Raspberry Pi as Onboard Computer

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by thomm225

So I plugged in this $17.00 GPS Dongle that I bought online into one of the USB ports on the ($50) Raspberry, and now I have my position shown on the OpenCPN Chart.

It's on my kitchen table but that is very close to the water and shown on the OpenCPN Chart

All I did was to enable the serial port in Openplotter and it looks like I'm good to go. I didn't download any drivers for it

Pretty amazing really since it appears chart plotters can go for $500.00 on up.........when I move the dongle the ship turns so it must be updating even indoors.......and there are satellite bars showing comms on OpenCPN

Next I'll try to get AIS and GPS from my GX2200 (and disconnect the dongle)

Good stuff.

Any half decent GPS unit will work indoors. 10 years ago even my cheap bluetooth unit from eBay would happily work in doors in most buildings and vehicles. My garmin handheld are the same, work indoors with high accuracy.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by steffan

Fun thread...

I'll preface my reply with the fact that I have just bought my boat and haven't installed anything on her yet. Agree that this is probably only worth it if you enjoy this sort of messing around.

On my desk at home I have OpenPlotter installed on a Pi 3B+, and made it a Plex server+client for movies at anchor. This model Pi struggles to playback video so I will upgrade to a Pi 4 before installing on the boat. Movies will be stored on a USB 3.0 external SSD.

I have the GX2200 VHF mentioned earlier in the thread as this looked like the cheapest way to inject GPS and AIS data. OpenPlotter makes it pretty easy to watch the NMEA0183 sentences flow through and I've seen the GPS data do that. As far as I can tell the GX2200 doesn't broadcast it's AIS demo data so I have not seen those yet.

Right now the radio is wired into a RS422 USB stick on the Pi. This required reversal of the grey and brown wires to work, for some reason. I plan to add a Yacht Devices multiplexer to bring other data in at some point.

A decent 5.2V, 25W power supply will get soldered to the PI motherboard before installation, and I will be using a case with an integrated fan and heatsinks. I may solder the RS422 daughterboard on there too, and secure the whole works to some plywood.

So it's the small bits of information we get on CF that really help!

I checked and checked and rechecked all my setups and i couldn't see that I was doing anything wrong. Wiring was right and all the setup on the VHF was correct but the NMEA debug screen showed no input at all from my SH GX2200 but my hockey puck gps was inputting good data

So after a couple hours of getting nowhere I decided to go to lunch and reread this thread.

Thanks for the above! That's was all it took to give me AIS targets!!

[steffan]

There was a disucssion earlier in this thread about fans. I used this project to have my case fan come on at 65C, and off at 55C.

https://howchoo.com/g/ote2mjkzzta/co...erature-python

Open Plotter / OpenCPN won't get things that hot, but Plex just about will in some cases, depending on the video format. The fan takes <30 secs to cool from 65 to 55 at 22C ambient. I have no idea what it's actually drawing when it's on, but it's labeled as 0.1A and is silent.

[thomm225]

So I still have this boot up problem with my first Raspberry Pi 4. It does not boot up at power up.

If I cycle power on the switch of whatever is feeding it, it still will not power up.

I have to unplug and re-plug in quickly to make it boot up.

This am in the 40 degrees F on the boat, it took a few tries


I think I'll try another SD Card to see if that changes things but I'm thinking a power supply problem.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by thomm225

So I still have this boot up problem with my first Raspberry Pi 4. It does not boot up at power up.

If I cycle power on the switch of whatever is feeding it, it still will not power up.

I have to unplug and re-plug in quickly to make it boot up.

This am in the 40 degrees F on the boat, it took a few tries


I think I'll try another SD Card to see if that changes things but I'm thinking a power supply problem.

Have you checked that the eprom is OK? If not do that first (take out SD card and plug in the power, count the fast green blinks) and upgrade the firmware if that is the problem. Instructions are on the Pi site.

[fxykty]

In New Zealand we’re in total lockdown and unfortunately my wife and I are both working in essential businesses so no sailing away for the month or however long this lockdown lasts. Sigh.

But, it does allow for time to really get into building the Pi and it’s network for the boat, at home first with all the extra resources a dry land house affords.

First step is putting Open Plotter onto the Pi. No luck at all with the basic OP NOOBS install - no boot at first, then boot and install but black screen after reboot. Bah humbug. So I installed the Raspbian NOOBS instead, which works just fine. Once everything updated and secured, I installed the OP advanced Debian settings. That was quite tedious as had to update and install each element of OP individually (via the graphical interface), but had it done and it’s all working fine now. So far using mains AC power with the Pi offical power supply for the Pi and the AC to brick to 14.1V power cord for the 28” display monitor.

Second step I've set up a 12V network here at home using an AC power transformer outputting 7.5A at 12V. Power for the Pi is sorted with a little Tecsun 25W 12V/5V converter. The 28” display monitor (that is spec’d for 14.1V 1.79A) seems to be happy with the 12.8V being output from the transformer after I cut the wire after the brick and attached them to the bus bar. So far so good. I’ve got a 5A fuse on the power supply and it’s not getting blown. Sweet so far.

Here’s the little power system. The AC transformer is the big box at the top, then a small combined bus bar on the left, and the Tecsun for the Pi power. I’ve also wired a small 12V male plug to test our Nature’s Head fans wiring - I’ve made three plug and play spare fans so changing out a failed fan will be easy.



Don’t worry, I’ll mount this on a board and lay things out nicely this weekend. And other than the wiring everything else is staying at home and won’t go to the boat.

Third, depending on the courier deliveries, will be adding the router and the mobile gateway (I’ve bought the Mailasail Red Box and 4G RoamFree Gateway from the UK - I like the sat phone integration the Red Box offers and the Gateway offers global sims support). Once those arrive I’ll add them to the home system and set up the future local network for the boat and WiFi gateway.

Also waiting for the Yacht Devices Seatalk NG to Ethernet gateway, which is coming from Russia by post. That will have to wait for the boat install before I can test that and FINALLY have boat data on a network for OpenCPN and phones and tablets.

By that time hopefully the lockdown will be done and I’ll be able to mount all this at our nav station. Then we’ll move the chart plotter mfd from the nav station to the cockpit bulkhead (it’ll be nice to have radar and an outdoor visible and weatherproof screen out there). The large monitor will be used for planning and logging.

Hopefully this is interesting for others. If so, I’ll report the home network experience with the RedBox and Gateway in another post and the boat network integration and install after that.

[fxykty]

Fed Ex delivered from the UK the MailASail Red Box and 4G RoamFree 4Gateway a couple days ago. Putting a lockdown weekend, no sailing sigh, to decent use I added the two components to my dining table boat computer network.



Red Box is hooked into 12V power and a USB cable from the 4Gateway. Since the Pi only has one Ethernet port that I want to reserve for the Yacht Devices Seatalk-Ethernet gateway the comms between the Red Box and the Pi are via WiFi rather than hard wired.

Powered everything up and the Pi connected to the Red Box and I could bring up the admin interface on the Pi. First step done.

Then I hardwired our home internet into the Red Box and on selecting the wired connection in the Red Box admin interface the Pi is connected to the world. Great.

Next I put a local SIM into the 4Gateway and on the Pi selected the 4Gateway as the live connection. Yes, works, and Pi is connected to the Internet via cellular.

Next will be to connect our Iridium phone to the Red Box - need to stealth run up to the boat and retrieve the sat phone and bring it home. The Red Box should recognise it as another connection type - this is the reason why I bought the Red Box to use as our router as opposed to any other router.

When I eventually get a WiFi antenna then that will get connected to the Red Box via USB cable. While we’re cruising NZ and the S Pacific Islands cellular is quite common and WiFi very uncommon so we’re not in a rush to buy that, but will later on. That will take care of all the different connections that we can have while cruising.

The Red Box handles all the connection types and the admin interface on the Pi allows me to choose which connection to use and to set the rules for each connection.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by fxykty

...The Red Box should recognise it as another connection type - this is the reason why I bought the Red Box to use as our router as opposed to any other router.

...The Red Box handles all the connection types and the admin interface on the Pi allows me to choose which connection to use and to set the rules for each connection.

Nice

[fxykty]

Connected our Iridium sat phone to an external antenna (which we’ll mount at the top of the mast for better signal pickup in big waves and hilly bays) and to the Red Box via the serial to USB adaptor. When the sat phone is turned on the Red Box recognises it in its connection list.



On selecting the Satellite connection the Red Box dials the phone and sets up the connection. Sweet.



I don’t have a WiFi dongle nor antenna so can’t test the WiFi connection type, but all the other connection types work. So this is all ready to move to the boat and install once this dreaded lockdown level 4 is lifted and we can go non-essential travel again. Yay.

[arsenelupiga]

see lots of intelligence here so I may as well ask .

Question from beginner:

Have working chartplotter, AP, AIS. However I use SAS planet with GPS for planning, routing and while on the way. In close quaters we use iphone navionics. Very simple. More or less ignoring chartplotter as maps found too inaccurate and dangerous - missed that uncharted reef for 30 m. It was nicely visible on sattelite photo.

Why bother with Raspberry PI ? What is the benefit ? Can it replace Raymarine AP computer ?

looking for something to do for net couple mths.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by arsenelupiga

see lots of intelligence here so I may as well ask .



Question from beginner:



Have working chartplotter, AP, AIS. However I use SAS planet with GPS for planning, routing and while on the way. In close quaters we use iphone navionics. Very simple. More or less ignoring chartplotter as maps found too inaccurate and dangerous - missed that uncharted reef for 30 m. It was nicely visible on sattelite photo.



Why bother with Raspberry PI ? What is the benefit ? Can it replace Raymarine AP computer ?



looking for something to do for net couple mths.

This is turning out to be really long, sorry. We’re in total lockdown and other than working from home there’s not much do.

We’ve got (our boat came with) a mix of Raymarine (E95 chart plotter MFD, digital radar, auto pilot, displays, GPS) and ICOM (VHF, SSB, AIS, GPS) equipment, but no navigation data (NMEA) being exported other than via the chart plotter WiFi to Raymarine apps. No generic integration with phones, tablets or computers. There was a multiplexer wired in, but I couldn’t get it working and got rid of it.

We use the chart plotter for planning, navigation, logging, and radar viewing. But it’s in the cabin so not that useful for close quarters piloting. We use phones and tablets with both iSailor and Ovitalmap on them in the cockpit or on the tramps. Work fine, but they don’t show boat data (more accurate GPS, AIS targets, actual depth, etc.). Also playing with OpenCPN for planning, weather (grib viewing) and navigation (and struggling to get weather routing working - that would be nice - why is it so hard?). Having boat data in there would be great - GPS on its own using a dongle is OK but not complete for navigation.

One could get rid of the chart plotter and replace with OpenCPN on a tablet or computer (such as a Pi), or just use a couple of phone apps alone. For us, we want to move the plotter to the cockpit and use a monitor with OpenCPN in the cabin, using both systems together in a complementary way.

A boat computer is nice for cruising to use for managing network communications (satellite, cellular, wifi) and providing, via a router, a single WiFi signal that all other devices on your boat can use. Rather than having to choose between the chart plotter, the AIS (if you have something like the Vesper XB-8000) or your router depending on what you want to do, your devices only need to connect to one WiFi signal. And if you use an external monitor it can be as big as you want, for $ rather then $$$$ for a large chart plotter.

The reasons to use the Pi is that it is so cheap, very low power, and can do almost anything a regular computer can do. A NUC or tablet can be used instead if you already have them or prefer Windows/Mac. The Pi does require some application on your part as Linux is not beginner friendly. I’m learning as I go along.

First, set up and connect the boat computer. That’s what I’ve described up to now in my recent posts.

Second, connect the NMEA (navigation and instrument data) from your NMEA network, or chart plotter, or AIS unit, to Open Plotter/OpenCPN installed on the computer using a multiplexer or some sort of gateway with USB, Ethernet or WiFi output.

Third, the Signal K server packaged with Open Plotter can pull in the NMEA data, convert it, then pass it via the computer to the router that drives your boat network. All phones, tablets, other computers (and the NMEA network if the gateway is bi-directional) can pick up and use the NMEA data. This means your boat’s chart plotter and instrument data will now be in iSailor, Navionics, OpenCPN or whatever applications that you’re using that can interpret Signal K data (I believe most can). I’m really hoping I’ll be able to see radar data via Signal K.

If your NMEA gateway transmits the data via WiFi then you can connect your device to that WiFi signal and your apps can consume the data directly (no Signal K involved). But then you have the multiple WiFi networks problem, if that’s a problem for you.

Your chart plotter maps, if inaccurate, could be out of date or from a lousy provider. New maps and/or from a different provider may provide better accuracy. But satellite images do tell the absolute truth. We use Ovitalmap on our phones and tablet for that.

[Jubilee39]

I developed a small problem after loading open plotter on the Pi4. The cursor starts jumping all over the place. I know it is due to mouse issues but have not been able to cure it yet. If I turn off the mouse the the cursor is steady and I can input data from keyboard. Windows used to have a problem with seeing GPS as a serial mouse and a similar problem manifested itself. I do not have a GPS connected yet. Any ideas?

[Tenedos]

If you have a Raspberry Pi onboard, I recommend having one of these also unless you have a barometer already.

DogRatIan's Products - USB-PA TypeA (BME280)

You can use some free software to create a nice weather dashboard for yourself.



P.S. I am not affiliated with these guys. I found it on eBay and like using it.

[spiv]

Originally Posted by fxykty

........ Also playing with OpenCPN for planning, weather (grib viewing) and navigation (and struggling to get weather routing working - that would be nice - why is it so hard?). Having boat data in there would be great - GPS on its own using a dongle is OK but not complete for navigation.......

Don't give up, I had OpenCPN Weather Routing plugin working on my previous boat, and used it extensively for long (Atlantic and Pacific) crossings.
Yes, iy is a bit fiddly to set up, need your boat Polars as well.

There is a lo-ong thread here on CF on OP Weather Routing that can help.

[GTom]

I was wondering if the 2GB version of the pi 4 would be sufficient for all kind of boaty stuff? Openplotter/Opencpn, NMEA0183/2k inputs, weatherfax/hamfax?