OpenCPN Radar Overlay PlugIn

[jonasaberg]

Matt,
Good work! Congrats!

Not sure how to do it, but somehow your pdf's should be in the wiki on the opencpn webpage. I am sure other users will run into your (solved) problem.

/Jonas

[rgleason]

The Gradar Documentation for Win7 has been updated, feel free to edit and improve it.
Testing Multicast UDP for Radar with 2 Computers | Official OpenCPN Homepage

[BMD21]

Help! I can't get the 3G radar to connect to the PC.

The setup is as follows: I have the 3G radar powered and its ethernet cable plugged into a hub. I also have the PC plugged into the hub. At the hub, the PC connection shows an active connection, the radar does not. The PC (Windows 7) recognizes the hubconnection

I have a GPS connected and am using the BR24 dll. I'm using the IP address of 172.16.1.1, subnet 255.255.255.240. The red and yellow wires from the radar are connected to 12 VDC.

Lowrance says their display sends a "wake up" signal to the radar. I assume that has to be over the ethernet cable, but they couldn't say how.

Matt/Neptunes Gear
Pete/GHammond

Did you start the radar with a Navico MFD, or just plug it into the PC and the ethernet was active?

Dave Cowell: How do you wake the radar up? Is there a specific message you send over the internet to the unit, or do you assume it's already up and running?

Boris

[blue22]

Over the weekend, I installed the radar plugin for a GMR18 on 3 systems (Win7-32x, Win7-64x and Win 8.1 64x) on 2 laptops. I've attached some notes. The most fun was having it run in Master mode simultaneously on 2 laptops and a display, using a wireless router (and no cables) to the laptops. It's a robust and versatile program, great job. I look forward to seeing other people's comments and experiences.

[Neptune's Gear]

Sorry BDM21 looks like I missed this post for some reason.
Nope, no MFD. No Hub either. I made a crossover cable, with mods for power to the switch, plugged it in and it worked. Immediately.
IP address does not matter, radar uses UDP not TCP. If you get no link light on the hub from the radar, there is a fault. It could be the hub (does the connection light come on on that port if you connect the PC to it? The cable, the plugs, or the radar...
Sounds like the problem is a physical one ?

Matt

Originally Posted by BMD21

Help! I can't get the 3G radar to connect to the PC.

The setup is as follows: I have the 3G radar powered and its ethernet cable plugged into a hub. I also have the PC plugged into the hub. At the hub, the PC connection shows an active connection, the radar does not. The PC (Windows 7) recognizes the hubconnection

I have a GPS connected and am using the BR24 dll. I'm using the IP address of 172.16.1.1, subnet 255.255.255.240. The red and yellow wires from the radar are connected to 12 VDC.

Lowrance says their display sends a "wake up" signal to the radar. I assume that has to be over the ethernet cable, but they couldn't say how.

Matt/Neptunes Gear
Pete/GHammond

Did you start the radar with a Navico MFD, or just plug it into the PC and the ethernet was active?

Dave Cowell: How do you wake the radar up? Is there a specific message you send over the internet to the unit, or do you assume it's already up and running?

Boris

[blue22]

Originally Posted by BMD21

Help! I can't get the 3G radar to connect to the PC.

The setup is as follows: I have the 3G radar powered and its ethernet cable plugged into a hub. I also have the PC plugged into the hub. At the hub, the PC connection shows an active connection, the radar does not. The PC (Windows 7) recognizes the hubconnection

I have a GPS connected and am using the BR24 dll. I'm using the IP address of 172.16.1.1, subnet 255.255.255.240. The red and yellow wires from the radar are connected to 12 VDC.

Lowrance says their display sends a "wake up" signal to the radar. I assume that has to be over the ethernet cable, but they couldn't say how.

Matt/Neptunes Gear
Pete/GHammond

Did you start the radar with a Navico MFD, or just plug it into the PC and the ethernet was active?

Dave Cowell: How do you wake the radar up? Is there a specific message you send over the internet to the unit, or do you assume it's already up and running?

Boris

BMD21, for what it's worth, I tried using a D-Link DES 1005A network connector and like you, it lit up when i plugged in the laptop but not when i plugged in the scanner ... when i looked into the sockets, i could see the hub only connected to the 4 pins used by computers not all 6 pins on the cable ... i had to switch hubs ... hope your problem is as simple.

[BMD21]

Blue22,

What type of hub did you use? Or did you use a hub at all, just directly into the PC?

Just as a matter of discussion, in the Ethernet spec, only 4 wires are used, 2 for transmit and 2 for receive. The other 2 are listed as "unused." Is there another use for them in a different Ethernet type? how did you get data through the hub, into the PC?

BMD21/Boris

[blue22]

BMD21,
I must admit, I don't know why one hub worked for me (TPLink TL-MR3220) and one hub didn't. I presume it has to do with the number of pins connected. Did you get yours to work in the end?

[jonasaberg]

Originally Posted by BMD21

...in the Ethernet spec, only 4 wires are used, 2 for transmit and 2 for receive. The other 2 are listed as "unused." Is there another use for them in a different Ethernet type? ...

BMD21/Boris

I don't know anything about how the radars communicate, but depending on the speed of the ethernet network 4 cables (two pairs) or 8 (4 pairs) need to be connected. Se for example:
Ethernet 10 / 100 / 1000 Mbit wiring diagram and cable pinout diagram @ pinouts.ru
So for 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps 4 cables are needed but for 1 Gbps all 8 need to be connected.

[dandrews]

Originally Posted by jonasaberg

I don't know anything about how the radars communicate, but depending on the speed of the ethernet network 4 cables (two pairs) or 8 (4 pairs) need to be connected. Se for example:
Ethernet 10 / 100 / 1000 Mbit wiring diagram and cable pinout diagram @ pinouts.ru
So for 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps 4 cables are needed but for 1 Gbps all 8 need to be connected.

In ethernet, only 4 wires carry information, 1,2,3&6 regardless of the speed. The reason 4,5,7&8 are terminated (connected) is so the don't float and allow stray noise to be introduced into the send and receive wires which could cause multiple re-transmissions and thereby slow down the speed.

Cannot speak for all brands of radar, but with Raymarine digital units, they Xmit on 1&2 and Rcv on 3&6, just like ethernet. Of course you have to apply power to the array also. They use something they call a crossover coupler between the back of the MFD and the array. You do not use the crossover it you are going to a switch or hub. This would be exactly the same if you were connecting two hubs or switches together with ethernet in order to get more ports on the transmission domain.

A "guess" as to why one hub worked and another did not is that some hubs do not have automatic link detection so you may have been tying xmit to xmit with a crossover cable. Hubs and switches with link detection can automatically sort this out.

Don

[Neptune's Gear]

Pin 5 must go to ground to switch on the radar. If no hub is used, you need a crossover cable, otherwise a standard patch cables will work with a hub. Yep some hubs auto switch crossovers.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Baikal]

Can we combine the two plug-in radar (Garmin, Navico) into one?
Plugin for Navico radar does not develop as a plugin for Garmin
Navico radar much better pots from Garmin!

[BMD21]

Thanks for all the help. I've learned a lot about Navico/Lowrance and though I'm not quite there yet, here's my status. I selected the Lowrance because it gave the best detail at the shorter ranges, where we do 95% of our tracking. Small boat, though faster than a sailboat. And my problems don't lie with the OpenCpn software (yet.)

I bought a new Lowrange 3G radar, and therein lies my struggles. The first unit I received from Anchor Express didn't turn on. Now, the Lowrance 3G radar has 3 power wires: red for power, yellow for turn-on and black for return. Data is through a RJ45 connecter. So I powered up the unit and plugged the jack into an ethernet hub. No signal at the hub. Put an amp meter into the return, and noticed no power increase when I switched on the yellow/turn-on wire. No help from Lowrance Customer service. Returned the defective unit to Anchor Exp, which cost $75 for shipping (on me,) and got a new unit.

This time, when I hooked it up, I noticed an increase in current when I switched the yellow turn-on wire, but still no ethernet signal, with or without a crossover cable. Contacted Lowrance/Navico and this time got some help. They admitted that was an ethernet cable, I should get a signal at a hub. They said they'll send me a new cable. Waiting.

So a few more comments. First the hub I'm using (TP-Link) handles 10, 100 and 1000 Mbps so it will work if only 4 wires are active or if all 8 are needed for 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps.) Next the Lowrance plug color code is backwards from the RJ45 standard. That may eliminate the need for a crossover cable. Or it may not matter.

So basically, my problem is with Navico/Lowrance quality control. Hopefully, I'll move on. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Boris

[Neptune's Gear]

Hi Boris,
Sorry I put you crook! What I said was right about the crossover etc, but I was thinking of the Garmin interface, not Navico! Here is the correct info you need for a direct connection from the Navico 3g radar to your pc;

correct connection, making the crossover cable, no hub/switch in between, and no MFD.

Thick black to Negative
Thick Red to Positive
Yellow and thin black to either side of the power switch.

Use an RJ45 568B cable like in the diagram

RJ 45 Side connect to Radar side
Orange/white to green and white
Orange to Green
Green/White to Orange/White
Blue to Blue
Blue/White to Green/White
Green to Orange
Brown/White to Brown/White
Brown to Brown

This is how mine is connected, the RJ45 directly to the laptop. Works fine!
Sorry about the confusion.

or if the image does not show try HERE

Originally Posted by BMD21

Thanks for all the help. I've learned a lot about Navico/Lowrance and though I'm not quite there yet, here's my status. I selected the Lowrance because it gave the best detail at the shorter ranges, where we do 95% of our tracking. Small boat, though faster than a sailboat. And my problems don't lie with the OpenCpn software (yet.)

I bought a new Lowrange 3G radar, and therein lies my struggles. The first unit I received from Anchor Express didn't turn on. Now, the Lowrance 3G radar has 3 power wires: red for power, yellow for turn-on and black for return. Data is through a RJ45 connecter. So I powered up the unit and plugged the jack into an ethernet hub. No signal at the hub. Put an amp meter into the return, and noticed no power increase when I switched on the yellow/turn-on wire. No help from Lowrance Customer service. Returned the defective unit to Anchor Exp, which cost $75 for shipping (on me,) and got a new unit.

This time, when I hooked it up, I noticed an increase in current when I switched the yellow turn-on wire, but still no ethernet signal, with or without a crossover cable. Contacted Lowrance/Navico and this time got some help. They admitted that was an ethernet cable, I should get a signal at a hub. They said they'll send me a new cable. Waiting.

So a few more comments. First the hub I'm using (TP-Link) handles 10, 100 and 1000 Mbps so it will work if only 4 wires are active or if all 8 are needed for 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps.) Next the Lowrance plug color code is backwards from the RJ45 standard. That may eliminate the need for a crossover cable. Or it may not matter.

So basically, my problem is with Navico/Lowrance quality control. Hopefully, I'll move on. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Boris

[Hakan]

Test using a BR24 radar on Win32 and BR24radar_pi:

I've connected the radar and the network details look fine even though the BR24radar_pi reports a strange non-existent IP address: "BR24 radar thread starting for multicast address 236.6.7.8 port 6678" See attached log extract.
There's normally no radar picture but occasionally after a OCPN restart and manually start up of the Radar function by clicking on the Plugin icon a very dense picture is shown. Then the radar picture is shown for some 15 second or so while the response indication in the icon is green. Then the indicator switch to yellow and the picture is gone.
But it's promising and very fun that some kind of data contact is established so I'll start searching here for solutions. Any support would be really appreciated.

The Radar picture in the attached document shows the radar view. The red ring around is not from the radar it's the O distance indicator. At the moment for the screen shot no HDT data is present but that's later there using a VDR play.

Thanks /Håkan