AutoTrackRaymarine_pi: Remote control and route following for Evolution Pilots

[Tehani]

I have made a dedicated PCB, but you can also find cheap Hardware based on "BluePill" and ESP8266 (ESP12), adding a chip for the CAN bus, another for NMEA0183 and some transistors for Seatalk.

BluePill:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005..._1646506869546

[Tehani]

I start to share things: Electronic scheme and preliminary aspect of the gateway with Chinese remote.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qe0...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bn4...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bn4...ew?usp=sharing

[rgleason]

Originally Posted by Tehani

Rick,
Unfortunately, a gateway between OpenCPN and anything else (WiFi, NMEA2000, Seatalk, ...) will always be necessary.
That is why I have made a universal and economical one.
I have to find out how OpenSource works...

J.L.

Jose Luis, I totally agree, and I think your approach is probably the simplest and easiest approach.
Whether it is a low cost button or a fancier watch, or a phone app for the interface, I am sure that users will find the gateway invaluable. I find your development very exciting. It is the perfect companion for OpenCPN opening a direct window to N2K without troubles.

I think you should make a new thread here on CF under OpenCPN so others can ask questions and comment, etc. I don't really know what to title it, so I think you should do that.

[3cp]

This sound like a really good pi and I would like to try it out. But does it work with the Yacht Device YDNU-02 nmea2ooo -> USB adapter as well?

[maume]

Hi all
I would like to know if anyone has successfully used ShipModule's MiniPlex-3 instead of Actisense NGT-1 with Douwe Fokkema's OpenCPN "AutoTrackRaymarine Evo" plugin to send sentences over the N2K network.

[akopac]

I’m not sure if this is of any help. I ran into this signalK web based remote control for Raymarine and it works excellent. I’m thinking it’s more or less agnostic when it comes to nmea2000 to opencpn bridging and might make it possible to eliminate the Actisense hardware for routing. and custom opencpn. I’m not very knowledgeable le about the coding end of the stuff, but it might work. It’s open source too.
https://github.com/SignalK/signalk-autopilot

[maume]

Thanks akopac for the tip,
It all seems very complex to me, but I'll try to put it together.

[HunterWanderer]

Ive just installed this plug in and it looks great. I hope to get it running soon. Ive contacted my supplier of the Actisence NGT 1 and hes out of stock because its being replaced with NGW-1-STNG . Presumably this will work as well?

[Douwe Fokkema]

Originally Posted by HunterWanderer

Ive just installed this plug in and it looks great. I hope to get it running soon. Ive contacted my supplier of the Actisence NGT 1 and hes out of stock because its being replaced with NGW-1-STNG . Presumably this will work as well?

Earlier this plugin only functioned with a NGT-1. But since OpenCPN supports nmea2000, the plugin will function with all supported nmea2000 interfaces that OpenCPN supports, NGT-1 is one of them. But your supplier is wrong, NGW-1 is a converter from nmea2000 to nmea0183, this is not a nmea2000 interface as required. NGT-1 is what you need, an interface that does not do conversion, but just connects your computer with nmea2000. Check the Actisense website, this NGT-1 is available and not replaced.

[HunterWanderer]

Originally Posted by Douwe Fokkema

Earlier this plugin only functioned with a NGT-1. But since OpenCPN supports nmea2000, the plugin will function with all supported nmea2000 interfaces that OpenCPN supports, NGT-1 is one of them. But your supplier is wrong, NGW-1 is a converter from nmea2000 to nmea0183, this is not a nmea2000 interface as required. NGT-1 is what you need, an interface that does not do conversion, but just connects your computer with nmea2000. Check the Actisense website, this NGT-1 is available and not replaced.

Thanks for the reply. I will get back to him.
Just checking that its ok to have a usb NMEA 0183 data into Opencpn as that is the output from my AIS transponder and then have the Actisense NGT-1 on a second USB port outputing NMEA 2000 ?
I would prefer to have a single usb connection to the laptop and use a usb splitter. Will this work?
By the way I have the evo 200 autopilot with a P7 control and type 1 linear actuator.

[Douwe Fokkema]

Originally Posted by HunterWanderer

Thanks for the reply. I will get back to him.
Just checking that its ok to have a usb NMEA 0183 data into Opencpn as that is the output from my AIS transponder and then have the Actisense NGT-1 on a second USB port outputing NMEA 2000 ?
I would prefer to have a single usb connection to the laptop and use a usb splitter. Will this work?
By the way I have the evo 200 autopilot with a P7 control and type 1 linear actuator.

This should all be OK, it is more or less the same as I have on the boat.

[HunterWanderer]

Sorry. Got the wrong letters.
The Actisense NGT-1 is being superceded by NGX-1 . see:
https://www.yachtbits.com/actisense-...a-2000-gateway
Will this be compatible with Autotrack?
Im going with the old NGT-1 as its proven and there are still some left.

[bcn]

Go to the page of Actisense:
https://actisense.com/products/?range=nmea-2000-range


Both products are listed there as actual ones.


The decription of the NGX explains the differences.

[Douwe Fokkema]

The original (older) version of the AutoTrackRaymarine controlled the NGT-1 directly and only functioned with the NGT-1. Now OpenCPN supports nmea2000, we use OpenCPN to transmit and receive nmea2000 messages. So the AutoTrackRaymarine plugin will function with all nmea2000 interfaces on any platform that OpenCPN supports. So we are no longer dependent on the NGT-1 only.