Playtime
Well-Known Member
Thanks for that - it's good to know that the theory was correct.
Maybe I'll get the Simrad cable and try next winter. I don't want to screw anything up just before our 'summer' cruise!
Simrad Go Free WiFi
- Thread starter Playtime
- Start date
Thanks for that - it's good to know that the theory was correct.
Maybe I'll get the Simrad cable and try next winter. I don't want to screw anything up just before our 'summer' cruise!
grumpy_o_g
Well-Known Member
Late to the party as usual but there's a bit on Panbo where he does exactly what you're wanting do on a Lowrance unit. http://www.panbo.com/archives/2013/05/a_closer_look_at_lowrances_hds_gen2_touch.html - Scroll down a fair way to find it...
PhilPrasek
New Member
This thread was really helpful getting my setup working, including radar, sonar, and AIS:
- iPad 1: mirrors the NSS8 (radar) with GoFree app
- iPad 2: mirrors and NSS12 (chart) or uses iNavX + Simrad NMEA 0183 data - including AIS
As already mentioned on this thread, the trick to not crashing your wireless router is to isolate the raw Simrad radar and sonar traffic from the WiFi since it bogs the WiFi down and crashes your WiFi router when you turn on the radar or sonar (at least that's what happened on my Cradlepoint MBR95).
Some additional info from the GoFree advanced setup guide:
Navico’s Radar and Sonar products transmit large quantities of data. If this is allowed to transmit over your Wifi network it may result in your Wifi being overloaded and unable to work correctly. Because of this we recommend blocking Radar and Sonar data on you Wifi router so the Wifi is kept free of this data. This will not affect the normal functionality of radar, sonar or GoFree features.
There are 2 ways to isolate the radar and sonar traffic (i.e. keep it on the wired LAN):
1) enable IGMP snooping to isolate radar traffic and disable broadcast traffic with iptables to isolate sonar traffic
2) create an isolated wired-only Simrad network (VLAN) and allow routed WiFi IP traffic
I used option #2 since the Cradlepoint MBR95 doesn't support IGMP snooping or access to iptables directly. The MBR95 provides a guest network, that was repurposed as the wired-only Simrad network:
1) 'Primary' LAN
a) remove wired Ethernet ports 1-4 - via interfaces tab
b) 'LAN isolation' - disabled/uncheckd
c) 'admin access' - enable/checked
2) 'Guest' LAN -> 'Simrad' LAN
a) change name to "Simrad"
b) remove 'guest' WiFi interface - via interfaces tab
c) add wired Ethernet ports 1-4 - via interfaces tab
d) 'LAN isolation' - disabled/uncheckd
e) 'admin access' - enable/checked
f) DHCP - enabled
3) Disable the 'guest' WiFi access point - via wireless (WiFi) network settings tab
This results in:
- Primary LAN - WiFi interface only - no wired Ethernet ports - iPad connects to this WiFi network
- Simrad LAN - wired Ethernet ports only - NO WiFi - Simrad gear connects to this network
The Cradlepoint MBR95 is hooked up to the NEP-2 with a Simrad Ethernet Adapter Cable (000-0127-56) that provides acces to the NSS8 and NSS122. No custom cabling required, it's plug and play.
One minor downside of using your own router is that the GoFree app won't auto-detect the IP address the NSS8 or NSS12 so you have to figure out what the IP address the NSS units got from the MBR95 DHCP server and type that into the GoFree app manually the 1st time.
When the NSS8 and NSS12 boot up they get an IP address from the MBR95's DHCP server (see step 2.f above). You can view the active DHCP leases via Network Settings -> DHCP Server on the MBR95. You'll see entries for the NSS8 and the NSS12. To ensure the NSS units get the same IP addresses each time they boot select the active DHCP leases for the NSS units and click 'Reserve'. The reservations should show up in the reservations section and now each time the NSS units boot up they'll get the same IP addresses since they are reserved.
Now you can connect your iPad to the Primary MBR95 WiFi network, open the GoFree app, click the '+' button and enter the IP address of an NSS unit. GoFree will remember the last IP you entered when you press '+' so you don't have to type in in every time.
To connect iNavX or MacEnc to the Simrad Ethernet NMEA 0183 data, goto the NSS unit to the Settings -> Network page, select NMEA 0183 at the bottom, then Ethernet, and it will display the IP address and port you should use to connect to NMEA 0183 data over WiFi.
This setup allows you to leave your iPad connected to your normal WiFi network (with Internet access) while also connecting to your Simrad network and using the GoFree app or iNavX with Simrad NMEA data. The GoFree app is suprisingly fast, a bit faster in my experience than using the NSS units via the built in touch interface.
If you don't have an MBR95 you'll have to adapt this to your own router, but hopefully helps you save some time if you're trying to get a similar setup working.
- iPad 1: mirrors the NSS8 (radar) with GoFree app
- iPad 2: mirrors and NSS12 (chart) or uses iNavX + Simrad NMEA 0183 data - including AIS
As already mentioned on this thread, the trick to not crashing your wireless router is to isolate the raw Simrad radar and sonar traffic from the WiFi since it bogs the WiFi down and crashes your WiFi router when you turn on the radar or sonar (at least that's what happened on my Cradlepoint MBR95).
Some additional info from the GoFree advanced setup guide:
Navico’s Radar and Sonar products transmit large quantities of data. If this is allowed to transmit over your Wifi network it may result in your Wifi being overloaded and unable to work correctly. Because of this we recommend blocking Radar and Sonar data on you Wifi router so the Wifi is kept free of this data. This will not affect the normal functionality of radar, sonar or GoFree features.
There are 2 ways to isolate the radar and sonar traffic (i.e. keep it on the wired LAN):
1) enable IGMP snooping to isolate radar traffic and disable broadcast traffic with iptables to isolate sonar traffic
2) create an isolated wired-only Simrad network (VLAN) and allow routed WiFi IP traffic
I used option #2 since the Cradlepoint MBR95 doesn't support IGMP snooping or access to iptables directly. The MBR95 provides a guest network, that was repurposed as the wired-only Simrad network:
1) 'Primary' LAN
a) remove wired Ethernet ports 1-4 - via interfaces tab
b) 'LAN isolation' - disabled/uncheckd
c) 'admin access' - enable/checked
2) 'Guest' LAN -> 'Simrad' LAN
a) change name to "Simrad"
b) remove 'guest' WiFi interface - via interfaces tab
c) add wired Ethernet ports 1-4 - via interfaces tab
d) 'LAN isolation' - disabled/uncheckd
e) 'admin access' - enable/checked
f) DHCP - enabled
3) Disable the 'guest' WiFi access point - via wireless (WiFi) network settings tab
This results in:
- Primary LAN - WiFi interface only - no wired Ethernet ports - iPad connects to this WiFi network
- Simrad LAN - wired Ethernet ports only - NO WiFi - Simrad gear connects to this network
The Cradlepoint MBR95 is hooked up to the NEP-2 with a Simrad Ethernet Adapter Cable (000-0127-56) that provides acces to the NSS8 and NSS122. No custom cabling required, it's plug and play.
One minor downside of using your own router is that the GoFree app won't auto-detect the IP address the NSS8 or NSS12 so you have to figure out what the IP address the NSS units got from the MBR95 DHCP server and type that into the GoFree app manually the 1st time.
When the NSS8 and NSS12 boot up they get an IP address from the MBR95's DHCP server (see step 2.f above). You can view the active DHCP leases via Network Settings -> DHCP Server on the MBR95. You'll see entries for the NSS8 and the NSS12. To ensure the NSS units get the same IP addresses each time they boot select the active DHCP leases for the NSS units and click 'Reserve'. The reservations should show up in the reservations section and now each time the NSS units boot up they'll get the same IP addresses since they are reserved.
Now you can connect your iPad to the Primary MBR95 WiFi network, open the GoFree app, click the '+' button and enter the IP address of an NSS unit. GoFree will remember the last IP you entered when you press '+' so you don't have to type in in every time.
To connect iNavX or MacEnc to the Simrad Ethernet NMEA 0183 data, goto the NSS unit to the Settings -> Network page, select NMEA 0183 at the bottom, then Ethernet, and it will display the IP address and port you should use to connect to NMEA 0183 data over WiFi.
This setup allows you to leave your iPad connected to your normal WiFi network (with Internet access) while also connecting to your Simrad network and using the GoFree app or iNavX with Simrad NMEA data. The GoFree app is suprisingly fast, a bit faster in my experience than using the NSS units via the built in touch interface.
If you don't have an MBR95 you'll have to adapt this to your own router, but hopefully helps you save some time if you're trying to get a similar setup working.
Mikedefieslife
Well-Known Member
Bringing this back as there is some good information here.
I'm about to do the same, but I'm wondering why the need for a Simrad network to RJ45 cable? Don't you simply plug the radar (which has an RJ45 cable on it into your router, then run a cable from the router to the Ri10 radar interface/breakout box?
I'm about to do the same, but I'm wondering why the need for a Simrad network to RJ45 cable? Don't you simply plug the radar (which has an RJ45 cable on it into your router, then run a cable from the router to the Ri10 radar interface/breakout box?
RobbieW
Well-Known Member
I have an ethernet switch between the radar and the RI10 not a router. This connects the radar head, the RI10 and my boats router. I get both GoFree data from port 10110 on the NSS8s IP address (it usess DHCP so will pick that up from my router) and the radar udp stream running onto my network through the boat router, works well with OpenCPNs BR24 plugin. One reason you might not want to connect through a router is that I understand couple of the ethernet connections from the RI10 carry power to the radar head, the ones not used pre Cat 6. I just bought a generic 12v switch from the local store where I was at the time, Sicily I think.
I've used this with both Tomato and OpenWRT (current set up) as the router OS but tend to have the laptop using a wired connection on the chart table. Just tested that setup over WiFi which works fine in that I'm still getting both sets of data. I'm running the Gargoyle variant of OpenWRT which doesnt easily show me the inter-router data, its set up to measure internet use, so I cant see how much data the wireless network is getting. I've done nothing to the Gargoyle configuration to adjust for udp data flows. When I looked a couple of years ago using Tomato, I thought it was in the order of 1Mb/s for radar data. That could be a problem for some setups, Tomato had a setting to change the multicast data rate from the default of 1Mb/s (IIRC) to 54 which I had done before measuring.
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Mikedefieslife
Well-Known Member
Did you have any concerns about the radar cable no longer being waterproof since you have to remove the cover to access the rj45 connector? Mine is in a sealed cupboard but you never know.
A hub makes sense cheap too.
I’ll be running all this through a Mikrotik Routerboard with Router OS level 4.
A hub makes sense cheap too.
I’ll be running all this through a Mikrotik Routerboard with Router OS level 4.
RobbieW
Well-Known Member
No more concerns than with any of the other domestic stuff I've got running
The hub is inside so its as waterproof as it can be, again IIRC (its hard to get at) the original cable end into the RI10 isnt particularily waterproofed and it is an RJ45.Had a play with Mikrotik - very powerful if you know what your doing but I couldnt find a way under the covers so I've stuck mostly with OpenWRT (but much prefer Tomatos bandwidth measurment tools). If your using a dongle for data have a look at ROOter, ofmodemsandmen.com (another OpenWRT variant), with support through a forum on Whirlpool. I have that running on a £20 mini router feeding into the main ones WAN port, its focus for several years has been maximising dongle throughput and availability - does it very well.