Quote:
Originally Posted by donradcliffe
Amen.
One of the boats that I deliver is a older race boat that has been "upgraded at great expense" to a Czone system with Mastervolt lithium batteries and a NMEA 2000 bus instrument system. I have had nothing but problems that require dealer intervention.
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next time just ask me *G*
CZone is easy - but very flexible. And some dealers are simply not dressed for the job - just like a lot of
marine engine mechanics. No difference.
Biggest hurdle is usually to get people to separate their networks if they are medium to large size. CZone on one backbone - N2k on another - and then bridge them. "But the specs says 40 devices" - yes - but your modern
chartplotter acts like it is 3 or 5 devices.
And then get them to switch off all the "extra's" - like EVERY
SINGLE chartplotter does NOT need to broadcast
GPS info at 10+Hz.
I went on a CAT this summer where a dealer completely screwed up SW update post a
hardware "upgrade". 3 chart-plotters - all individually connected to
Internet... And all broadcasting their individual
GPS reception on the N2k
network. Then an external high speed precision GPS AND GPS from VHF/AIS. Then a forward scan
depth, a normal DST800 (depth speed temperature) - and then a
fishfinder depth with temperature as well. Ohh and 2 attitude senders (9 axis - roll/pitch/yaw) - one for
autopilot - and one for ?? heave compensation? (This is excluding all the tank senders,
battery monitors etc - who usually are not a big issue as they don't refresh data so fast)
After 2 hours of "creating" a new setup - the N2k utilisation was down to 15-25% (which is still high) - but everything worked with no delays - each critical device had 1 backup with a Device Instance set correct. 1 GPS receiver completely excluded as it did not report correct position all the time - it would just jump 50m without warning only to jump back after 10-20 seconds.
All extras turned
transmission off. And a laminated instruction sheet with what to do if 2 similar devices fail...
Talk about a crowded N2k
network...
N2k simply can't deal with lots of "fast" senders continuously.
For normal usage most won't notice but for CZone you would notice a 3 second delay turning on a light.
And last but not least - Device Instance number is important in a big network.
If you have a big N2k network - get a tool so you can se the traffic and the largest/fastest senders. A PC/USB Actisense, Maretron or other tools are just as important as a jerrycan for
fuel.
Like anything - CZone and N2k can be a PITA if setup wrong with items just "plugged in" without thought.
Yes it might
work - it is 'almost' designed to just
work.
But spend a little time or
money - on getting it setup right.