Old B&G Network Instrument Wiring

[andyskip]

Originally Posted by poiu

I've got similar problems and Navico advised me to get their Fastnet interface 000-13323-001 so as to convert their data into the N2K network. The trouble is it doesn't do depth. It does do wind OK and all the other data. I'm going to end up with buying the Actisense also, just to get the missing depth (hopefully).

Which Actisense? And can that understand legacy codes and then translate them to something current?

I had assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that these things just relay the exact same data in NMEA2000 format.

Would be very interested to hear if that's not the case and they are more intelligent. Thanks.

[poiu]

Originally Posted by andyskip

Which Actisense? And can that understand legacy codes and then translate them to something current?

I had assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that these things just relay the exact same data in NMEA2000 format.

Would be very interested to hear if that's not the case and they are more intelligent. Thanks.

This, to pick up on the Nmea 183 output from the B&G:
https://actisense.com/products/nmea-2000-gateway-ngw-1/


It can't do B&G proprietary codes or the B&G network.

[andyskip]

Originally Posted by poiu

This, to pick up on the Nmea 183 output from the B&G:
https://actisense.com/products/nmea-2000-gateway-ngw-1/


It can't do B&G proprietary codes or the B&G network.

Thanks that's really interesting. Looks like this might work after all. Here's a list of NMEA0183 codes it apparently understands: https://actisense.com/wp-content/upl...ist-v2.660.pdf

I will give it a go and report back....

[markxengineerin]

I made some pretty good progress.

1) I found cable 612-0A-014 already installed on the boat! This was after much time spent trying to tap into the right pigtails and making a pretty big mess. I want to say that B&G's documentation is wrong, but after I found the cable, I moved on without a firm conclusion, and the issue might have actually been the previous owner, see 2

2) Previous owner had the blue wire from the special cable connected to RX- of autopilot, but it should have been connected to Ground. I'm not sure if this could have caused the issues I was fighting, it also could have just been me being stupid combined with B&G's style of documentation. I am dyslexic with these maddeningly simple things made so difficult by the engineers doing the documentation, and once I am angry, I get dumber.

3) After disconnecting the autopilot, and hooking the LED up as suggested, I had blinks, and new motivation to continue.

4) Instead of the LED, I hooked the output up to YachtDevices YDNR-02N (RX+ and GND, do not connect anything to RX- on YachtDevices, this is not a differential signal!). I already had this component, acting to broadcast AIS to Navionics, and I remembered it had NMEA0183 receiving and transmitting capabilities so figured I'd try it.

5) After studying the user manual and adjusting settings (again- engineers making things way more complicated than they need to be IMO, but incredibly capable device!), I am getting the following output from the B&G Network in Debug mode:

0183[1] RX:

$IIDBT,013.9,f,004.2,M,002.3,F*1D
$IIVWR,087,L,00.0,N,00.0,M,000.0,K*46
$IIMTW,-09,C*29

Awesome, I'm sitting in 13.9 feet of water, and the rest of the stuff there has issues due to my transducers, but bottom line, it is receiving and understanding data. And this probably meets my needs already- I just want to port the data into OpenCPN, and I don't think I'll have a problem with that from here.

For those who want to change format to something besides DBT, VWR, etc, it wouldn't surprise me if the YachtDevices thing can do that, with some more advanced programming, but I am stopping here for now.

[andyskip]

Originally Posted by poiu

This, to pick up on the Nmea 183 output from the B&G:
https://actisense.com/products/nmea-2000-gateway-ngw-1/


It can't do B&G proprietary codes or the B&G network.

Hi just wanted to thank you for the advice. I have used an Actisense NGW1 and finally (!!!) I have my old B&G Network instruments happily talking to my Zeus3 Plotter... depth, wind, speed etc etc.

As context, I had tried using the Zeus3 Video cable (which comes with NMEA0183 connections) but the Zeus3 would not recognise the wind data when wired directly. The Actisense NGW-1 translates the old NKMEA0183 sentences into something that modern instruments can understand over NMEA2000.

A few notes from my experience:

I bought the NGW1-ISO-AIS (for about £60 on eBay, second hand). Out of the box it communicates at 38,400 baud. The B&G Network instruments at 4,800 baud. So I had to connect the thing to a computer and (a) update the firmware) and (b) use the Toolkit software to tweak the settings.

This involved buying a USB<>Serial 9-pin converter from Amazon. It's not difficult, all in the instructions. But a bit of a fiddle.

There is a different version called a NGW-1-ISO (i.e. not the AIS version) and this works at 4,800 baud as standard. I think with this one it would have just worked.

As a bonus..... the NGW-1 also translates NMEA2000 information back onto NMEA0183 if you need that. I now have AIS information coming though to my spare, older plotter.

So in summary, this approach worked for me. I think it's a great little device and I wish I hadn't bothered trying to connect things directly - there are just too many compatibility issues which the NGW-1 helps avoid.

[poiu]

Happy days…