pvb
Well-Known Member
I've had brilliant response to queries from Garmin's UK support team.
New plotter
- Thread starter Laysula
- Start date
I've had brilliant response to queries from Garmin's UK support team.
Sea-Fever
Well-Known Member
You must be thinking of those cheap Chinese garden lights
Sea-Fever
Well-Known Member
.....of which my wife has bought hundreds and every time is surprised when they give up the ghost.You must be thinking of those cheap Chinese garden lights
pvb
Well-Known Member
You must be thinking of those cheap Chinese garden lights
Not at all. Garmin's wireless masthead transducer needs a new battery every 3 to 4 years. I can't imagine anyone deciding that these are a better option than a simple hard-wired transducer.
NiMH Battery (gWind Wireless) | Garmin
Sea-Fever
Well-Known Member
I visit the top of my mast reasonably regularly...not much of an issue for me but it's not for everyone I suppose.
WoodyP
Well-Known Member
I visit the top of my mast when it's horizontal. I don't mind going up a ladder, but leave rope assisted antics to others.
prv
Well-Known Member
As a matter of interest, in the commercial world 0183 is the only game in town, either in its original serial form or over ethernet with one sentence per UDP packet. I mentioned NMEA2k to the chief electrical engineer in a Norwegian shipyard - no slouch with PLC-based automation and advanced hybrid propulsion systems - and he’d barely heard of it.
Pete
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
My Standard Horizon CP300i continues to give good service, too (and came with charts for the whole of Western Europe).
On the other hand SH no longer make plotters, and the last (and only) time I had the charts updated (some years ago!) I was told I wouldn't be able to do so again because the software or memory (I can't remember the details) of my particular CP300 version wouldn't be able to cope with it. Hence my charts become ever more out of date (not that it has been a great problem so far).
I had hoped that plotters would fall drastically in price as they become ever more ubiquitous, but, like most technical gadgets, they just become more complex and powerful instead.
My plotter isn't connected to anything else except an AIS receiver, and I have no yearning at all for integrated instruments (which is just as well, my bank manager says!), though I don't knock them or those that value them.
lustyd
Well-Known Member
Presumably an issue with cable run lengths. I’d imagine ships would need some kind of routed packet based network to avoid the various collision issues they'd get. At that point I guess there’s very little difference between 0183 and 2k since both deliver digital signals which can be converted to and from packets of data
Daverw
Well-Known Member
He would most likely to have called it Canbus, industry standard for plc comms
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
What are 'plc' communications?
Daverw
Well-Known Member
Programmable logic controller - Wikipedia
And the communication between modules and interface
CAN bus - Wikipedia
And the communication between modules and interface
CAN bus - Wikipedia
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Never Grumble
Well-Known Member
Having read through this I reckon I will replace more than just my chart plotter, but also the instruments, and possibly VHF radio (the old one being 0183 only). How easy will it be to link my AIS transceiver 0183 into this. I presume also that if I go for Raymarine instruments then I might also need to consider sea talk to 2000 linking if I go for another brand of chart plotter. I think I might have to take a look at what my auto pilot connects into? Makes what at first appears a relatively simple project into something more complex.
Jokani
Well-Known Member
I could not ever get mine to last much more than a year, never again! Only wired from here on in!
Minerva
Well-Known Member
I have no skin in the game either way - but I do have mast steps. Over my summer cruise, one nice sunny morning whilst at anchor I scooted up the mast on the steps, a Prussik loop on my climbing harness and my wife to make fast the secondary safety line. I spent a leisurely hour or so upgrading my masthead tricolour to a new LED one.
It being an ordeal to go up the mast and as such put off doing routine safety checks is a fools game. Having a safe, easy, tried & tested method of going up the mast is essential imo.
lustyd
Well-Known Member
Completely agree. I have a GriGri and ascenders to allow me to climb alone, again with a Prussik on a second line for safety. As luck would have it, this system requires just enough effort to take my mind off the height issue
vas
Well-Known Member
blimey, and it was me feeling uneasy stepping up the f/b dash to access and check my hardtop mounted nasa wind transducer 
washing the solar panels on the hard top is the most scary task, have to buy a small pressure washer, broom and hose is not enough
washing the solar panels on the hard top is the most scary task, have to buy a small pressure washer, broom and hose is not enough
prv
Well-Known Member
I think the reason shipping doesn't use N2k is more a matter of industry norms / inertia, regulation / type approval, and the fact that its main benefits (ease of neat and compact retrofit installation by untrained numpties) aren't really relevant.
At the electrical level NMEA0183 is RS422, which has a recommended maximum cable length of 1200 metres. In any case, ship navigation gear is generally clustered around the bridge, so cable lengths aren't a major concern. Sensors strung out elsewhere in the vessel are probably mostly individually cabled back to the bridge, either NMEA0183 or something proprietary back to a control box that may have NMEA0183 ports on it. Though ethernet is becoming more common to reduce the amount of wiring needing to be strung about; common protocols on that network are Modbus/TCP or, as I originally said, NMEA0183 sentences encapsulated in UDP packets.
We were already talking about CAN for control of a particular on-board system. Obviously N2k is one specific example of a CAN protocol, plus some extra stipulations about hardware, but it's not correct to say that they're one and the same thing.
This CAN controlled item was a bit of a novelty for him, though. Mostly his PLCs are connected together by ethernet, and the onward links to equipment are 4-20mA analogue, 24v digital, Modbus/TCP, or occasionally serial NMEA0183.
Pete
xeitosaphil
Well-Known Member
I have to say I have had the same experience as previously mentioned. My SH 300i plotter has been trouble free for 10 years now, and I have just updated my orange c- map card for the last time, before 1st of September when I have been told they will cease to do it.
I also have 0183 and Seatalk connected to ST60's Wind, Multi, Tri data, SH VHF with cockpit command mike, and plotter with AIS receiver. All given good service and hope to keep going for a few more years yet, and now with the benefit of up-to-date cartography on the plotter.
There is also a Yeoman Compact run off a Garmin 128 and older charts if needed,as a Nav backup.
Hope 0183 and Seatalk spares will be around for quite some time in the future.
dutyhog
Well-Known Member
Our Furuno GP39 GPS has failed after just two years' use, and I suppose can't be repaired. This thread makes me seriously consider the Onwa KP38 or 39 as a replacement. I hadn't particularly wanted a chart plotter as such (when wanted we use a Toughbook and an iphone with UKHO and Antares charts), but why not have more than basic GPS at a lower price than a new Furuno, which may not last two years again.
The GPS is connected to a Standard Horizon GX1200 VHF. That should be OK as it reads any NMEA version from v2.0 and above - the Onwa has NMEA v 3.01 and 4.11.
We also use an Raymarine ST60 multidisplay. It did read the Furuno's NMEA (v1.5, 2.0, 3.1). But the ST60 is so old it doesn’t mention NMEA versions, so I can't tell if it can read Onwa NMEA v 3.01 . Does anyone know if that's likely to work? I'll approach Aves Marine if the forum doesn’t know.
The GPS is connected to a Standard Horizon GX1200 VHF. That should be OK as it reads any NMEA version from v2.0 and above - the Onwa has NMEA v 3.01 and 4.11.
We also use an Raymarine ST60 multidisplay. It did read the Furuno's NMEA (v1.5, 2.0, 3.1). But the ST60 is so old it doesn’t mention NMEA versions, so I can't tell if it can read Onwa NMEA v 3.01 . Does anyone know if that's likely to work? I'll approach Aves Marine if the forum doesn’t know.