS display at the nav desk.
Click to expand...
Can’t use the USB like that on an iPad unfortunately. WiFi only for networking
 
Slowboat35 said:
Ach! Of course. But that would work with a PC/Pi?
Click to expand...
if gps & nmea is being sent to usb then a pi zero should do what you want , and much more, for about 150mA . Bit fiddly to set up as mostly command line. Pi3 would do same for bit more cash and bit more power but much easier to set up, like click a few menus.
This is Pi Zero 24/7, play music though an amp so all the way up to just over 200mA :)
ow5vm7W.png
 
Yeah can be done with a pi zero, except that for the beginner going with open plotter might be a little easier and that will require a pi 3b or a pi 4 - the later is probably better if your thinking you might use it for charting.

you can then use it to push data to your favourite app or use the VNC viewer app to see the pi directly
 
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