N2k/NMEA2000 Fluxgate Compass/Heading sensor

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joybennett

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So

Having update almost everything electronic onboard, we have discovered that we can’t overlay our new radar onto our new plotter chart as we don’t have a fluxgate compass installed on the system.

I’ve seen a Garmin Heading Sensor available c £160 from various outlets.

Will this do the job or does anybody have any other cost effective ideas please ?
 
Airmar and Maretron make the best solid state compasses. Far better than fluxgate, but just a bit more cash.
 
joybennett said:
So

Having update almost everything electronic onboard, we have discovered that we can’t overlay our new radar onto our new plotter chart as we don’t have a fluxgate compass installed on the system.

I’ve seen a Garmin Heading Sensor available c £160 from various outlets.

Will this do the job or does anybody have any other cost effective ideas please ?
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Would help to know the details of the plotter, radar and autopilot.
 
I have Garmin electronics on board mainly connected by N2K. But the heading sensor , maybe a fluxgate compass, that came with the autopilot kit also has an extra cable connected to the electronic control unit. I understand that whatever signals that pass through this cable are Garmin proprietary and wouldn’t be understood by other kit. Apparently, the extra connection is necessary because of N2K data rate issues. The units involved are Ghc10 and Ghp12.
 
joybennett said:
Hi
It’s a Furuno GP1971, a Furuno Wireless Radar and Garmin instruments. The autopilot is a Simrad Robertson AP11 which, whilst old, does work most of the time!
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In that case you might need to just try it and be prepared to sell it on if it doesn't suit. There may be differences between the information the Garmin is sending and what the Furuno is expecting to receive (or different PGNs in NMEA2000 talk). I'd still veer towards it working though.
 
MikeCC said:
In that case you might need to just try it and be prepared to sell it on if it doesn't suit. There may be differences between the information the Garmin is sending and what the Furuno is expecting to receive (or different PGNs in NMEA2000 talk). I'd still veer towards it working though.
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+1

The spec's for the Garmin suggest it should work OK, but there's never any guarantees, i'd give it a try.

That said, the autopilot will most likely have a fluxgate compass of some sort. Might be worth looing into getting heading data from the autopilot.
 
PaulRainbow said:
+1

That said, the autopilot will most likely have a fluxgate compass of some sort. Might be worth looing into getting heading data from the autopilot.
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If the AP is NMEA0183 based, and getting on a bit, it will probably not be that great eg 1Hz refresh over modern 10Hz. Also depends if Furuno NMEA0183 port is doing anything already.
 
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