Instruments - starting afresh...

[MountainGoat]

Got 4 ST60+ shaped holes in my binnacle too. They're currently filled with 3 * i70s multi function instruments and a p70s autopilot head. The MFIs are dedicated, from left to right, as AIS/environment/telemetry, depth and speed, wind.

For long distance cruising in open waters, any number of them can be turned off to save power and just display what's relevant on one of the displays.

The nice thing about the i70s and p70s is that they'll fit in the same hole that an ST60 series came out of.

 

[ex-Gladys]

Got 4 ST60+ shaped holes in my binnacle too. They're currently filled with 3 * i70s multi function instruments and a p70s autopilot head. The MFIs are dedicated, from left to right, as AIS/environment/telemetry, depth and speed, wind.

For long distance cruising in open waters, any number of them can be turned off to save power and just display what's relevant on one of the displays.

The nice thing about the i70s and p70s is that they'll fit in the same hole that an ST60 series came out of.

When I installed Tacktick kit I had 3 displays instead of 4, I covered the resultant hole with an additional instrument cover....

 

[Lon nan Gruagach]

The comparison is with another networking technology (wireless). Whether instruments have direct connections to transducers is somewhat of a different point.

Consider, for example, the Raymarine i50 and i60 tridata and wind instruments. They're first class citizens of the NMEA2K world but also feature spade connectors on the back to directly interpret the relevant transducers. This way they can either read the relevant data from the NMEA2K bus, or populate it. You can even do the same with the humble old ST60 instruments, which work beautifully in an NMEA2000 system with Raymarine's converter block.

My chart plotter has an integrated sonar, so it decodes the depth transducer (and then populates the NMEA2K bus with it). I can power down the entire NMEA2K bus and the plotter will still carry on reading and displaying the depth just fine.

While the i50 and i60 may well be "first class citizens" the transducers arent, not by a long chalk. They use Raymarine^TM] proprietary signalling. If the instrument, the wire or the adapter (to SeaTalkNG backbone) goes wrong there is absolutely no way to determine which it is. As such its ludicrously unmaintainable. Whereas, if the transducer came with proper documentation or NMEA (any flavour) output then it is inherently testable.

 

[Woodlouse]

Last year I replaced the entire Raymarine system with a new B&G NMEA2k network. Removed a ton of wiring to replace it all with a single 2k backbone which was easy and has the benefit of being able to add gadgets as required anywhere in the boat. I looked at the wireless but it added unnecessary complications to a very simple one wire totally integrated, plug and play system. The Vulcan chart plotter is WiFi which means that I can control everything from my phone or iPad as a standalone display.

Given the budget this is what I would recommend anyone do. Going back to using raymarine kit after getting used to B&G is a painful experience in my opinion.


My only advice to the thread in general is avoid anything touch screen that is going to be exposed to the elements. I've not come across a single example yet that can handle a wet screen.

 

[Lon nan Gruagach]

One more thought about wireless..
As part of the system you will be installing a WiFi router/hub. These are set (by the user) to one of a choice of channels. Different countries permit a different set of channels, get it wrong and its possible you could get a sharply worded visit from their DTI.

 

[RichardS]

One more thought about wireless..
As part of the system you will be installing a WiFi router/hub. These are set (by the user) to one of a choice of channels. Different countries permit a different set of channels, get it wrong and its possible you could get a sharply worded visit from their DTI.

Crikey .... that would have to be one powerful router and one hyper efficient DTI.

Richard