NMEA 2000 Cabling.

[onesea]

Advice please looking to connect 2 units with space for more.

Looking to have power at switch panel. Chart plotter 1m away in one direction, Autopilot and in future more in another direction approx 3m.

Distances described as cable would run.

What would I need?
Drop cable one meter chart plotter to power,
Back bone 3m to autopilot area,
Short drop cable to autopilot,

Any more?

 

[vas]

slightly confused with your description.
A backbone consists of two terminators (one on each side) and in order to cater for two devices two tees plus at least one length of cable 3m as you say.
Now, you need to power the backbone with a special usually yellow in Garmin power cable which is circa 1m long and a tee to get into the backbone.
You'd need a drop cable at least for the a/p and you'll struggle to get the tee to mate onto the chartplotter so another there.
Total:

2 terminators
3 tees
2 short dropcables
1 long backbone cable

(mind drop and backbone is exactly the same thing...)

You could go:
terminator/tee/3m/tee/tee/terminator
first tee gets to the a/p via a drop cable,
second tee to power
third tee to chartplotter via a drop cable.

hope you're not more confused now!

 

[MikeCC]

You'll need terminators at each end plus a power supply into backbone.

If you're not going to add much else, you could look at something like the Actisense all-in-one 4-way units and just connect drop cables from devices.

 

[wonkywinch]

Complete Guide to Building an NMEA 2000 Network

You need to give them some details and your email but it's a very handy guide.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Advice please looking to connect 2 units with space for more.

Looking to have power at switch panel. Chart plotter 1m away in one direction, Autopilot and in future more in another direction approx 3m.

Distances described as cable would run.

What would I need?
Drop cable one meter chart plotter to power,
Back bone 3m to autopilot area,
Short drop cable to autopilot,

Any more?

One of these : NMEA 2000® Starter Kit | Garmin

Plus an extra T connector.

 

[onesea]

So given initially I am only connecting 2 devices I could get away with:

1) @ Plotter - Drop Cable 1m
2) Terminator & T piece
3) T Piece and power connection,
4) Terminator & T piece
5) @ Auto pilot - Drop Cable 2.5m

Further the Drop cable could be interchanged as back bone later with more drop cables and T’s to expand the system where ever I wish.

So My shopping list would be:
3 x T’s,
2 x terminator pieces,
2 x NMEA cables,
1 x power supply,

Having written all that up @PaulRainbow summed it up with a link.

@vas Thanks for tip re mating straight to unit, that is quite likely at the Autopilot as it’s not a direct link. It’s going through a USB to NMEA converter. At plotter it MIGHT save space to use it as 90deg angle changer.

However I fit need the above, thanks for the advice all next it’s finding it all on budget

 

[mrangry]

Previous posts pretty much cover it, however as well as powering the backbone some components will require their own separate power supply like the autopilot for example

 

[vas]

So given initially I am only connecting 2 devices I could get away with:

1) @ Plotter - Drop Cable 1m
2) Terminator & T piece
3) T Piece and power connection,
4) Terminator & T piece
5) @ Auto pilot - Drop Cable 2.5m

Further the Drop cable could be interchanged as back bone later with more drop cables and T’s to expand the system where ever I wish.

So My shopping list would be:
3 x T’s,
2 x terminator pieces,
2 x NMEA cables,
1 x power supply,

Having written all that up @PaulRainbow summed it up with a link.

@vas Thanks for tip re mating straight to unit, that is quite likely at the Autopilot as it’s not a direct link. It’s going through a USB to NMEA converter. At plotter it MIGHT save space to use it as 90deg angle changer.

However I fit need the above, thanks for the advice all next it’s finding it all on budget

Yep, would do nicely, start shopping!

Mind having a rather complex N2K bus onboard my 43ft mobo, going from bow cabin (GMI10) to stern (a/p) and the bottom of the bilge (a/p compass and custom stabilisers controller) to the top of the f/b (plotter/GMI10) using around 20 N2K devices (half of them Garmin, 5 custom boxes) and over 50m of cabling, it has never missed a beat over the last 8yrs!

 

[PaulRainbow]

Having written all that up @PaulRainbow summed it up with a link.

@vas Thanks for tip re mating straight to unit, that is quite likely at the Autopilot as it’s not a direct link. It’s going through a USB to NMEA converter. At plotter it MIGHT save space to use it as 90deg angle changer.

However I fit need the above, thanks for the advice all next it’s finding it all on budget

If you want, you can buy a Garmin drop cable with a 90 degree connector on one end.

For the description you give in post #1, you don't need a backbone cable. Connect all 3 t's together (that's your backbone) and fit the terminators to the ends of the t's. Fit the power cable to the middle t and the other 2 cables to the remaining t's.