I'll have a Standard Horizon Matrix AIS at the chart table of a 42 foot sailing boat and a C90W chartplotter aft by the helm. The cable run will probably exceed 5 metres. It apears that 1.5M or 5M is the generally accepted cable length limit. I'll be using high quality shielded cable.
If the cable carrying AIS data and the cable carrying DSC data do exceed 5 meters are the interfaces likely to operate properly?
What I'd rather do is put the AIS and DSC data onto the SeatalkNG backbone via a 0183 to SeaTalkNG adapter (via NMEA2K if necessary) but I haven't been able to find a gateway that supports the appropriate PGN's.
Another option is to locate the radio directly adjacent to the plotter but I'd rather not have it out in the Sun and weather.
Any suggestions appreciated.
My recently purchased Standard Horizon VHF, a GX1500S, came with a rather nice slip on cover for the face plate. I expect it to do a decent job of protecting the radio from the weather on my center console power boat.
Hi Roy,
YMMV -- Your Mileage May Vary, but I'd say yes it will work.
If the Standard Horizon implements a proper EIA-422 differential signal then the maximum wire length is something like 4000 feet. That should be plenty!
When Standard Horizon has used plain EIA-232 or EIA-423 drivers the distance is much less, but I'd still bet you that 10 m will be plenty. If not get a NMEA-0183 buffer.
NMEA 0183 has is unidirectional in nature, and therefore doesn't suffer from propagation delay limits, unlike NMEA 2000. The length of the cable is limited by the capacitance of the wire which degrades the signal form and any interference induced by other devices. Since you'll be using shielded cable I don't expect this laste effect to play a major role in your application.