Airmar PB200 WeatherStation power usage

I've measured actual power usage for the expensive but all-encompassing-all-but-dancing-and-singing Airmar PB200 WeatherStation NMEA 2000 sensor.

It is officially stated as a 13 LEN device which means that it could use up to 13 * 50 = 650 mA @ 12 V = 7 W, but it actually only uses 2.5 W, e.g. 4 to 5 LEN. That's OK for a sensor that does all of the following:

• GPS (WAAS, EGNOS) (it even claims to do GLONASS according to its PGN 12029)
• Heading (rate stabilised)
• Pitch & Roll
• Wind direction and speed
• Temperature
• Air pressure

Airmar PB200 support for Packetlogger

A new release for packetlogger, with support for the PGNs created by the Airmar PB200 Weatherstation.

I've added support for the following NMEA 2000 data fields and records (PGNs):

• PGN 65410 (Airmar Device Information, 90%)
• PGN 126988 (Configuration Information, 90%)
• PGN 127251 (Rate of Turn, 99%)
• PGN 127257 (Attitude, 99%)
• PGN 129034 (Datum, 50%)
• PGN 130311 (Environmental Parameters, 90%)
• PGN 130323 (Meteorological Station Data, 90%)
• PGN 130880 (Airmar: Additional Weather Data, 90%)
• PGN 130881 (Airmar: Heater Control, 60%)
• PGN 130944 (Airmar: POST, name only)

The files can be downloaded here:

• packetlogger_20091015.zip
• packetlogger_20091015_explain.txt
• packetlogger_20091015_explain.xml