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johannesb. · 15-04-2015, 23:51

Hello together,

After a long time i have now sold my boat and bought another.
So dar i could use opencpn as a nmea 0183 Networks was available.
on the New boat Theresa is a nmea 2000 Networks from Simrad with a actisense ngt-1 USB gateway.
Is Theresa now any way to use this on opencpn?
If not, I'll probably habe to Polarview NS Set as this also can read the Inland enc from Germany and the Benelux Contrys.

Thanks.

bcn · 16-04-2015, 00:20

The NGT shall give you access to the data via it´s USB.
It appears like COM/Serial port.
No problem to use OCPN with it.

Please check the Actisense docs for Baudrates and the available MNEA sentences.
There are different versions if you want to get AIS data over this gateway.
Actisense has a good documentation.

Have fun with your new boat and OpenCPN!

johannesb. · 16-04-2015, 00:47

Thank you for your fast reply.
In Opencpn is no Option to select another Protokoll than nmea0183.
The NGT-1 Output is NMEA2000. In OpenCPN i test all Baudrates but nothing show in the nmea window. No GPS position and AIS Data show. The Actisense COM Port is 9 and i use Windows XP.

I Thank I nee a Bit hell :-)

jean_pfoumf · 16-04-2015, 01:05

The Actisense NGW-1 can convert NMEA 0183 data into NMEA 2000 data and vice-versa.

johannesb. · 16-04-2015, 01:47

Now i Would like to stay at the New nmea 2000 Standard and expand the Networks in future.
I think if There is now way with opencpn it's cheaper then buying a other Chart Software as buy a other Actisense....
Why is here opencpn so backward?
Other Option are really fast by opencpn?

bcn · 16-04-2015, 02:01

There is no chart software for a PC that accesses directly to NMEA2000 - you need a piece of hardware to connect to N2K/CAN. No PC has a direct CAN interface.

And you need the knowledge about the N2K (software) protocol as well.
This part has been reverse engineered and is ready to be used by OCPN.
https://github.com/canboat/canboat
And here you will read:

Quote:

To use the programs included in this project you will need the excellent
Actisense NGT-1 PC gateway.

johannesb. · 19-04-2015, 09:23

Hello together,

i have work the complete weekend on canboat under Windows Cygwin, but it doesent work. Is there an easier way to use NMEA 2000 Data on OpenCpn?
Have someone a ready Version of Canboat to use under Windows?

Thank You

johannesb. · 19-04-2015, 23:09

Goods morning,

is there maybe any option to buy a fully funktional nmea 2000 plugin for open cpn?
IT des not have to be all frei :-)

nohal · 20-04-2015, 06:13

Johanness...
Yes, there is. It is called Actisense NGW-1.
No matter how much would you pay me or any other developer, the plugin you are asking for would be nothing of cheaper, more powerful in means of what data it can provide and easier to use. And of course would still need NGT-1 or similar device.

Pavel

**Dockhead** · 20-04-2015, 06:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcn

The NGT shall give you access to the data via it´s USB.
It appears like COM/Serial port.
No problem to use OCPN with it.

Please check the Actisense docs for Baudrates and the available MNEA sentences.
There are different versions if you want to get AIS data over this gateway.
Actisense has a good documentation.

Have fun with your new boat and OpenCPN!

This is not correct. As others have written, OpenCPN cannot use the data from the NGT-1.

OpenCPN only speaks 0183. There should be a reasonably simple software conversion of the N2K PGNs to 0183, but no one seems to have done it.

I don't think there is any use for the NGT-1 other than a very few proprietary programs which can use N2K PGNs -- N2KAnalyzer, N2KView, etc., and AFAIK none of them are charting programs.

What you need is the NGW-1, which translates many (not all!) of the N2K PGNs to 0183.

Or -- the other thing you can do, and what I did, is this -- use the NMEA0183 output of your plotter. Can be done cheaply with a RS422 to USB adapter. Works perfectly on my system. My Zeus plotter does a pretty sophisticated conversion -- other than AIS. For that, though, I have a direct USB connection to my AIS transponder. OpenCPN is capable of using multiple serial connections at once.

bcn · 20-04-2015, 07:38

Dockhead,

Canboat is able to do this. There is just no compiled package for Windows from Kees and as we have seen that compiling with Cygwin is not up to everybody.
Or in other words there is just no plug-in at hand.

Would it be possible to access with some low-cost board with CAN transceiver and a tweaked version of Canboat to N2K? Yes most probably. But somebody would have to build this gadget.

The NGT has one big advantage over "listen-only" devices working with N2K:
It registers correctly into the network, knows about address claiming and is a safe way to answer back into the N2K network.

And yes, the NGW-1 is a gateway that translates a lot of the N2K sentences out of the box, but is (firmware) hardwired.
Means that in difference to the NGT/Canboat solution you have a given number of PGNs. Canboat can learn new PGNs when they become reversed engineered.

Hubert

**Dockhead** · 20-04-2015, 10:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcn

Dockhead,

Canboat is able to do this. There is just no compiled package for Windows from Kees and as we have seen that compiling with Cygwin is not up to everybody.
Or in other words there is just no plug-in at hand.

Would it be possible to access with some low-cost board with CAN transceiver and a tweaked version of Canboat to N2K? Yes most probably. But somebody would have to build this gadget.

The NGT has one big advantage over "listen-only" devices working with N2K:
It registers correctly into the network, knows about address claiming and is a safe way to answer back into the N2K network.

And yes, the NGW-1 is a gateway that translates a lot of the N2K sentences out of the box, but is (firmware) hardwired.
Means that in difference to the NGT/Canboat solution you have a given number of PGNs. Canboat can learn new PGNs when they become reversed engineered.

Hubert

Cool! Well, I hope it gets developed soon. I can imagine all kinds of great applications if we have two-way communications between our PCs and N2K networks.

One small correction, or clarification, to what you wrote -- NGW is actually two-way, and can talk into the N2K network. AFAIK, no one uses this capability for anything yet.

I am hoping the wizards of OpenCPN will develop the instruments and analysis of data, besides nav data, from boat networks. It would be great to have long-term wind charts, for example, and a variety of ways to display network data, logging of voyage data, etc..

transmitterdan · 20-04-2015, 15:09

The NGT-1 USB unit does what you guys are asking for. It converts NMEA2000 data to and from NMEA0183 data. It works with OpenCPN. Open a serial connection to the NGT-1 USB port and OpenCPN will communicate.

**Dockhead** · 20-04-2015, 23:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

The NGT-1 USB unit does what you guys are asking for. It converts NMEA2000 data to and from NMEA0183 data. It works with OpenCPN. Open a serial connection to the NGT-1 USB port and OpenCPN will communicate.

I think you're thinking of the NGW-1. The NGT doesn't convert anything.

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