Connecting two Garmin 451 Chartplotters

[jamie-bay]

Hello, i wondered if i could directly connect two.garmin 451 chartplotters, one on deck and one at the navstation in a yacht....i have a nasa ais reciever connected and a vhf radio for positioning. My lowrance 3500 chartplotter is end of life and i love the 451. Sure i read something that said you can directly connect data /power cables supplied without a full nmea 2000 backbone.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Not sure what you hope to do ?

You cannot network two GPSMAP 451s, as they have no network ports or capability.

You can connect them to CAnet, but that's basically to share sonar.

You can connect to a N2K network, but both devices will need power supplies. They will share network data over N2K, such as depth, water temp, STW etc

You would need charts for each device, however you connect them.

 

[MikeCC]

You can simply split the AIS output to both displays. Just wire both NMEA inputs to the AIS. Best if they are all grounded together for reliable data as none of them use differential wire pairs. With NMEA0183, one 'talker' can speak to several 'listeners' but not the other way round.
As soon as you want to do anything that might need an NMEA0183 multiplexer, you may as well go for NMEA2000.

 

[jamie-bay]

You can simply split the AIS output to both displays. Just wire both NMEA inputs to the AIS. Best if they are all grounded together for reliable data as none of them use differential wire pairs. With NMEA0183, one 'talker' can speak to several 'listeners' but not the other way round.
As soon as you want to do anything that might need an NMEA0183 multiplexer, you may as well go for NMEA2000.

So if i install a backbone will the navstation be cloned to the cockpit and vice versa. I read that with just two you could use the existing supplied data cables to workup and sync both units in sync but i cannot for the life of me find it again

 

[jamie-bay]

You can simply split the AIS output to both displays. Just wire both NMEA inputs to the AIS. Best if they are all grounded together for reliable data as none of them use differential wire pairs. With NMEA0183, one 'talker' can speak to several 'listeners' but not the other way round.
As soon as you want to do anything that might need an NMEA0183 multiplexer, you may as well go for NMEA2000.

Hi Mike
If i go nmea 2000 does course and everything appear on both plotters
Happy to install it if i need to.
I could just run them separately but that doesnt seem worthwhile
J

 

[pvb]

Hi Mike
If i go nmea 2000 does course and everything appear on both plotters
Happy to install it if i need to.
I could just run them separately but that doesnt seem worthwhile

Firstly, you can't network two Garmin 451 plotters. As PaulRainbow said, you'll need chart cartridges for both plotters. Whatever you do on one plotter won't be mirrored on the other.

But, they can both display the data from your instruments, etc. So if your instruments output NMEA0183, you'd be able to feed that into both plotters through the ordinary power/data cables. If your instruments output NMEA2000, you'd need to install a backbone, feed the instrument data in to it, and connect both plotters to it.

If you want to achieve more network functionality, you'll need to buy higher-spec plotters.

Personally, instead of two Garmin 451 plotters (which have very tiny screens with poor definition) I'd buy one decent 7" or 8" plotter and put it in the cockpit. Route planning, etc, is so easy with modern plotters that it's easy to do it in the cockpit.

 

[jamie-bay]

Thanks for all that info just the nmea will be suffice then, i have 2 chart cards so not a problem for me. I agree i will sell them both and go for a more versatile unit at some point. Many thanks for all your help.