Yacht Devices NMEA2k to Raspberry Pi

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by fxykty

Anyone know if the YD SeatalkNG gateway will pass through radar data? I’ve got a Raymarine Digital Radar connected via our SeatalkNG network to the chart plotter, which is where the radar displays.

Could we display it in OpenCPN?

Fingers crossed! If this works then my Pi replacement of the chart plotter is almost complete. (Actually, I do plan to use both together - one in the cockpit and the other inside the cabin and phones/tablets wherever.)

Current setup (off the boat and on our dining room table during this lockdown period) is Pi connected via WiFi to a RedBox router. There’s also a cellular gateway to give us 4G internet on the boat when coastal cruising and a sat phone for slow data offshore/remote, both connected to the RedBox.

The plan is for the YD Ethernet gateway to connect that to the Pi. I hope to use Signal K Server to make the incoming NMEA available to OpenCPN on the Pi and iSailor on phones and tablets.

Your radar is not on nmea2000 but rather directly on Ethernet. The nmea2000 is to get data -to- the radar, like high speed heading, position etc. Radar support in OpenCPN is only for Garmin and Navico (Simrad, B&G, Lowrance) radars.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Your radar is not on nmea2000 but rather directly on Ethernet. The nmea2000 is to get data -to- the radar, like high speed heading, position etc. Radar support in OpenCPN is only for Garmin and Navico (Simrad, B&G, Lowrance) radars.

Bummer

[fxykty]

I ordered and paid for my device from YD 15 March. It has been lost in transit (tracking shows it left the Russian Postal Service a few days later, but nothing since then). I contacted their customer support and they’re saying that the C-19 issue has disrupted the postal service and to wait. Seriously?

This company has nice products and a decent online sales process, but seems a bit dodgey in that the credit card charge shows Hong Kong and the product postal tracking and customer support are in Russia.

Has anyone else experienced problems with getting the product that you’ve paid for?

What are the competing alternatives? I want SeatalkNG one end and Ethernet the other. USB is okay as well. Unless I’m misunderstanding, I’d rather not get a WiFi gateway as I want the NMEA data to be processed by SignalK and served out after that to phones and tablets, etc.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by fxykty

I ordered and paid for my device from YD 15 March. It has been lost in transit (tracking shows it left the Russian Postal Service a few days later, but nothing since then). I contacted their customer support and they’re saying that the C-19 issue has disrupted the postal service and to wait. Seriously?

This company has nice products and a decent online sales process, but seems a bit dodgey in that the credit card charge shows Hong Kong and the product postal tracking and customer support are in Russia.

Has anyone else experienced problems with getting the product that you’ve paid for?

What are the competing alternatives? I want SeatalkNG one end and Ethernet the other. USB is okay as well. Unless I’m misunderstanding, I’d rather not get a WiFi gateway as I want the NMEA data to be processed by SignalK and served out after that to phones and tablets, etc.

You’re not alone... everything locked up, borders closed, postal services overloaded by home shopping spree. I had great experience with the guys in Russia as well as their US rep

[Tenedos]

If you are planning to do this on Raspberry Pi, I recommend PiCAN2 (http://skpang.co.uk/catalog/pican2-c...23-p-1475.html). That’s what I use to get data to Signal K and works great and is the most cost effective option.

[fabiorighetti]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I can not understand why people consider USB versions. It is -serial-, can only connect to one device which must be powered on and working good before anything can happen. And then the driver problems, especially with the new OpenCPN

I have both the wifi and Ethernet versions. You can consider them equal, but I only have the wifi version because the Ethernet version was not yet available when I bought that.

When you already have a wifi router and you connect the nmea2000-Ethernet gateway to one of it's LAN ports, it works the same as when you connect the nmea2000-wifi gateway to your wifi as a client.

I prefer a cable, so the nmea2000-Ethernet version which I connected to my
wifi router. This works so good that I use the wifi link for OpenCPN on my laptop as well as for iPad/iPhone apps.

I am currently using Raspberry Pi 4 with PICAN-M - NMEA 0183 & NMEA 2000 HAT (https://copperhilltech.com/pican-m-n...-raspberry-pi/) doing all possible integration with SK , Influxdb and Grafana.

I've been thinking about replacing the PICAN-M - NMEA 0183 & NMEA 2000 HAT with the NMEA 2000 Wi-Fi Gateway YDWG-02 (https://www.yachtd.com/products/wifi_gateway.html) to install a suitable cooling system in the Raspberry that is overheating to 190 F (88 oC).

Any suggestion?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by fabiorighetti

I am currently using Raspberry Pi 4 with PICAN-M - NMEA 0183 & NMEA 2000 HAT (https://copperhilltech.com/pican-m-n...-raspberry-pi/) doing all possible integration with SK , Influxdb and Grafana.

I've been thinking about replacing the PICAN-M - NMEA 0183 & NMEA 2000 HAT with the NMEA 2000 Wi-Fi Gateway YDWG-02 (https://www.yachtd.com/products/wifi_gateway.html) to install a suitable cooling system in the Raspberry that is overheating to 190 F (88 oC).

Any suggestion?

Yes, use the Ethernet gateway instead. It’s more reliable than wifi.

[goboatingnow]

I use the YD wifi gateway very good and reliable.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I use the YD wifi gateway very good and reliable.

Same, no issues at all as a client of our boat’s network. YDWG-02R and connected to one of our Seatalk bus bars, using UDC protocol. Picked up by our MacBook OpenCPN and iSailor on a phone. As a client it does need a fixed IP address.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I use the YD wifi gateway very good and reliable.

Originally Posted by fxykty

Same, no issues at all as a client of our boat’s network. YDWG-02R and connected to one of our Seatalk bus bars, using UDC protocol. Picked up by our MacBook OpenCPN and iSailor on a phone. As a client it does need a fixed IP address.

Exactly, it works great, I’ve had one since it was launched. The Ethernet gateway has every one of those features as well and connects with an ethernet cable to one of the wifi router LAN ports instead of making a wireless connection. Because of this, it is much more reliable and keeps working flawlessly while operating the microwave, running the radar, SSB radio, Bluetooth music system etc.

Wired Ethernet is simply more reliable than wifi, especially 2.4GHz band wifi.

The wifi gateway is very useful for those without a network/wifi router aboard.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Exactly, it works great, I’ve had one since it was launched. The Ethernet gateway has every one of those features as well and connects with an ethernet cable to one of the wifi router LAN ports instead of making a wireless connection. Because of this, it is much more reliable and keeps working flawlessly while operating the microwave, running the radar, SSB radio, Bluetooth music system etc.



Wired Ethernet is simply more reliable than wifi, especially 2.4GHz band wifi.



The wifi gateway is very useful for those without a network/wifi router aboard.

My wifi is flawless onboard. These days radar connects over it , etc.

Bluetooth has no effect on it

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

My wifi is flawless onboard. These days radar connects over it , etc.

Bluetooth has no effect on it

That’s great. My new Panasonic microwave disables 2.4GHz band aboard.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

That’s great. My new Panasonic microwave disables 2.4GHz band aboard.

Clearly heats up your internal organs nicely too

[Be Free]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

My wifi is flawless onboard. These days radar connects over it , etc.

Bluetooth has no effect on it

It is possible that you and Jedi are "talking past" each other. Jedi is specifically talking about interference on the 2.4 GHz WiFi band. Microwave ovens often leak quite a bit of "noise" around that frequency. They will often shut down 2.4 GHz WiFi as well as Bluetooth (just above WiFi at 2.45 GHz).

If you are using something other than 2.4 GHz WiFi then you will not experience the interference Jedi is warning of.

Regardless of the WiFi band you are using, it is undeniably true that a properly wired Ethernet connection will outperform a WiFi connection regardless of the band. Whether or not that difference in performance will be noticed in a specific network will be determined by the actual data patterns in that network.

A properly designed wired Ethernet LAN will perform at its rated speed regardless of the number of devices on the network. Every device on the network will have full duplex access at line speed all of the time. The only real downside is running the wires. This can range from trivial to not feasible and may make a wired network in a specific situation a non-starter.

A properly designed WiFi network can give one device half duplex access to the WiFi network at a time. Every device added to the network increases the probability that two or more devices will want to access the network simultaneously causing delays to one or more of them. Compounding the problem is the fact that the devices don't have to be on your boat. Other boats using the same WiFi frequencies cause the same potential delays when you are in range.

I'm not saying that WiFi is never appropriate or that it is not appropriate for your application. I (and I believe Jedi) are saying that WiFi is much more likely to be a problem and wired networks (where feasible) are much less likely to be a problem.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Be Free

It is possible that you and Jedi are "talking past" each other. Jedi is specifically talking about interference on the 2.4 GHz WiFi band. Microwave ovens often leak quite a bit of "noise" around that frequency. They will often shut down 2.4 GHz WiFi as well as Bluetooth (just above WiFi at 2.45 GHz).

If you are using something other than 2.4 GHz WiFi then you will not experience the interference Jedi is warning of.

Regardless of the WiFi band you are using, it is undeniably true that a properly wired Ethernet connection will outperform a WiFi connection regardless of the band. Whether or not that difference in performance will be noticed in a specific network will be determined by the actual data patterns in that network.

A properly designed wired Ethernet LAN will perform at its rated speed regardless of the number of devices on the network. Every device on the network will have full duplex access at line speed all of the time. The only real downside is running the wires. This can range from trivial to not feasible and may make a wired network in a specific situation a non-starter.

A properly designed WiFi network can give one device half duplex access to the WiFi network at a time. Every device added to the network increases the probability that two or more devices will want to access the network simultaneously causing delays to one or more of them. Compounding the problem is the fact that the devices don't have to be on your boat. Other boats using the same WiFi frequencies cause the same potential delays when you are in range.

I'm not saying that WiFi is never appropriate or that it is not appropriate for your application. I (and I believe Jedi) are saying that WiFi is much more likely to be a problem and wired networks (where feasible) are much less likely to be a problem.

Well I have three 2.4 ghz wifi APs in my house both close to a 1200W microwave. No interference.

So on a boat given I have no microwave at all I don’t see a problem

Wiring on a boat is a pita , all my new battery sensor network is using wifi. My anchor alarm is using wifi to nmea 2000 as are my new holding tank sensors. My RUT955 LTE bridge is on the wifi , all my new projects including my BMS will use wifi to place data on the nmea 2000 bus.

Wifi load balancing is very good especially 802.11n secondly throughput is so fast compared to nmea2000 I’ve so much reserve capacity that the semi duplex nature of wifi has no effect.

I’m at this too long to be worried about a cheap microwave. !!

Ps

. Other boats using the same WiFi frequencies cause the same potential delays when you are in range.

I made a lot of money later in life installing warehouse scale wifi mesh systems.

Similar frequencies don’t actually cause major issues especially with mimo and 802.11n . Given the distances boats are at and the nature of the environment as seawater is an absorber , there’s no noticeable impact from adjacent wifi.
Currently I have 19 wifi networks in range of me. Again the performance impact is minimal based on the metrics I’m collecting.