Continuing vYacht WiFi router problems

[dinwood]

I see from this forum that I'm not alone in having problems with vYacht nor in getting consistent help from the manufacturer. I did manage to get him to replace my defunct unit this winter, but the new one is also playing up and he has gone silent again.
Has anyone succeeded with getting this NMEA router to work? Specifically, getting it working after connecting it to a wifi hotspot? Or even getting a consistent data stream from its wifi output?
Or better still, getting your money back?

 

[lpdsn]

I suspect he's just a one man band with a day job to hold down, so at times responses were slow to say the least.

I find mine is slow so ends up discarding messages. Mainly an issue if they are AIS that are discarded. I did get my money back after agreeing with him that I could change to the N2K version but it took a few reminders. As I say I think he is just too busy at times.

What exactly are you trying to do? I wouldn't call it a router (even though he appears to). If you want to choose what to route out over WiFi look at the ShipModul one.

 

[matthewriches]

I've heard from a few people that they're not very good at best and absolute crap at worst. Customer was trying to fit one to a fairly new (less than 10 years old) Princess and it didn't like half the sentences coming from the Navico gear fitted onboard.

I'm all for small and cottage industry and the product could be good if it had the final bit of development carried out.

ShipModul seems to get the good reviews.

 

[simonfraser]

yeh same here, wasted my money on the vYacht stuff, dont buy it, did not receive a refund either.

this works a treat for nmea depth, guess it will relay wind too, check the link
http://yakbitz.com/YakBak.aspx
and can be modded to run off 5V

 

[dinwood]

What gulled me iinto vYacht was needing to use the output from my SeaTalkng (NMEA2000) network. All I wanted to do was to get wind & depth data onto my smartphone whilst at anchor, to avoid buying another expensive Raymarine display below deck. Most of the other cheap options only accept NMEA0183 input, including (as far as I can see) the ones suggested above.
At this stage all I wnt is to cut my losses really. How did you get your money back lpdsn?

 

[laika]

All I wanted to do was to get wind & depth data onto my smartphone whilst at anchor, to avoid buying another expensive Raymarine display below deck. Most of the other cheap options only accept NMEA0183 input, including (as far as I can see) the ones suggested above.

You can always use your existing plotter (which from your wording I assume you have) as a converter and take the NMEA output of that and feed it into one of the cheaper options. Of course you may have discounted this as it requires you to leave the plotter on.

 

[dinwood]

That's right - low power mode at anchor means no chartplotter left on, just basic instruments.

 

[lpdsn]

At this stage all I wnt is to cut my losses really. How did you get your money back lpdsn?

I bought an NMEA0183 version then changed my plans and wanted the N2K version, so there was more money in it for him to give me my money back for the first. By the time you post yours back from the Carribean it's hardly going to be worth it I suspect.

If I'd known then what I know now I'd've just gone for the ShipModul. In the end I did get a ShipModul Miniplex to multiplex NMEA0183 (with routing), and integrate 0183 and N2K, and also provide data over USB to OpenCPN. The WiFi would've cost me only a little more. The vYacht is now little more than a gimmick for crew who might want to connect their smartphones.

 

[PaulRainbow]

What gulled me iinto vYacht was needing to use the output from my SeaTalkng (NMEA2000) network. All I wanted to do was to get wind & depth data onto my smartphone whilst at anchor, to avoid buying another expensive Raymarine display below deck. Most of the other cheap options only accept NMEA0183 input, including (as far as I can see) the ones suggested above.
At this stage all I wnt is to cut my losses really. How did you get your money back lpdsn?

If you have the N2K vYacht it will do what you want. You connect it to the N2K network (which you obviously need to keep powered up) and then log into the vYacht from your phone. You do not connect the vYacht to the phones mobile hotspot, you connect the phone to the vYacht.

 

[PaulRainbow]

For basic data, the vYacht does work. It struggles if you feed it too much data (as lpdsn said), it also will not do N2K AIS, but it will multiplex the N2K network and NMEA 0183 AIS (just, providing there isn't a ton of dats).

 

[dinwood]

Trouble is that I did connect to the yachts hotspot and now the vYachtwifi network is invisible unless the hotspot is on. As I only use it (a mifi device) when other means of internet connection fail, that means that most of the time the vYachtwifi is invisible. Darnit.

 

[lpdsn]

For basic data, the vYacht does work. It struggles if you feed it too much data (as lpdsn said), it also will not do N2K AIS, but it will multiplex the N2K network and NMEA 0183 AIS (just, providing there isn't a ton of dats).

Hi Paul, it will actually do N2K AIS (or at least the one I have will). Just unfortunately it loses so many messages at busy times that the targets either take a long time to come through or update only infrequently. One of the reasons I gave up on it for serious use.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Hi Paul, it will actually do N2K AIS (or at least the one I have will). Just unfortunately it loses so many messages at busy times that the targets either take a long time to come through or update only infrequently. One of the reasons I gave up on it for serious use.

He might have updated it, what's the firmware version you have, please ?

When i first got mine, every single AIS target was in the same place, about 5000 miles away. He did some updates and kind of got it working, but not worth using. It does work ON on 0183 though. But, i will at some point get the ShipModul one.

 

[lpdsn]

Trouble is that I did connect to the yachts hotspot and now the vYachtwifi network is invisible unless the hotspot is on. As I only use it (a mifi device) when other means of internet connection fail, that means that most of the time the vYachtwifi is invisible. Darnit.

I'm afraid I don't understand how you set that up. It should stand alone apart from being connected to NMEA0183 or 2000. You'd then connect up to the vYacht SSID directly from your laptop or tablet. Your WiFi hotspot should be separate, although they'll compete for channels that shouldn't normally be a problem.

As an alternative, does yours have an Ethernet port? I ran an Ethernet cable from mine to a panel at the chart table, which provides an alternative connection. In practice I hardly ever use it preferring a USB connection to the ShipModul, but it might be a solution for you if you've too much WiFi onboard.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Trouble is that I did connect to the yachts hotspot and now the vYachtwifi network is invisible unless the hotspot is on. As I only use it (a mifi device) when other means of internet connection fail, that means that most of the time the vYachtwifi is invisible. Darnit.

Struggling to make sense of that, sorry. If the vYacht is on, it should appear in the list of available devices on any wifi enabled devices. You then connect to it with your phone, tablet, laptop etc. Once connected, you point your software to the wifi connection for its data. If you are saying that you have somehow "tied" the vYacht to another device (not sure how), then a factory reset or firmware update should reset it.

 

[lpdsn]

He might have updated it, what's the firmware version you have, please ?

When i first got mine, every single AIS target was in the same place, about 5000 miles away. He did some updates and kind of got it working, but not worth using. It does work ON on 0183 though. But, i will at some point get the ShipModul one.

It's on the boat but I can check the version at the weekend if I remember. Purchased early 2013 IIRC.

I can really recommend the ShipModul. Download the manual from their website to see how much you can configure yourself. You can do all sorts. For example I take the ten-per-second Heading PGNs from the EV-1, converted to 0183 then filtered down to one per second and feed them into Stowe Dataline (I've spliced it partway along the Dataline so I can take out or add in messages whilst most of the messages pass through). Not seen anything else reasonably priced where I could do that. And the designer is good at answering questions, even the occasional embarrassingly stupid ones.

 

[PaulRainbow]

It's on the boat but I can check the version at the weekend if I remember. Purchased early 2013 IIRC.

Thanks. Curiously i only bought mine last year (maybe the end of 2016).

I can really recommend the ShipModul. Download the manual from their website to see how much you can configure yourself. You can do all sorts. For example I take the ten-per-second Heading PGNs from the EV-1, converted to 0183 then filtered down to one per second and feed them into Stowe Dataline (I've spliced it partway along the Dataline so I can take out or add in messages whilst most of the messages pass through). Not seen anything else reasonably priced where I could do that. And the designer is good at answering questions, even the occasional embarrassingly stupid ones.

I used to have a ShipModul with Bluetooth, worked really well. Should have bought another one really, instead of trying to save a few quid.

 

[lpdsn]

I used to have a ShipModul with Bluetooth, worked really well. Should have bought another one really, instead of trying to save a few quid.

They've evolved quite a bit with added functionality over the last couple of years. So AIS 0183<->N2K conversion has been added since I bought mine plus they've gone completely standard with N2K, but done it in such a way that there's lots of scope to determine how sources are prioritised at the destination. That's one of the big advantages in that you can just download the latest version as new functionality is released.

 

[GHA]

Would a Raspberry pi/canbus-usb be cheaper?

 

[dinwood]

Returning to the vYacht, thanks for the suggestion PaulRainbow. I tried re-flashing it but it hasn't helped.
How I got into this mess was to follow vYachts instructions (using its embedded Luci) to "join" a wifi hotspot. Since then the vYacht's signal is only visible when this hotspot is powered up. If the hotspot is off then no vYacht wifi signal is visible to any devices, despite the fact that its wifi led is on.
If I cut my losses and buy a ShipModul, am I right in thinking I need a more expensive version with N2K in the name in order to access my Seatalk nG datastream?