Nexus Transducers Protocol

[jjjaaa]

Dear All,

Does anybody have a clue how nexus nx2 connected windtransducers - or other transducers - "talk" to the nx2 server? I would like to replace some transducers with non-nexus ones and would build a bridge for the purpose. I have seen few threads about fdx protocol running on top of rs485/9600baud but they are a bit thin specific content.

- JA

[gjorgensen]

Originally Posted by jjjaaa

Dear All,

Does anybody have a clue how nexus nx2 connected windtransducers - or other transducers - "talk" to the nx2 server? I would like to replace some transducers with non-nexus ones and would build a bridge for the purpose. I have seen few threads about fdx protocol running on top of rs485/9600baud but they are a bit thin specific content.

- JA

They're proprietary and if anyone has ever reverse engineered the protocol I've never seen it. The server does support NMEA0183 for some transducers, but you'd need to check the manual for which ones. I seem to remember that depth, speed, and wind are purely proprietary.

[jjjaaa]

Thank you. According to the manual it should be possible to feed in data over NMEA for also at least for the wind. However NMEA is rather slow and is said to even slow down the actual other parts of the system. Although, in fact I have not get it working either, and I keep wondering why. Let me know if you have any experience on required signal levels and settings / nx2 settings.

It really might be that the this system starts to be so outdated that it makes no sense anymore to examine this. (Mine is in a rather good shape and I wanted to keep it around for a while but with a flexible connectivity. It is still a rather fine method showing the data.) The fact that nobody seem to have broken the nexus protocol yet, might mean nobody will.

regards, JA

[dlentz]

Check with Garmin. I was able to replace my Nexus wind with the G-Wind from Garmin with just an adaptor connection. (Garmin bought out Nexus)
D.

[woodenboats]

Originally Posted by jjjaaa

Does anybody have a clue how nexus nx2 connected windtransducers - or other transducers - "talk" to the nx2 server?

AFAIK they do not use any protocol but send down RAW Sensor data (one tick per revolution etc.). Thus the designated ports for the different sensors.

Sent from my Lenovo B8080-H using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[gjorgensen]

Originally Posted by jjjaaa

It really might be that the this system starts to be so outdated that it makes no sense anymore to examine this. (Mine is in a rather good shape and I wanted to keep it around for a while but with a flexible connectivity. It is still a rather fine method showing the data.) The fact that nobody seem to have broken the nexus protocol yet, might mean nobody will.

regards, JA

This is really the answer. My system is 15 years old, and other than the wind transducers freezing up about every 7 years it's still working well. But the world has moved to NMEA2000 and there's little demand for Nexus any more from what I've seen. I think Garmin is just letting it die, since the NMEA converter is the only new thing they've introduced into the lineup in the past 6 years. With all the racing boats I know, not a single one has done anything other than NMEA2k since around 2008, and I know a number who've swapped out Nexus systems for B&G Triton. I suspect they'll discontinue it before very long.