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Patrick - sv Deep Playa

nav software that outputs Nmea 2000

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In my research to find nmea 2000 compatible SW for my sailboat, I went with Coastal Explorer. I had it already, and it seemed to work fine. Well now that I have left the homeport and made a couple jumps down the west coast, I see something missing in my selection. The SW does not send any N2K messages so I can't see any waypoint info on the cockpit Maretron display.

Anyone using a SW package that works as I'm syggesting?

Thanks!
-p

15 Replies

  • Patrick,

    I think you can use the Actisense NGT-1 NMEA2000 to PC gateway. See the software compatibility list here:
    http://www.actisense.com/HTML/Products/Gateways/NMEA_2000_PC_Gateway_1/Software.htm

  • I am using that... I don't think coastal explorer sends anything...

  • Are you using version 2.0.10131 of Coastal Explorer?

  • I was disappointed to just discover this issue too. Neither CE nor Nobeltec Admiral 11 nor Time Zero can talk through the Actisense NGT-1 Gateway yet, though they can all listen to data pretty well. I think that being able to talk to autopilots is on everyone's road map, though.

  • Jon... yep. Latest CE.

    I sent mail to Actisense about their "supported" page with regards to the NGT and cc'd Ben. Maybe they have more information their web site doesn't share.

    Also posted in the CE Support forum.

    I'll let you know what I find out.

    -p

  • I was recently told that Time Zero will eventually output NMEA 2000 PGN's I'm not sure when that will be though. I don't think anyone's software outputs actual NMEA 2000 data yet. They are all using 0183 gateways.

  • Let's be clear that the Actisense NGT-1 does not translate NMEA 2000 into 0183 messages. (And neither does the Maretron USB100 when it's talking to Maretron software.) So all the software like the two Time Zero programs that work with the NGT-1 are deciphering N2K PGNs. They just haven't been programmed to output PGNs yet.

  • I would love MacENC to output PGNs to the N2K backbone, but the hold up has not been on my side. Been literally waiting over a year for support for Actisense to add that to the NGT-1. Really not sure why it's taking so long.

  • Wow, that is really weird. I got a mail from Actisense that made it sound like its supported if you are reading NMEA2000 and talking NMEA2000 (no translation as Ben mentions).

    From the Actisense NGT-1 web page: http://www.actisense.com/HTML/Products/Gateways/NMEA_2000_PC_Gateway_1/index.php

    "The NGT-1 works in partnership with specialist PC software to allow viewing and/or sending of data to and from the NMEA 2000 bus."

    Very confused again...

  • I'm confused too. I got the same email from Actisense that Patrick did and here's the last paragraph:

    "Whether the developer wished to implement both transmit and receive in the first release was entirely up to them - that was not something we would have ever considered forcing upon them. If they did implement transmission of NMEA 2000 message back through the NGT-1 at the beta or first release stage then I would have given them feedback accordingly. Once a developer has created the NGT-1 receive interface in their software, implementing the NGT-1 transmit interface is a trivial step that should not require any further guidance from us."

  • Hi All. My comments copied by Ben above are perfectly true for all Windows based software products (Nobeltec, Coastal Explorer, Expedition etc.): It is relatively straight-forward for any Windows based product to send NMEA 2000 messages as well as receive NMEA 2000 messages. Whether they have actually chosen to implement that option is entirely down to them, the demand for such an option from their customers and their available engineering time.

    The situation for non-Windows based software products such as MacENC is very different. Because Mac and Linux software products cannot use our existing Comms Library, we have had to create a brand new Library just for them. This has taken much longer than we appreciated for many, many reasons I won't bore you with. However, as we have already indicated to MacENC, we are all but ready to release the new library in a week or two.

    Then, that statement will be true of all software products detailed on the compatibility list. I hope this helps clear the confusion.

  • As soon as I receive the new Comms library from Actisense I will add the support for sending PGNs to the N2K backbone via the Actisense NGT-1 into MacENC.

  • Thanks, Andy...forgot about the Mac difference...

  • Its looks like Expedition does output proper NMEA 2000 messages according to their help files. I'm waiting for an Eval license to give it a try. From the help file :

    PGNs sent by Expedition
    127245 Rudder
    127250 Heading
    127251 Rate of turn
    127257 Attitude (heel/roll and trim/pitch)
    127258 Magnetic variation
    127508 Battery status
    128259 Speed, water referenced
    128267 Depth
    129025 Position, rapid update
    129026 COG & SOG, rapid update
    129283 Cross track error
    129284 Navigation data (mark range bearing, latitude, longitude)
    129291 Set and drift
    129301 Time to mark or layline
    130306 Wind (tws, tws, awa, aws, twa, tws)
    130310 Environmental parameters (barometer, air and sea temperature)

    -p

  • Just to update you all, Actisense has now released the bi-directional ActisenseComms Library to support its Mac and Linux software developer customers.

    Once these developers have had an opportunity to build our new Library (which is a total rework from our first Library) in to their own software packages, all software products detailed on the NGT-1 compatibility list will be capable of both receiving and sending NMEA 2000 messages.