FA-70,1815 Radar, SXC20

[MV Dragonfly]

I have a 1815 Radar, GPS and heading into NMEA1 via a Yatch devices 0183 to 2000 converter, then I had my radio (0183) feeding AIS to the radar via NMEA2. Was working.
Added SXC20 (NMEA2000) and FA-70 (NEMA2000 and 0183). Swapped the Radio AIS with the FA-70 0183 to feed radar in via NMEA2.

Now if the FA-70 is OFF I get GPS and heading on the radar, As soon as I turn on the FA-70 I lose posistion and heading.... What am I doing wrong?

 

[Sparky Wire]

Do you have a drawing?

 

[MV Dragonfly]

This except instead of a SCX21 I have a Yatch Devices YDNG03 NMEA 0183 to 2000 converter and only to RD1. Other note with the FA70 off I get all the other data on the 1815, but the AIS menu is grey. With the FA70 on I get no ther data but the AIS menu is active. So I suspect it is getting AIS Info and the rest of the gear get AIS info. What I think is the AIS is sending NAV info over the 0183 port and confusing the 1815. BUT I have not been able to get any of my comouters to access the FA-70 via USB (the driver install fails) AND the FA70 don't show up on my NavPilot 300.

 

[MV Dragonfly]

So while trying to figure out why the FA70 is not visible on the NAVPilot 300 I discovered the FA70 Requires the included GPS to be connected. I assumed with the SXC20 and another Furuno GPS on the N2K backbone and the FA70 on the N2K it would get the data from there. No dice. It might be that is my whole problem. But I won't know for sure until this weekend when I can install the FA70 GPS. I will update with my progress then.

 

[MV Dragonfly]

Installed the required GPS onto the FA70, still no dice, same problem persist.

 

[MV Dragonfly]

I gave up on getting the Furuno AIS and Radar to play nice with each other and just rewired the Non-Furuno radio back to the Radar for AIS. Seems stupid that the I had to do that. Since I purchased this boat I have only Installed Furuno gear (GP1871F,1815,PG-700,GP330B,FAP3011,PUMPOCT16-12,FAP6112,FA70,SXC20) though I didn't purchase the 1815, so that I wouldn't have these issues. Maybe I need to relook at whether all Furuno is the way to go forward.

 

[TheReaper]

It appears that you have multiple NMEA2000 devices that are sending the same information on your backbone (Position-GP1871F, GP330B, SCX20) and (Heading- PG700 and SCX20). NMEA2000 rules require that each device that's outputting the same information (position and heading in your case) need to have separate device instances. Has this been done? Also, when using NMEA0183-to-NMEA2000 gateways, ALL data comes from NMEA2000 to NMEA0183 unless the gateway has a software program to turn on/off individual PGNs. If the FA70 is connected to NMEA2000 and NMEA0183, this could be a reason for the problem too; two sources of AIS from NMEA gateway AND from 0183 direct connection to 1815. So, this could also be a problem going to the 1815 radar (for position and heading input). The FA70 NMEA0183 output from NMEA2 has position information turned off by default.

 

[MV Dragonfly]

"need to have separate device instances" Not sure what you mean here, But I am able to select which device is used in the recieving devices, execpt the radar of course. The N2K to 0183 converter has the ability to filter out all VDM and VDO sentences and I did so on the converter connected to the Nav inputs (port 1) on the radar. While the AIS (port 2) was only connected to the AIS 0183 via 38400 bps.

 

[TheReaper]

Device instancing is mandatory on a NMEA2000 bus to eliminate devices "fighting" over who provides a certain piece of data. For example, you have heading coming from a PG700 and also from a SCX20. Because both are sending heading data, they need to have a priority set as to which device is more "important" on the NMEA2000 bus. The priority is called device instancing. This can be done using a Maretron USB100 gateway and their software called "N2K Analyzer" or an Actisense NGX-1-USB gateway and their software called "NMEA Reader". Another way is to have a technician who has these tools to do this. Unless this was done when installing the NMEA2000 equipment, when running one of these computer programs with the gateway, you'll probably see a lot of data conflicts listed. Therefore, "instancing" must be done to ensure a proper network.

Good that you filtered data for your gateway (converter)...that was important too. I still think the instancing problem is what was causing your troubles. As far as the FA70 on the 1815 Port 2...if you want, you can try setting that data port to a set speed of 38,400 instead of leaving it on Auto. This setting is in Menu-System-Initial, select 38,400 for "NMEA Port 2".

 

[MV Dragonfly]

I'll work on Device instancing, and I did have both ports set to forced 38400. I tried Auto and it was unstable.