New product NMEA2000 to Ethernet

[s/v Jedi]

I received this yesterday and think I may be the first in the US to get my hands on one. Unfortunately not on the boat right now so can’t review it yet

[muttnik]

Wouldn't we be better to wait until 2014 when OneNet will be available?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by muttnik

Wouldn't we be better to wait until 2014 when OneNet will be available?

Ethernet will be at the core the rest of the century. Whatever wireless they create, it’ll have Ethernet bridging.

[ns423]

I received mine on Friday and tested it out on Saturday, works great.



My goal was to have a single router that feeds Navigation information and Internet to onboard tablets / Raspberry Pi.


The router can bridge Marina Wi-Fi or use a cell Hot Spot and the devices only need to connect to one wireless network to have everything not matter where we are.


I had an older Seatalk 1 System on my boat and it was necessary to convert that over the NMEA 2000 to get the weather instrument data.


I like the hard wired Ethernet connection over wireless solutions, my back ground is in IT and Networking so I have been nerding out on this part.

[s/v Jedi]

Ha! I have the same router as you as well

Pretty sure that part of our backgrounds must be the same

Originally Posted by ns423

I received mine on Friday and tested it out on Saturday, works great.



My goal was to have a single router that feeds Navigation information and Internet to onboard tablets / Raspberry Pi.


The router can bridge Marina Wi-Fi or use a cell Hot Spot and the devices only need to connect to one wireless network to have everything not matter where we are.


I had an older Seatalk 1 System on my boat and it was necessary to convert that over the NMEA 2000 to get the weather instrument data.


I like the hard wired Ethernet connection over wireless solutions, my back ground is in IT and Networking so I have been nerding out on this part.

[muttnik]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Ethernet will be at the core the rest of the century. Whatever wireless they create, it’ll have Ethernet bridging.

You may be seeing meaning where none was intended. I wasn't advocating wireless, simply ironically commenting on the failure of delivery of OneNet. My initial assumption was that in the absence of an available standard for n2k-over-ip you were going to use this device. Subsequently reading the product documentation made me suspect that I was mistaken as its primary purpose seems to be bridging n2k segments. However subsequent posts make me think the initial guess might have been correct.

Put me out of my misery: what do you intend using this for :-)

[CaptTom]

That looks like a nice piece of gear. Not too bad at $190. I could see one of these in my future. My Vesper XB8000 already does some of this, but it seems to have gone "legacy" and they're no longer adding new AIS data types or doing firmware updates for it.

More information here: https://www.yachtd.com/products/ethernet_gateway.html.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by muttnik

You may be seeing meaning where none was intended. I wasn't advocating wireless, simply ironically commenting on the failure of delivery of OneNet. My initial assumption was that in the absence of an available standard for n2k-over-ip you were going to use this device. Subsequently reading the product documentation made me suspect that I was mistaken as its primary purpose seems to be bridging n2k segments. However subsequent posts make me think the initial guess might have been correct.

Put me out of my misery: what do you intend using this for :-)

This puts nmea0183 and nmea2000 streams on tcp and can broadcast on udp. It sounds like you better wait a couple years before committing

The nmea servers in this gadget can drive any Ethernet and/or wifi based navigation electronics that I know of, incl. Furuno, B&G/Simrad, Garmin etc. as well as all apps in tablets, phones and of course OpenCPN.

[muttnik]

to my shame I had been looking at the wrong product (the n2k bridge) but looking at the correct product brings us back to an interesting discussion.


I was going to ask "so what can you use N2K-over-IP with?": Presumably you plan on using the integrated N2K to NMEA-0183 converter with OpenCPN. Other than Expedition 10 mentioned in the device's blurb, are there many other programs which currently use N2K-over-IP?


Going back to my original statement, I don't view the rise of ad hoc mechanisms for encapsulating PGNs in IP (as happened with NMEA-0183) as a Good Thing but in the absence of a documented (and probably free-as-in-speech) standard it's presumably inevitable unless Signal K takes over the world.

[teppokurki]

SK server supports also Yacht Devices’ N2K over IP format.

[s/v Jedi]

Currently the most use for this for us is the iSailor app we use on iPads and iPhones. We use it bi-directional, I.e. all sensor data comes up in iSailor, while the app also drives the autopilot. The AP control (dodge) buttons in iSailor supported on Apple Watch is something I may the watch for one day

[s/v Jedi]

I must add that we also have their wifi gateway and I intend to test bridging as well. There are two things to test: network segment only powered up while underway and network segment with backup sensors, normally turned off and hardened against lightning strike.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I must add that we also have their wifi gateway and I intend to test bridging as well. There are two things to test: network segment only powered up while underway and network segment with backup sensors, normally turned off and hardened against lightning strike.

That's interesting; let us know how that turns out.


I had originally set up my network that way, with a segment intended to be used at anchor and a segment intended to be added for use underway, bridged with the expensive Maretron network bridge and with separate power controls.


The expensive Maretron bridge did not function correctly and I eventually took it out and unified the network.


But I think the idea is good and especially interesting is the lightning protection. Lightning of course is a nightmare for a boat with a complex network.

[tanglewood]

So I’m trying to understand exactly what the device does.

It sounds like it converts N2K to 0183 and spits that out over UDP so tablets and other gadgets can pick it up, either wired or wireless. Dozens of products do this, so not something new by itself.

It also sounds like it does some proprietary N2K PGN encapsulation over TCP or UDP? What else can it talk to? Just another of the same device to create a bridge over Ethernet? Or are there other products that can utilize the PGN stream?

This later part is what OneNet is supposed to standardize. Has digital yacht built this to comply with OneNet, when and if it ever comes out? Or is it there own thing? I wouldn’t blame them for doing their own thing. In fact, if a handful of vendors created their own and published it, it would probably take off as has 0183 over UDP. OneNet has been an epic fail, leaving a huge gap.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by tanglewood

So I’m trying to understand exactly what the device does.

It sounds like it converts N2K to 0183 and spits that out over UDP so tablets and other gadgets can pick it up, either wired or wireless. Dozens of products do this, so not something new by itself.

It also sounds like it does some proprietary N2K PGN encapsulation over TCP or UDP? What else can it talk to? Just another of the same device to create a bridge over Ethernet? Or are there other products that can utilize the PGN stream?

This later part is what OneNet is supposed to standardize. Has digital yacht built this to comply with OneNet, when and if it ever comes out? Or is it there own thing? I wouldn’t blame them for doing their own thing. In fact, if a handful of vendors created their own and published it, it would probably take off as has 0183 over UDP. OneNet has been an epic fail, leaving a huge gap.

We just had someone comment that SKserver is compatible. Manufacturers aren’t waiting anymore and launching products that work and are compatible with each other. I’m also sure they can adapt their protocols as these are the smaller can-do type of companies

About udp: on udp one can broadcast, I.e. the server broadcasts a stream and many listeners can dial into that and receive the data. There’s also tcp which is a one on one protocol with full error correction and bidirectional