B & G / Simrad displays

[Scott T-Bird]

I'm hoping an electronics wiz can help me solve a riddle! Last year my Simrad IS 12 wind transducer was damaged at the top of them mast. It looked like it was toast so I decided to purchase new instruments. (I did find an IS 12 transducer on e-bay, but at the price I didn't want it) I decided to get the B&G Triton package with new thru-hull transducer for depth and speed combo, new wind transducer and I decided to get 2 displays.

Not wanting to throw away a perfectly good display if I can use it, can I make an adapter for the NMEA 0180 IS 12 display and plug it into the backbone of the new N2K system and use the display? Shown are the new cables. Note that the wind transducer end has the same Simnet 5-pin format as the old one, except the other end is the new N2K format. It seems that there are 5 wires either way, so there must be a way to adapt, no?

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Thanks, I was just looking at these. I don't think I understand what the AT-10 does. One of the problems that I have to solve is that I left all my old cabling in the mast, and in the boat, in place because it has solid continuity and because the transducer end has the same Simnet termination as the old one. Inside the boat, I need to adapt a female Simnet end to N2K so that the new transducer can talk to the new displays thru the old cables. Is that what the AT-10 converter does? I was looking at the Simrad Simnet Joiner, which has male on both sides. I wonder if this will make the conversion?

 

[dlochner]

Check this post by Panbo: https://www.panbo.com/simrad-at10-handy-but-limited/

One of the issues is the limited number of 0183 messages that can be translated.

There is a terminator in the B&G wind sensor, so make certain it is at the end of the backbone otherwise you will have difficulties with the network not transmitting data reliably.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Your B&G wind transducer expects to be connected to a NMEA 2K backbone and has a builtin terminator. I don't know what cabling you have installed currently in your mast. You could try installing a NMEA 2K Field connector on the end of your existing mast line, connect it to your 2K backbone and see if it works. However this may not work if your existing 0183 cable has a 'red' disc (not yellow) indicating a terminator. In my case, I ran the new cable that came with the transducer.

It looks like my objective to utilize the IS 12 display is feasible. I will have to give it a try before I discard it! Keep in mind that it is not important for me to keep the original IS 12 display. I have 2 new displays to mount. I simply want to find out if I can use the old one or not.

I left the 2 original cables from the IS 12 system in place because I didn't want to disturb the seal that I created at the mast base. I have a field connection above deck (inside the mast) and the continuity is good to go so I didn't want to disturb the original cabling and since the old cable simply plugged into the new transducer at the mast top, it seems like it should work. I will have to look at the termination (tonight) where the Simnet cable end plugged into the IS 12 display to see if it is red disc or yellow. I think it is yellow. What is the difference if you simply cut off the end and made a field connection? The field connector seems like it should work in either case. Isn't it just a matter of stripping the wires and matching them up correctly in the connector?

I guess I'm not understanding the function or meaning of a terminator. How can it be in the cable where there are just wires? When it is said that the terminator is built-in, does that mean it is built into the transducer? I think I have seen the terminator accessory and it just looks like a plug with a blank end, like the plugged end of a plumbing fitting.

Worst case is I will have to drop the mast and reinstall the new cables, so I am hoping that is not necessary.

Of course, I already tried simply plugging into the old display. Since the transducer is N2K and the display is N0180, obviously I got no results other than the display lights up with power.

 

[dlochner]

What is the difference if you simply cut off the end and made a field connection? The field connector seems like it should work in either case. Isn't it just a matter of stripping the wires and matching them up correctly in the connector?

Seems like a reasonable plan. The one problem might be different color coding on the old Simnet cable and the newer N2K cable. That would make the connections a bit of a guessing game. Maybe a google search would yield some useful information.

I guess I'm not understanding the function or meaning of a terminator. How can it be in the cable where there are just wires? When it is said that the terminator is built-in, does that mean it is built into the transducer? I think I have seen the terminator accessory and it just looks like a plug with a blank end, like the plugged end of a plumbing fitting.

Disclaimer, I am not a network geek. The guys I know who are network geeks tell me, the NMEA 2000 network is really old technology. It is based on the CAN bus which was developed in the auto industry back in the 90's. If you are old enough to remember the early days of computer networks, especially SCSI networks, termination was a big deal. No termination, no network.

From what I understand about termination is it provides a return path for a data signal. When a network device sends out a signal, it expects a return signal. The terminator provides this return signal. The wind sensor has a built in terminator because it will be at the end of the network backbone.

If your experiments with the old wind sensor cable don't pan out, just connect the DST sensor directly to the the backbone. When you drop the mast later and install the new cable and a T to accept the DST.

And that B&G deal with 2 displays, DST and wind was a good deal. It was even better a month after I bought one.....