Connecting B&G plotter to Simrad IS15 instruments

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I've been eyeing up a shiny new plotter for my boat, as it's currently fitted with a simple GPS without any mapping at all. Bit of a faff when exploring unfamiliar areas.

She's fitted with IS15 instruments that work really well over NMEA0183 and I've no intention of changing them out. My DSC radio also runs off the NMEA0183 position data. The issue is that the Vulcan models only talk NMEA2000. My question is whether the converter boxes actually work properly, or would I better off going for the Zeus model which handles both protocols? I suppose I'd need a bidirectional converter as my DSC radio will need a fix from the NMEA2000 bus?
 
I can't say anything about converters as I've never used one, but, even if you buy a Zeus model, which it more like the Simrad NSS displays, you need a special cable (£30) to accept and send 0183, and both sending and receiving must be done at the same baud rate. There is only 1 RX and 1 TX channel.
 
I've no experience with any Navico converters, but since Simrad and B&G are both Navico brands I would have reasonable confidence in them doing what they should.

Don't rule out the option of a standalone GPS receiver to supply the GPS instead of taking position from the plotter. It's simpler and could work out cheaper.

Pete
 
I still use an old VDO Siemens wind instrument which outputs NMEA 0183 sentences. It is connected to my NMEA 2000 B&G system via an Actisense NGW1 Gateway. It works perfectly. It is bi-directional though I only use it for one way communication. If you look on the Actisense website it will tell you which NMEA 0183 sentences and NMEA2000 PGNs.
The conversion list can be downloaded here https://www.actisense.com/media/?product=ngw-1&type=downloads

The issue you face with an NMEA 0183 system is that there can only be one talker, but multiple listeners so you have to decide which of your instruments you want to talk to the Gateway. I am not familiar with the IS15 system, and do not know if it multiplexes NMEA 0183 sentences, but if it does you are in luck.
 
Norman_E said:
I am not familiar with the IS15 system, and do not know if it multiplexes NMEA 0183 sentences, but if it does you are in luck.
Click to expand...

I wasn't familiar with it either, but looking at the manual it appears that each instrument head has an NMEA socket, which can be either a talker or a listener. If it's a talker it apparently multiplexes all the IS15 data, obtained over their proprietary "roblink" cabling. If it's a listener then it presumably forwards whatever it can understand out of the incoming stream, onto the roblink bus. The only slightly questionable thing is how each socket determines whether to be a listener or talker (or neither) - it's "automatic" which means there's the potential for it to guess wrong...

Pete
 
Norman_E said:
I still use an old VDO Siemens wind instrument which outputs NMEA 0183 sentences. It is connected to my NMEA 2000 B&G system via an Actisense NGW1 Gateway. It works perfectly. It is bi-directional though I only use it for one way communication. If you look on the Actisense website it will tell you which NMEA 0183 sentences and NMEA2000 PGNs.
The conversion list can be downloaded here https://www.actisense.com/media/?product=ngw-1&type=downloads

The issue you face with an NMEA 0183 system is that there can only be one talker, but multiple listeners so you have to decide which of your instruments you want to talk to the Gateway. I am not familiar with the IS15 system, and do not know if it multiplexes NMEA 0183 sentences, but if it does you are in luck.
Click to expand...

+ 1 for this.

I've just installed a Vulcan 7 with an Actisense Gateway providing NMEA 0183 to the VHF. Worked perfectly out of the box.
 
If you haven’t already abused the credit card, you will find that the Simrad AT10 universal- simrad/b&g’s own bidirectional converter- is usually cheaper than the Actisense that always gets recommended on these threads. It is intended exactly for the use you are looking at (connecting old roblink instruments to Simnet) and will work perfectly.

It uses Simnet N2k connections, so you will need a Simnet to micro-c connection cable for the Vulcan, which will add about 30 quid.

Roblink is just 0183 with a specific plug. Without knowing how you have the 0183 system wired up it’s hard to say how exactly to make the connection, and the AT10 has bare +ve and -ve ends on its 0183 side. It should not be difficult to make it listen to your IS15 bus and talk to everything including the radio.

Edited to add, the AT10 also has two N2k ports, which means you only need another Simnet to (micro-c or whatever) cable to add more N2k devices to the Vulcan in future (eg ais, autopilot) via daisy chain from the AT10. It’s designed to be part of a backbone not a one-shot converter. I think the actisense has only a single N2k port, although it is micro-c so you won’t be in the hole for the cable at least.
 
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bitbaltic, do you happen to know the difference between the AT15 and AT10? Their site says the AT15 is specific to IS15 instruments but if the AT10 is universal, I guess it should work too?
 
prv said:
I wasn't familiar with it either, but looking at the manual it appears that each instrument head has an NMEA socket, which can be either a talker or a listener. If it's a talker it apparently multiplexes all the IS15 data, obtained over their proprietary "roblink" cabling. If it's a listener then it presumably forwards whatever it can understand out of the incoming stream, onto the roblink bus. The only slightly questionable thing is how each socket determines whether to be a listener or talker (or neither) - it's "automatic" which means there's the potential for it to guess wrong...

Pete
Click to expand...
We are equipped with Simrad IS 15 instruments networked with boat PC, radio and tiller pilot. Early versions (like ours) of the instruments had automatic software for determining if the NMEA port was a listener or talker. The instruction for these is to turn on all talkers before turning the instruments on and they will then sort out which port becomes a listener and which one becomes a talker!
Later versions have the ability to be programmed via the instrument key pad as a talker or listener. The manuals are pretty user unfriendly!
If you have the later version Bitbaltic is your man for advice!

Any and all of the NMEA sentences generated by the instruments or by the talkers to the instruments (except AIS) are combined in the robolink bus and available for use from the instrument with a talking nmea port.

I found that if I hard wired all the various bits of kit that this actually slowed down communication between them to crawl and I needed a different solution

Remember the autopilot and radio are only listening for a couple of sentences. I now use the multiplexing ability of Open CPN with a central mini pc to distribute the only as required NMEA signals to and from the GPS/AIS transponder, Radio, Tiller Pilot, and Instruments. Using something like the actisense is another alternative.

Steve
 
TSB240 said:
We are equipped with Simrad IS 15 instruments networked with boat PC, radio and tiller pilot. Early versions (like ours) of the instruments had automatic software for determining if the NMEA port was a listener or talker. The instruction for these is to turn on all talkers before turning the instruments on and they will then sort out which port becomes a listener and which one becomes a talker!
Later versions have the ability to be programmed via the instrument key pad as a talker or listener. The manuals are pretty user unfriendly!
If you have the later version Bitbaltic is your man for advice!

Any and all of the NMEA sentences generated by the instruments or by the talkers to the instruments (except AIS) are combined in the robolink bus and available for use from the instrument with a talking nmea port.

I found that if I hard wired all the various bits of kit that this actually slowed down communication between them to crawl and I needed a different solution

Remember the autopilot and radio are only listening for a couple of sentences. I now use the multiplexing ability of Open CPN with a central mini pc to distribute the only as required NMEA signals to and from the GPS/AIS transponder, Radio, Tiller Pilot, and Instruments. Using something like the actisense is another alternative.

Steve
Click to expand...

Agree with all of that (except maybe the bit about me being the man!) it’s a while since I removed my IS15 stuff for IS20 though.

On a punt that the OP has a two head (wind and combi) install rather like the one shown on page 66 of the general manual

http://www.nuovamarea.com/files/product manuals/Simrad/IS15_General.pdf

And that it’s all working together fine, I would make up the input to the AT10 as a spur from whatever is feeding the radio (one of the J4 sockets). The AT10’s output could then be made up to the (presumably vacant) J4 on the other head (he will need a roblink cable or at least the plug to do this).

The manual is pretty insistent about not patching into the Roblink presumably because this is carrying 12v power and the NMEA sockets are going at 5v.

To the OP, far as the AT15 goes (i’ve never used one) I think it’s essentially the same although it does have a different sentence list to AT10. I think this is the reason for dark warnings in the respective manuals about not swapping them about. It also seems to ship with a pair of roblink connectors which will save you hassle.

What I would do is print the sentence lists from the Vulcan, the AT10, and the AT15 and see what matches up. The reason to do this is the IS15 system is quite old, and the IS15/AT15 might be talking/receiving extra now defunct sentences which mean nothing to the Vulcan (or to the actisense gateway either possibly). You will have to translate the PGNs from N2k to 0183 to check it all through though.

If at the end of the day it’s all much of a muchness and you are just wanting wind, depth, speed and GPS data moved about, I might be tempted by the AT15 (if you can get one) because of the ease of cabling. If not the AT10 or the Actisense should do the basics fine.
 
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