• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Question re Forum

Teranodon

Member III
Hi. I am in the process of trying to combine two data networks on my E34: Seatalk NG (Raymarine) and NMEA 2000 (for some Garmin stuff). Once I figure it out (it's somewhat baffling) would it be appropriate to post the story (and the solutions) on the Ericson forum? It could help others, but it certainly is not Ericson-specific. Please advise.
 

debonAir

Member III
Seatalk ng *is* NMEA 2000, just with a different connector. Both are in fact just "CAN" which is a network designed for cars and engines and used all over in industry. There are marine-specific messages used in Raymarine (ng) and Garmin (std nmea2k) but electrically the networks are the same. You should be able to get by with just a cable-converter that matches the connector style on each side.

Just remember that high speed serial bus (CAN) wires need to be treated as transmission lines. When signal "waves" hit the end of a wires they reflect like water waves hitting a rock wall and that will muck up the signals. Make sure to put terminations on each unconnected end of the network. (the ends of the backbone, unused spur plugs, etc.) They are little plugs which contain a circuit that makes the wire look infinitely long (a resistor typically) to avoid reflections.

Best idea is to layout the network on a block diagram on paper first showing all the connections. ng / nmea2k network devices are all spurs off a backbone so it is pretty straightforward to diagram.

Now.. how to get Garmin and Raymarine devices playing nice with each other on the network is another story, especially as the two are arch rivals. I'd like to hear how that works out. It *should* be possible.

Good luck!! these things always take way longer than you'd think
 
Last edited:
Top