I do know that most NMEA-2000 friendly plotters support PGN's for navigation data and to an extent engine data. I have recently had opportunity to look at the selection of electronics that support and display data more to do with the vessel environment. What I am looking for is support for the following:
- Port and Stbd water tank levels
- Blackwater tank level
- Fridge and Freezer temperatures
- Start battery voltage
- House battery voltage
- House battery current
Maretron do a good job with transducers. They also can display this information on their DSM250 as may Garmin I expect on the GMI-10 (can anyone confirm this).
Has anyone had experience on the mainstream devices like the Raymarine E120W, C120W, ST70, Simrad NSE12 and so on? I would simply like to pull up a page on the main navigation instrument for a few seconds just to check on these parameters.
Gary:
I know Maretron's DSM250 can display the environmental you wish to monitor. I think you can download the manuals for each of the MFD's you're interested in and check the list of PGN's supported.
Ted's right that the DSM250 is good at displaying that sort of data. Plus Maretron has a versatile temperature sensor, the TMP100, and those freezer/fridge values are the most exotic on your list:
http://www.maretron.com/products/tmp100.php
With that and a DSM250 you could calibrate up to six temperature probes and label them for what they are on the DSM250 (and/or N2KView software). The other data could be handled by Maretron displays and sensors too, but could also be displayed by most of the latest MFDs.
Gary,
Not a direct answer to your question, but here's my experience.
I'm still in process of fine tuning the systems on our new boat, but I can tell you that having such data on-view on your MFD is VERY useful. In fact, I've put the "house current" on all screens that I use on my MFD. This is very useful to see where your Amps are going.
I'm getting "house current" by the following means:
- Mastervolt MasterShunt 500 -> Masterbus (a proprietary CANbus)
- Mastervolt NMEA2000 interface to go from Masterbus to NMEA2000
- A Lowrance HDS chart plotter
I've got temperatures in my Linux server, but haven't gotten round to actually sending them out on the NMEA 2000 bus as they already show up on my handhelds (iPhone/iPad) and PC screen.
Gary:
Like Ben says, the Maretron TMP100 can take 6 temp probes, but 2 are reserved for high temp probes and 4 for "regular" probes. You only list a need for two, so you should be fine.
Kees:
Thanks for the tip on the Mastervolt N2K interface. I'm putting a MasterShunt on our boat but didn't know they had a interface. Bedankt.
Ted
Kees, I'm confused by your choice of the Mastershunt. Why buy a device that requires a N2K converter and physical interruption of the circuit when for the same price (too much, in either case) you can get a Maretron DC100, which is N2K-ready and includes a current transformer and battery temp sensor?
Just curious...
/afb
Adam,
I like the DCT100 but I'm not sure it is designed to be a battery monitor. As it uses a Hall sensor it needs to be separatedly powered by the battery to count Amp Hours. Does it actually count Amp Hours, and does it compute battery state (using the Peukert assumption?)
The MasterShunt500 is (a) designed to be used as a battery monitor, it is powered by the battery and does all state monitoring. (b) it has a 500 Amp rated shunt, so it can cope with monitoring my bowthruster (just). (c) It interfaces with my battery charger and nd other Mastervolt equipment. The charger is told by the MasterShunt what state the batteries are in, so it doesn't overcharge. (d) Mastervolt has a really neat and (I dare say) cheap touch screen that shows the state and alarms of all connected Mastervolt equipment. I use this when I don't have the NMEA bus and/or PC fired up to check on the battery, charger, inverter and DC/DC converter status.
Kees, the DCM100 is indeed a battery monitor, and computes battery state using Peukert. Hall effect sensors are source-powered, but of course the DCM still needs to be connected to the battery for voltage sensing.
I do like that the Mastershunt communicates with the charger, and it's 500A max is much higher than the DCM100's 200A. However, I am wondering whether by changing the hall effect sensor to one with a lower gain and recalibrating the DCM you could up the current ceiling. I'll ask Maretron.
/afb
Hi Ben, I realise that the Maretron DSM250 will display just about anything that is N2K. However in the case of limited helm space and given the requirement for a large screen MFD, it would be far better if one could use a page on the MFD to display the data that was listed in the opening post.
I have worked through the Raymarine and Simrad documentation and have not confirmed that say a E120W or an NSE12 can do what is asked for. Yet alone an ST70.
Have you ever tabled the N2K PGN display cabability of the mainstrean MFD players? Or do you know of such a table?
A useful tool for checking capability of such devices would be a N2K system emulator. This could be a Windows program that sends N2K emulation data out on an Actisense NFT-1. In that case any manufacturers N2K device could be connected to the test bus and checked for capability.
Does anyone know if such a tool exists?
Hello everyone,
I see that this forum has been inactive for a while. But if you're interested here's something to checkout
NMEA® 2000 Universal Engine Gateway by Veethree Instruments.
Quick Facts and Features:
- Converts Analogue signals and J1939 to NMEA 2000
- Display include Engine, Fuel, Trim, NAV, Alarms, Rudder Angle, Depth etc.
- Compatible with all engine types with or without an ECU
- Intuitive "on screen" user and set-up menus
As an analogue to NMEA2000 “gateway” the Engine Gateway Monitor (EGM) replaces the need for expensive dedicated converter modules and provides the user the advantage of a full colour interactive engine monitor screen that can be used in place of or alongside traditional gauges.
Datasheet available here:
1. Log onto v3instruments.com
2. Go the Products tab and click on the Marine Section.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll find it there.