FI5002 data to backbone

[AndyBNH]

Hello,

I am re-doing a lot of electronics on my sailboat. I currently have a Furuno FI50 Wind/Depth/Speed package installed through an FI-5002. I cannot for the life of me figure out how that data gets onto the TZT9 chartplotter, but the plotter does show depth. The FI5002 does not have any connection to the NMEA 2K backbone that everything else is connected to. It seems that it is it's own separate backbone. It is powered independently and has 3 connections to FI-50's (Wind, Tri-data, Depth), and 1 connection to the transducer. Both termination resistors are set to ON. There are no other connections. There are no direct connections of the FI-50's onto the N2K backbone.

I want to share the wind/speed/depth data with other NMEA 2K equipment.

Question(s):

If I wire the FI-5002 to the N2K backbone (as part of the backbone and not as a spur) and turn one of the terminal resistors to OFF, this should do what I want? Is this the suggested method?

Does it matter which resistor I switch to OFF based on which of the 2 backbone plugs are used?

If I want to keep the FI-5002 and the NMEA backbone powered separately, can I just NOT connect the 2 power wires in the NMEA backbone cable at the FI-5002?

If I want them powered together, can I power the FI-5002 from the backbone power and remove the power that currently exists directly to the FI-5002?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Johnny Electron]

If I wire the FI-5002 to the N2K backbone (as part of the backbone and not as a spur) and turn one of the terminal resistors to OFF, this should do what I want? Is this the suggested method?

If both backbones are proper, they both have two terminators. If you remove one from the FI5002 and connect it to your other backbone, then you end up with a backbone with THREE terminations (which isn't allowed).

Does it matter which resistor I switch to OFF based on which of the 2 backbone plugs are used?

Both terminators in the FI5002 are electrically equal. (in parallel)

If I want to keep the FI-5002 and the NMEA backbone powered separately, can I just NOT connect the 2 power wires in the NMEA backbone cable at the FI-5002?

Yes that has been done but the grounding of both power sources need to be the same.

If I want them powered together, can I power the FI-5002 from the backbone power and remove the power that currently exists directly to the FI-5002?

Yes

 

[AndyBNH]

Thank you very much for the quick response. In regard to my first question, I was planning to add the FI5002 as an extension of the existing backbone, not as a spur. So there would be one terminator on the FI5002, and one terminator on the other end of the backbone. I would be removing one of the terminators on the existing backbone and basically adding the FI5002 in its place.

 

[Johnny Electron]

I would be removing one of the terminators on the existing backbone and basically adding the FI5002 in its place.

Then you sounds like all would be fine as long as you abide by the other NMEA 2000 rules.