Is this a good idea to add nmea 2000 to my boat during a rewire?

[steve yates]

My instruments have always been basic, old and stand alone. I am about to rewire the longbow and it occurs to me that maybe I should have nmea, as I will be adding new instruments? I am quite comfortable with stand alone instruments but I can see the usefulness of them chatting to each other, mainly for showing me stuff like ais on my tablet.
I guess it also cuts down some wiring back to the switch box on certain instruments and frees up some switches? Which instruments are likely to be able to be powered completely from the backbone itself?
Will this actisense starter kit give me a basic trouble free entry into the modern world? Or is it better to buy the components individually to suit?
Thanks.

 

[PaulRainbow]

My instruments have always been basic, old and stand alone. I am about to rewire the longbow and it occurs to me that maybe I should have nmea, as I will be adding new instruments? I am quite comfortable with stand alone instruments but I can see the usefulness of them chatting to each other, mainly for showing me stuff like ais on my tablet.
I guess it also cuts down some wiring back to the switch box on certain instruments and frees up some switches? Which instruments are likely to be able to be powered completely from the backbone itself?

Low power units, such as Garmin GMI20/50, Raymarine I50/60/70 etc. Plotter, AIS, VHF and the like need a dedicated power supply. For me, fitting N2K enabled devices and not putting them on a network is missing out on some useful functionality.

Will this actisense starter kit give me a basic trouble free entry into the modern world? Or is it better to buy the components individually to suit?
Thanks.

It will work OK, Actisense is good kit. Providing you don't want more than 8 devices (you can't expand the network) and they can al be fitted within a 6m cable run. It's often better to split an N2K network, you might have a few items in the cockpit, all on tees and drop cables, then run the backbone to the chart table, some more tees, then perhaps more backbone to somewhere else. Finally, if you wanted to fit a N2K masthead wind transducer, you cannot use the Actisense starter kit.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

It would be a good idea. When I upgraded my instruments, plotter, AiS, integrated ST60s and future radar, the biggest pain was running a network. So do it now would be advisable. Old kit is becoming redundant. If you did get Raymarine there are crossovers from their proprietary connectors, really there is no downside.

 

[steve yates]

Low power units, such as Garmin GMI20/50, Raymarine I50/60/70 etc. Plotter, AIS, VHF and the like need a dedicated power supply. For me, fitting N2K enabled devices and not putting them on a network is missing out on some useful functionality.

It will work OK, Actisense is good kit. Providing you don't want more than 8 devices (you can't expand the network) and they can al be fitted within a 6m cable run. It's often better to split an N2K network, you might have a few items in the cockpit, all on tees and drop cables, then run the backbone to the chart table, some more tees, then perhaps more backbone to somewhere else. Finally, if you wanted to fit a N2K masthead wind transducer, you cannot use the Actisense starter kit.

Thanks, I was thinking Iwould getone of the Nasa wireless masthead kits, are any of them they n2k?
If not then I’m not too sure I am bothered about having wind speed on other instruments when I just need to glance at the display unit if I want to know.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Thanks, I was thinking Iwould getone of the Nasa wireless masthead kits, are any of them they n2k?
If not then I’m not too sure I am bothered about having wind speed on other instruments when I just need to glance at the display unit if I want to know.

Pretty sure the NASA units are 0183 Steve.