Instruments Again

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yachtorion

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Rather than buying multiple expensive "multi function displays" like the GMI20 and the i70 etc I'm *currently* planning to kit out my electronically empty Horizon 26 with Nasa Clipper displays in the cockpit and a single 7" plotter/MFD in the cabin at the chart table, with wi-fi. Most of the Clipper instruments have NMEA output and I understand they are looking at adding it to the Depth.

So my plan is to network all the NASA instruments into an NMEA0183 to NMEA2000 bridge and plug that in to either a Raymarine or Simrad plotter. Then add a Tesco Hudl in a waterproof bag with the plotter remote app installed and I figure I have the best of both worlds. The Clipper instruments are great at what they do - tried, tested and very easy to use and read, and I have all the functionality of the plotter on a cheap disposable device in the cockpit.

If any bit of it breaks, the NASA stuff is cheap to replace and so is the Hudl.

After posting about this in another thread I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on this idea before I start buying the bits?
 
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ghostlymoron said:
The spec for the clipper says 'Output for repeater' but I think that only works for a NASA repeater
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robmcg said:
Didn't know that Clipper instruments had NMEA output. Certainly the ones on our first boat didn't. It would be a useful addition to the Nasa kit
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Originals didn't. I think it may have been added quite recently... on newer instruments, apart from the depth most do have NMEA output. I phoned and asked and they are considering adding it to the depth.

As an example, if you look here: http://www.nasamarine.com/proddetail.php?prod=Clipper_log or here http://www.nasamarine.com/proddetail.php?prod=Clipper_Wind

It mentions the NMEA out.
 
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Yes, those Nasa instuments are very good value for money. The only comment I would like to make is your choice of Hudl as the tablet. I have got one and although I initially loved it I think there are other alternatives that are better now the prices have all dropped. The gps on my Hudl is very poor and I think it would be nice to have a faster processor.

All in all I like your idea. In my experience (Stowe and Tack****) the instruments do not last that long and as you say the Nasa stuff is so relatively cheap that you could afford to replace one should it fail.

I was also looking at the specs of all the instrument choices this morning and the Nasa clipper ones do say NMEA out, what I want though is NMEA0183 & 2k in as well ! This is so I can use the Garmin wind transducer because I have faith that it will last for a long time.
 
The Raymarine show offer for the i70 instrument pack contains two i70's plus wind transducer, depth/speed/temp transducer + cabling @ £1100.
I don't know how much the Clipper gear comes to.
 
Talulah said:
The Raymarine show offer for the i70 instrument pack contains two i70's plus wind transducer, depth/speed/temp transducer + cabling @ £1100.
I don't know how much the Clipper gear comes to.
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That's a good offer!

Well.... assuming everything goes in to the NMEA0183 input on the plotter, I guess it would be (based on best prices I've found so far)...

NASA Wind - £200
NASA Depth (once the new version is available) - £130
NASA Log - £130
NMEA Multiplexer - £189 (Actisense NDC4)

Total: £649

So still a good saving and with the advantage of individual bits being cheap to replace... but of course there is extra flexibility from the i70 gear. To get somewhere near the capabilities I'd at least need to add a GPS repeater bringing the total up to £769. Of course one advantage of the NASA kit it multiple screens showing all information clearly at once without worries about sunlight readability etc.
 
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I do like the idea of separate dedicated displays for each function. The Stowe setup we had on Saumur more than 20 years ago cannot be beaten now other than it was not in colour.
There was one multifunction display at the chart table where you could dial up speed/depth etc and 4 dedicated displays in the cockpit - Depth, Log, wind & close hauled wind. To do that now would cost a small fortune unless you used the Nasa displays. So thinking about it, if I reckon it was that good then our obvious route is to replicate it using the Nasa system !
 
I am tending in this direction. The multi function displays are sooooooooooo expensive! I have an nmea box from Stowe which supposedly outputs all the nmea messages on one wire.

Couple of questions as I am an nmea numpty:

Is there any way of daisy chaining the repeater devices, I would buy speed, depth, gps and wind.

If not is it ok to split one nmea output to 4 instruments?

Does the gps repeater have a screen that just shows the location and SOG? (website doesnt have pictures of all the screens that I can see?

Anything else I havent thought of!??
 
Storyline said:
I do like the idea of separate dedicated displays for each function
Click to expand...

Exactly - same here. Repeating the information in other places as well is no bad thing, but if I have a sudden panic about depth I want to be able to look in one specific place where it is always displayed, no modes or pages to flick through. I can't see any good reason not to have dedicated depth/speed/wind indicators front-and-centre in the cockpit, whatever other toys you then ladle on around them.

Pete
 
roblpm said:
Is there any way of daisy chaining the repeater devices, I would buy speed, depth, gps and wind.

If not is it ok to split one nmea output to 4 instruments?
Click to expand...

You can connect several listening devices in parallel to one output - I think the official number might only be two or three but in practice four will almost certainly be fine. What you can't do is connect multiple talkers together - NMEA 0183 doesn't include any provision for taking turns, so they all just talk over the top of each other and the result is gibberish.

Pete
 
prv said:
You can connect several listening devices in parallel to one output - I think the official number might only be two or three but in practice four will almost certainly be fine. What you can't do is connect multiple talkers together - NMEA 0183 doesn't include any provision for taking turns, so they all just talk over the top of each other and the result is gibberish.

Pete
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Thanks for that, thats fine as the stowe nmea box effectively multiplexes the gps and the stowe information.

I have just priced this up. £365 for the four displays I want (does anyone really use close hauled wind? I have a windex which gets used for racing).

To go the I70 route I will need an actisense NGW1 at about £100 and 2 I 70s at £420 each, a total of £940! As much as I like gadgets thats ridiculouis!
 
roblpm said:
I am tending in this direction. The multi function displays are sooooooooooo expensive! I have an nmea box from Stowe which supposedly outputs all the nmea messages on one wire.

Couple of questions as I am an nmea numpty:

Is there any way of daisy chaining the repeater devices, I would buy speed, depth, gps and wind.

If not is it ok to split one nmea output to 4 instruments?

Does the gps repeater have a screen that just shows the location and SOG? (website doesnt have pictures of all the screens that I can see?

Anything else I havent thought of!??
Click to expand...

If you're thinking of buying Nasa repeater displays, you need to check whether they'll accept an NMEA input, and also whether the sentences they need are output by your Stowe unit.
 
yachtailsa said:
Rather than buying multiple expensive "multi function displays" like the GMI20 and the i70 etc I'm *currently* planning to kit out my electronically empty Horizon 26 with Nasa Clipper displays in the cockpit and a single 7" plotter/MFD in the cabin at the chart table, with wi-fi. Most of the Clipper instruments have NMEA output and I understand they are looking at adding it to the Depth.

So my plan is to network all the NASA instruments into an NMEA0183 to NMEA2000 bridge and plug that in to either a Raymarine or Simrad plotter. Then add a Tesco Hudl in a waterproof bag with the plotter remote app installed and I figure I have the best of both worlds. The Clipper instruments are great at what they do - tried, tested and very easy to use and read, and I have all the functionality of the plotter on a cheap disposable device in the cockpit.

If any bit of it breaks, the NASA stuff is cheap to replace and so is the Hudl.

After posting about this in another thread I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on this idea before I start buying the bits?
Click to expand...

It would be wise before proceeding to check whether Nasa's version of NMEA will work with your NMEA2000 bridge, and whether the sentences used by Nasa are accepted by your proposed plotter. As I recall, there have been issues in the past of non-compatibility with some Nasa kit.
 
prv said:
Repeating the information in other places as well is no bad thing, but if I have a sudden panic about depth I want to be able to look in one specific place where it is always displayed, no modes or pages to flick through.
Click to expand...

Top racing boats carry lots of fancy kit to constantly monitor a yacht's performance against pre-determined polars and other parameters such as which sails? what rig tension? what outhaul, cunningham, kicker, genny track position? has the boat been recently polished? etc.

Cruisers in turn seem inclined to pimp up their boats with colorful faux-racing bling, a standing joke amongst top racing helmsman who view this stuff as one might fancy rims and a big spoiler on a 2005 Mondeo 1.8.

As you say all one really needs are depth, speed and wind parameters (TWA and AWA are useful), then just go and play!
 
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roblpm said:
I am tending in this direction. The multi function displays are sooooooooooo expensive! I have an nmea box from Stowe which supposedly outputs all the nmea messages on one wire.

Couple of questions as I am an nmea numpty:

Is there any way of daisy chaining the repeater devices, I would buy speed, depth, gps and wind.

If not is it ok to split one nmea output to 4 instruments?

Does the gps repeater have a screen that just shows the location and SOG? (website doesnt have pictures of all the screens that I can see?

Anything else I havent thought of!??
Click to expand...

Well i was doing well but just found out the nasa depth repeater doesn't have an nmea input! Back to the drawing board.
 
Here I go again: For minimum cost, 2 Echopilot Bronze Trio displays: calibrate them with your existing transducers: add a TackTick apparent wind indicator.
Much better than the NASA options, I think.
 
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