Actisense pc reader

[devee1]

Good Morning
Does anyone have any input on how I can pass on nmea data on to the opencpn software via actisense ngt-1-usb. I have a raymarine ng backbone that I can read perfectly via the actisense software. Issue is I can't seem to get opencpn to interface with the sentence streaming. I am at a loss. I tried calling actisense but no answer. Is there anyone else able to shed some light on the issue.
thanks
jim

[transmitterdan]

Open the NMEA debug window in OpenCPN. Post what you see in that window. If you see nothing then the serial USB parameters are probably not set correctly.

Also, tell us what kind of operating system is running OpenCPN.

[Dockhead]

In a word, no, you can't.

The NGT passes on NMEA2000 PGNs, not 0183 sentences. OpenCPN does not speak NMEA2000. It needs 0183. So you need the NGW, which translates N2K to 0183, not the NGT.


It would only take a pretty small bit of software, to do that translation in your computer, but I am not aware that any such exists.

[bcn]

Have a look at CANBOAT:
https://github.com/canboat/canboat/wiki

Not "out of the box", but doable.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by bcn

Have a look at CANBOAT:
https://github.com/canboat/canboat/wiki

Not "out of the box", but doable.

My understanding is that you have to program every single PGM separately. Looks pretty intensely tedious.

Someone should write a little program which would just convert some raft of PGMs to 0183 sentences! There is such a program inside the Actisense NGW, and inside all other N2K to 0183 converters, and most of our plotters, so it can't be all that hard.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

My understanding is that you have to program every single PGM separately. Looks pretty intensely tedious.

Someone should write a little program which would just convert some raft of PGMs to 0183 sentences! There is such a program inside the Actisense NGW, and inside all other N2K to 0183 converters, and most of our plotters, so it can't be all that hard.

Not sure what the first sentence actually means...?

From the canboat wiki:

"CANboat as published can be used to:

Read and write output from the CAN bus via an Actisense NGT-1 -- see actisense-serial.
Translate the output to 'human readable' form or JSON and a little NMEA-0183 -- see analyzer.
Provide this output to multiple clients using a TCP/IP server -- see n2kd.
Write PGNs to the CAN bus when nothing else is reading from the bus -- see below.
Write PGNs to the CAN bus when the TCP/IP server is reading from the bus -- see below."

Signalk can also read some 2000 (might be based on canbus) though not sure if it echoes it to 0183. That said, I think the clever Opencpn guys are working to get it reading signalk.
Also bearing in mind not that many 2000 PGNs have exact equivalents in 0183.

[bcn]

N2K requires always some physical gateway to access to the CAN-bus.
The Actisense is one, at OpenPlotter there is another one offered.

This gives you just the N2K datastream - the PGNs.
Requires a (software) gateway to translate either directly to NMEA0183 - on the Actisense web pages there is a list of the PGNs supported and implemented by their devices.
This gives as well a pretty good overview which PGNs can be mapped - or how NMEA0183 sentences are mapped into N2K.

SignalK has some PGNs implemented as well, a server which converts SK to NMEA0183 you can find too. But all these are not software packages you can just download and run under the different architectures OPCN supports.
A lot "work-in-progress" still.
OpenPlotter which wants to use SK as it's communication backbone is suffering from this situation.

To use SK natively within OpenCPN we need a SK-client which understands the SK objects and translates those into OCPN data objects. Within OCPN or as a plug-in. Plus a SK server if you want to output OCPN data objects in the SK format. Or in order to multiplex SK data.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by conachair

Not sure what the first sentence actually means...?

From the canboat wiki:

"CANboat as published can be used to:

Read and write output from the CAN bus via an Actisense NGT-1 -- see actisense-serial.
Translate the output to 'human readable' form or JSON and a little NMEA-0183 -- see analyzer.
Provide this output to multiple clients using a TCP/IP server -- see n2kd.
Write PGNs to the CAN bus when nothing else is reading from the bus -- see below.
Write PGNs to the CAN bus when the TCP/IP server is reading from the bus -- see below."

Signalk can also read some 2000 (might be based on canbus) though not sure if it echoes it to 0183. That said, I think the clever Opencpn guys are working to get it reading signalk.
Also bearing in mind not that many 2000 PGNs have exact equivalents in 0183.

It means Canboat is not set up to convert N2K PGN's to 0183 en masse. There is a FAQ somewhere which says that the user can set it up to convert some of them, but that they have to be individually programmed and that it is tedious. "Echo" is the wrong word -- N2K and 0183 are different languages, and there are many N2K PGN's which cannot be translated (maybe most of them).

SignalK looks wonderful and I hope that the O learns to speak it, and that it becomes more widely adopted. Would definitely be a solution to this.

Meanwhile, the OP needs to find a different way to get network data into O. I have faced exactly the same thing and like the OP, I also made the mistake of buying an NGT without realizing that it wouldn't do this.

Selling it and buying an NGW would be the most straightforward solution (unless he needs the NGT for something else).

There are a few other ways to get network data into O:

1. If you have Navico plotters and GoFree, you can connect your laptop by wifi and you're off to the races. O finds the port and the plotter translates about everything you could want, including AIS data. This is what I am doing at the present and it works well. Only drawback is if you need Internet also and you are getting that by Wifi, you will need a second wifi adapter.

2. Most N2K plotters have an 0183 talker port. This can be connected to a USB port in your laptop with a simple converter. They convert certain N2K PGN's into 0183 (my Zeus does NOT convert or multiplex AIS data, however, which is a PITA) and multiplex them with any 0183 sources.

3. Use a VYacht router -- https://www.vyacht.net/specification#wireless
This is a mega cool device which is a virtual Swiss Army Knife of boat networking. I'm buying one as soon as I get to Sweden. I have a specific purpose for it (translate SeaTalk data from my backup wind instrument), but there are multiple other things I can use it for. It also does SignalK so I guess it will become ever more useful.

[devee1]

Good Afternoon

I am happy to report that I returned the nmea 2000 reader for the Actisense NGW-1 usb reader. it works! opencpn can now read the Raymarine seatalkNG data. way cool. Love this opencpn and the Raymarine A95 and I70. Only thing I cant figure out is changing meters to feet and Celsius to Fahrenheit. I have opencpn to feet under units. Is this on the Actisense side? Anyone know? attached is a screenshot.
thank you
jim

[devee1]

Must be the on the Opencpn side. I just tried Navmon and depth reads fine either way. I think maybe its a bug in opencpn?

[nohal]

Please record the data stream using the VDR plugin and attach here for analysis.

Thanks

Pavel


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[devee1]

forum wont let me attach a file. states invalid file type.
email?
thanks
jim

[nohal]

Jim...
Either rename the file to .doc or .pdf so that the forums "smart" "protective" mechanisms let you attach it or put it on dropbox/google drive/onedrive/whatever and post a link

Pavel

[devee1]

renamed it to nmea.doc
try this
thank you for patience.
jim

[nohal]

Jim...
I can see no problem with the depth - gets recalculated to feet just fine once I change the units in the dashboard preferences (Toolbox->Plugins tab->Dashboard->Preferences button->Appearance tab or right-click on the dashboard, and select Preferences... from the context menu).
The water temp data come in deg Celsius in your data feed and we have no support for temperature unit recalculation implemented now, feel free to file a feature request in the tracker.

Pavel