Thanks to some enterprising folks I received a few log files from other equipment such as a Raymarine E-80 and this has resulted in another release of the packetlogger programs and database.
Some data analysis of the logs enabled me to fix the field lengths and types of a number of PGNs, like the Set & Drift data, add Lowrance specific PGNs 65285 and 130817 as sent out by a EP-80R, and confirm a number of PGNs are correct. As a result a lot more PGNs are now considered 'complete'. That means there is a high probability they are now decoded completely and fully.
You can download the latest packetlogger release at the usual place.
Keep those log files coming! I'm especially interested in logs from new equipment such as the latest generation of MFDs from Raymarine and ANY logs from Furuno and Garmin equipment.
And on a side note, be careful if you expect a Lowrance EP-80R temperature probe to interoperate with non-Lowrance equipment. Based on the data I received, there is at least one version out there (with firmware release LA53D dated 2/7/2007 10:47:53 AM) that does not transmit the NMEA standard PGN for temperature, but only a Lowrance PGN. If you intend to interoperate, make sure you get one that you can return if it is not satisfactory. Hopefully this problem has been fixed in a later firmware release.
Showing posts with label lowrance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lowrance. Show all posts
Lowrance Sonic Hub & HDS 3.5 software update
Lowrance released a software update, v3.5. This provides SonicHub (the new Navico sound system) support and various smaller improvements.
Read all about it here: Lowrance HDS 3.5 update.
I'm not satisfied with the audio setup in our deckhouse, and now I need to choose between adding an audio card to the permanently running Linux box & integrating AirPlay, a MP3 player and other software -- or just install a SonicHub.
SonicHub:
+ Works out-of-the-box with iPod/iPad.
+ Chartplotter is 'on' during sailing anyway.
- No 'remote' app beyond controlling iPod/iPad.
- Unknown power consumption in real life.
Linux:
+ Allows audio warnings from system monitor.
+ Allows any iTunes to stream via AirPlay (once the community implements this)
+ Remote control possible, in future maybe even easy.
- More work for me.
- Unknown power consumption in real life.
All in all, I think I'll opt for the build-it-myself option (again) as it is more fun that way. It also works better when the boat isn't sailing & the HDS is off.
Read all about it here: Lowrance HDS 3.5 update.
I'm not satisfied with the audio setup in our deckhouse, and now I need to choose between adding an audio card to the permanently running Linux box & integrating AirPlay, a MP3 player and other software -- or just install a SonicHub.
SonicHub:
+ Works out-of-the-box with iPod/iPad.
+ Chartplotter is 'on' during sailing anyway.
- No 'remote' app beyond controlling iPod/iPad.
- Unknown power consumption in real life.
Linux:
+ Allows audio warnings from system monitor.
+ Allows any iTunes to stream via AirPlay (once the community implements this)
+ Remote control possible, in future maybe even easy.
- More work for me.
- Unknown power consumption in real life.
All in all, I think I'll opt for the build-it-myself option (again) as it is more fun that way. It also works better when the boat isn't sailing & the HDS is off.
Lowrance yellow Ethernet cabling
The Navico 'yellow' ethernet connector used on new Lowrance devices such as the HDS series has the advantage of being watertight and easy to make a reliable twist-on connection:
In case you want to use a standard Ethernet switch, or have guys lay ethernet cabling through some narrow ducting you cannot use the normal Lowrance Ethernet cabling and have to crimp an RJ-45 jack onto the Lowrance cable.
On opening up the cable I found two twisted pairs of cable, as expected, plus a shield:
The pairs are blue and orange. I connected those the same way as a 3 Com sourced very thin Ethernet cable I had lying around: blue to pins 1+2 and orange to pins 3+6 of the RJ-45 jack. This isn't according to either T568A or T568B, but that cannot be helped when the cable pairs are blue and orange. In practice the cable works fine, both when wired directly and when wired to a switch. I don't know whether the is actually a cross over cable or direct through though, so if you use a switch that doesn't do auto MDI-X you may have to swap the pairs.
Here's the crimped connector:
and the final cable:
Once plugged in a quick run of tcpdump revealed the IP address of the Lowrance HDS and a ping proves that my Mac and HDS are able to talk to each other:
Hurrah, one more item from my to-do list done!
May 2010: Commenters have asked me whether this means they can now interface a HDS or Broadband Radar to their PC.Alas, no. The test done above was just a convenient way for me to test that the munged cable works.June 22, 2010: Yes, you can! Navico has released a SDK that allows navigation software providers to interface with the Broadband Radar. As far as I know, only Expedition has released the necessary software so far (August 2010). For more information see Simrad BR24PC, Free Range BroadBand Radar #2 at Panbo.
In case you want to use a standard Ethernet switch, or have guys lay ethernet cabling through some narrow ducting you cannot use the normal Lowrance Ethernet cabling and have to crimp an RJ-45 jack onto the Lowrance cable.
On opening up the cable I found two twisted pairs of cable, as expected, plus a shield:
The pairs are blue and orange. I connected those the same way as a 3 Com sourced very thin Ethernet cable I had lying around: blue to pins 1+2 and orange to pins 3+6 of the RJ-45 jack. This isn't according to either T568A or T568B, but that cannot be helped when the cable pairs are blue and orange. In practice the cable works fine, both when wired directly and when wired to a switch. I don't know whether the is actually a cross over cable or direct through though, so if you use a switch that doesn't do auto MDI-X you may have to swap the pairs.
Here's the crimped connector:
and the final cable:
Once plugged in a quick run of tcpdump revealed the IP address of the Lowrance HDS and a ping proves that my Mac and HDS are able to talk to each other:
PING 169.254.17.126 (169.254.17.126): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 169.254.17.126: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.788 ms
64 bytes from 169.254.17.126: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.405 ms
64 bytes from 169.254.17.126: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.480 ms
Hurrah, one more item from my to-do list done!
Update
May 2010: Commenters have asked me whether this means they can now interface a HDS or Broadband Radar to their PC.
Navico Broadband Radar (BR24) test
I've finally succeeded in capturing our new Simrad/Lowrance BR24 Broadband radar in screenshots that show what it can do in a way that can be understood without needing to know the local circumstances.Here is a link to the Flickr set that shows them all.
The first picture shows the largest range that showed useful information. Our antenna was about 8 m up in the air. Still, it showed echos 10 to 15 nautical miles away. Mind you, these were large built up areas (small towns). The dikes themselves at 2-15 nm did not show up. Although not impressive, it does show that the range is there. Notice that there were a number of smaller sailing yachts (motor yachts don't tend to use this lake in F5-6 winds) but that these don't show up reliably at this range. In my experience, those do show up with a 'normal' magnetron based 4 KW radome radar. Also the coast and dikes would show up.
The second picture shows the close up detail that is very, very impressive! Going from immediately north to south-east of the center location you see a range of dots and echos stretching from the land shown on the chart into the water. This is a series of metal piles that large ships can moor up to when waiting for the lock. The echos stretching to the land are walkways so that people can load/unload.To the W @180m to NW @100m you can see the echos of the buildings right on top of the gray building area shown on the chart.
Across the water you can see the mooring wall with the dike behind it. This is where BB shines with it's great range resolution and ability to separate objects behind other objects.
To the right is a Google Map view of the same area.
On all images you can see that man-made objects, in particular heavy or conductive matter such as metal, show up much better than the softer areas (earthen dikes, trees), especially further off.
If you have any questions regarding the objects or views that I have, please comment and I will expand this entry accordingly.
Tying it all together - Overview
{Updated: June 16, 2009}Enough has been done now to show what the entire electrical and navigation system on Merrimac II is going to look like. The goal was to have a system that's easy to use but not clutter up the entire boat with displays at various places. Not that you'd guess this from the image shown here at right -- you'd better click on it to get a readable image if you want to see it in more detail!
The cabin/saloon will not have any displays, buttons or nav systems except for a radio and a TV (hidden in a cabinet) and a charging cradle for the iPod touch remote.
The doghouse will have a PC display and a chartplotter and nothing else; all complexity will be operable from the PC and the remote (iPod Touch).
Power
Let's start from basics: power supply. The electrons are going to come aboard as follows:
- Solar panels. 6 x Sunware SPR-90. 90Wp per panel. These should keep her happy while we're not there -- and even for a large part when are! I estimate that they can supply up to 2 kWh per day.
- High power Mastervolt 24V/75A alternator on the engine coupled with an Alpha charge regulator. I've purposely decided on this model, as it charges at higher amps when the engine is running slowly than it's larger brethren.
- A Mastervolt Chargemaster 24V/30A charger.
This will be sunk into 6 x 225 Ah Mastervolt AGM batteries, connected as 3 x 2 to provide 24 V @ 675 Ah. This means we can use about 330 Ah == 8 kWh before we need to top up.
On the consumer side we'll have a Mastervolt DC/AC converter that generates 230V, and a DC/DC converter that provides 12V for the electronics. There will be no AC-AC path from the shore connection to anything on board. In this way we don't need a isolation transformer.
The AC side is used by the following:
- Hydraulic power pump for the lifting keel.
- Washing machine (Miele, with hot fill capability so it can use warm engine water.)
- Dishwasher.
- TV.
The 12 V bits are used for anything electronic that needs/wants this. This keeps the supply clean, even when we use heavy electrical engines like the anchor winch. All motors etc are to be kept off this circuit, obviously.
The 24 V bits are for everything else: lighting, fridge, freezer, winches, autopilot.
Network
The electronics are going to be running on three networks:
- Ethernet
- NMEA 2000
- Masterbus
The Ethernet will interface the Wago Linux PLC, the "integrator" Linux computer that provides WiFi and cellular access, a navigation computer running Microsoft Windows, a HDS8 chartplotter and a Broadband Radar radome.
The NMEA 2000 data will carry all navigation data. The components on this network are: Simrad IS20 instruments, autopilot and AIS class B transceiver; Lowrance HDS8 chartplotter/fishfinder/radar.
The Masterbus will couple all Mastervolt chargers/converters to each other. It integrates to the Microsoft Windows PC using a Mastervolt USB interface and possibly to the Linux system usign a Modbus interface.
What's not yet entirely clear is what will be used to tie the NMEA 2000 and Masterbus to the PCs, and what the PCs will be like. I'm investigating whether I can interface to these buses using my own software and off the shelf or custom CAN bus interfaces, as both of them are actually CAN. The fallback scenario is to use a Simrad AT10 interface for the Nobeltec software, a CANUSB for snooping the NMEA 2000 data and a Mastervolt Modbus interface for snooping the Mastervolt data.
For the Linux PC I'm contemplating various systems, but at the moment it looks as if I might as well use two (almost) identical systems such as the fit-PC2 for both the "always on" server and the Windows navigation system. An alternative is to make the server something that is ARM or MIPS based, as that should use less power. Sourcing an ARM based computer that is frugal with power (e.g. 2-3 W in total), has Ethernet, Wireless and USB or even better CAN directly on board turns out to be harder than I thought. There are a good many suppliers, but most systems fail on either being able to support an uptodate Linux BSP, or have the wrong peripherals, or are very expensive, or have a lifetime that is too short. If that is the case I might just as well use an expendable x86 computer that has plenty of USB ports and low power.
Navigation data
There will be four displays in the cockpit: IS20 Wind, Graphic, Multi and an AP24 pilot control. This gives ample data at disposal. There will be two depth sensors: one on the hull and one at the bottom of the keel. This is not just for redundancy, but also to keep from having to perform mental arithmetic as the keel depth can be varied from 0,80 m (2.6 ft) to 3,15 m (10 ft). This is important as our home waters are very shallow. The sensors work at different frequencies so they should not interfere with each other. The HDS can switch its depth sensor off when it's not needed.
The doghouse will have two screens: a Lowrance HDS8 chartplotter that also shows depth-over-time (aka a Fishfinder) and Radar. Next to that will be a computer display running Nobeltec Admiral and various other software. It will also run MSCAN Meteo (for receiving weather and NAVTEX data) connected to an ICOM PCR1500 remote controlled SSB receiver. The doghouse will also contain a Simrad RS82 VHF as well as an ICOM portable VHF and a Simrad WR20 remote. The remote allows you to control all Simrad equipment remotely as well as use it as a Bluetooth "headset" for a cellphone.
Simrad/Lowrance NMEA2000 network power usage
Third in what is turning out to be a small series on power usage. This time I figured I'd benchmark the power usage of all the navigation equipment that I have collected so far for the new boat.
Again measured using a Voltcraft 3000 at the 230V AC, so the actual figures are too high by 10-20% when using a direct 12V DC source. Since I am going to use a 24 V to 12 V DC/DC converter that will probably have the same sort of efficiency as the AC/DC converter that I am using now, I figure these measurements are good enough for me personally.
| Device | Power | Cumulative |
| Lowrance HDS-8 (backlight @ 6) | 6.3W | 6.3W |
| Simrad IS20 Wind wand | 0.9W | 7.2W |
| Airmar DST800 depth/speed/temp sensor | 1.0W | 8.3W |
| Lowrance EP-65R fluid level sensor | 0.4W | 8.7W |
| Navico NAIS-300 AIS-B (receive mode) | 7.3W | 16.0W |
| Simrad RC42 compass | 0.9W | 16.9W |
| Simrad IS20 Graphic display | 0.8W | 17.7W |
| Simrad IS20 Multi display | 0.6W | 18.3W |
| Simrad IS20 Wind display | 1.0W | 19.3W |
| Simrad AC42 course computer | 2.5W | 21.8W |
| Simrad AP24 auto pilot controller | 0.8W | 22.6W |
| Airmar P319 sonar (depth) sensor | 1.4W | 24.0W |
As always there are some small surprises here:
- The chartplotter only uses 25% of the power envelope
- NMEA2000 nodes seem to use at least 0.4W.
- The NAIS-300 uses more power than I'd thought it would. Being able to shut it down completely is something to be considered.
Note to self (and reader): this is on the benchtop, the following is still missing:
- RF300 rudder feedback (should be neglible)
- Hydraulic pump (e.g. using the autopilot as opposed to just having it in standby)
- VHF #1
- Simrad WR20 remote
- Broadband RADAR sensor
- Ethernet switch
Lowrance HDS 8 power usage
Finally had a chance to hook up parts of the new NMEA 2000 kit to the power meter.
Running standalone (with no external sensors) the new Lowrance HDS 8 uses the following amount of power:
Enabling the sonar added 2 to 3 Watt. In fact the sensor usage is the only difference between Standby and running with the backlight very low or off.
This was all measured at the wall plug using a laptop AC to 12 V DC converter and a Voltcraft Energy Check 3000. Actual power use measured at the DC input should be about 15% lower still.
Running standalone (with no external sensors) the new Lowrance HDS 8 uses the following amount of power:
| Standby ('off') | 0.4 W |
| Booting (display 100% backlight) | 14 W |
| Standby | 5.0 W |
| Chart display (brightness = 1, backlight off) | 5.0 W |
| brightness = 2 | 5.0 W (usable at night) |
| brightness = 3 | 5.1 W |
| brightness = 5 | 5.7 W (usable in cloudy day) |
| brightness = 8 | 8.9 W |
| brightness = 10 | 13.3 W (max, very bright even in sun) |
Enabling the sonar added 2 to 3 Watt. In fact the sensor usage is the only difference between Standby and running with the backlight very low or off.
This was all measured at the wall plug using a laptop AC to 12 V DC converter and a Voltcraft Energy Check 3000. Actual power use measured at the DC input should be about 15% lower still.
All in all I am extremely satisfied with this new plotter -- Excellent functionality, great NMEA 2000 interfacing, great screen, cheap charts, all for a very reasonable price. I got mine from JG Tech in the UK.
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