Fusion Album Art and Garmin MFD's

[Skybolt]

... Have you considered connecting both the RA770 and ERX's to the netgear switch then also the GSM10 to the netgear switch?

That is how it is connected and how I thought I had described it in my previous post #39

... This way if the MFD's are off the RA770 takes care of the IP addresses via the netgear switch.

That is exactly how I thought it would work, except it did not. While the 770 had an IP address in the 172 range as if given by GMN DHCP server, the ERX remotes had nothing, meaning no IP Address. Turning on the Garmin MFD's caused the remotes to immediately get an IP address and start to function correctly.

... The only possible issue may be if you turn on the MFD's after turning on the audio there may be either an IP address conflict or the MFD's simply won't talk to the Fusion equipment....

And there in lies my issue, figuring out what IP range to use. I am considering setting up wire shark to see whats going on but thats a project for another time if I need to do that.

... As an edit you could possibly determine what the Garmin equipment is assigning as IP addresses then set the Fusion to a static address that is compatible with the Garmin. The Garmin equipment might see that static address and accept it upon powerup....

Exactly, I was going to turn all nav equipment on and then the RA-770 and hope that is the last IP from the DHCP server and then add some number of addresses to that last assigned IP in the 770. Possibly add 50 to that number? I hate doing that in hopes it will work, but might have too in order for all of this to work.

The install manual only states connecting the 770 and remotes to a wired switch or router on the network. When I spoke to Garmin and Fusion separately they both said the same thing "this can't be done" and that the only way to get album art is to use the 53/54 antenna directly to the MFD. Which none of that makes any sense since this clearly works just by plugging the the 770 into the GSM10.

 

[ttmott]

That is how it is connected and how I thought I had described it in my previous post #39



That is exactly how I thought it would work, except it did not. While the 770 had an IP address in the 172 range as if given by GMN DHCP server, the ERX remotes had nothing, meaning no IP Address. Turning on the Garmin MFD's caused the remotes to immediately get an IP address and start to function correctly.



And there in lies my issue, figuring out what IP range to use. I am considering setting up wire shark to see whats going on but thats a project for another time if I need to do that.



Exactly, I was going to turn all nav equipment on and then the RA-770 and hope that is the last IP from the DHCP server and then add some number of addresses to that last assigned IP in the 770. Possibly add 50 to that number? I hate doing that in hopes it will work, but might have too in order for all of this to work.

The install manual only states connecting the 770 and remotes to a wired switch or router on the network. When I spoke to Garmin and Fusion separately they both said the same thing "this can't be done" and that the only way to get album art is to use the 53/54 antenna directly to the MFD. Which none of that makes any sense since this clearly works just by plugging the the 770 into the GSM10.

Well we know they are spouting nonsense as it does work.
If you completely eliminate the Garmin equipment and only operate the RA-770 and ERX's through the switch does the audio system work? Or do you need a router involved? I had thought the RA770 was a router of sorts...

 

[alnav]

Did you try to go into the RA770 settings and turn on its DHCP server capability? I believe it is off by default.

I am pretty sure Garmin uses a wide swath of the 172.16.0.0 range. I have seen device addresses from 172.16.2.0 (my Fantom) through 172.16.6.3 and 172.16.6.19/172.16.6.131 (MFDs), and 172.16.9.0 (card reader). I got these using an app called Fing although I haven't tried it in a while. If you run that while your phone or tablet is on the Garmin wifi, you can probably get a good scan of your network. Much easier than Wireshark if it works. I may test that on my network tomorrow if I can find time to get to the boat.

 

[Skybolt]

@ttmott and @alnav thank you for your responses. Al for sure Garmin has a very wide range of IP's but it seems they at least use a stable b class subnet, 172.16.x.x .

Well it seems the ERX has a setting in it for using the GMN. switching that on and the two remotes came alive instantly. That setting is in the ERX settings. I didn't change anything on the 770. I did this while all devices on the GMN were off. I then tried different permutations of turning the stereo and GMN on/off and everything seemed to stay working without issue.



EDIT: I did not try turning on the 770's DHCP server. I wasn't sure how that would have affected the GMN and the MFD's DHCP server etc.

Funny that this setting exist's since Fusion tech support said they don't support the GMN and the album art on the MFD from "their" network.

 

[Skybolt]

This came up in conversation regarding the Fusion control from MFD's as to whether it was from either N2K or ethernet. As it turns out it seems to be ambidextrous in that if you disconnect the N2K while operating it, ethernet takes over and visa versa, except album art goes away when you unplug the GMN cable. Pretty flexible I really love this stereo and very glad I upgraded to it. I only wish their black box (actually white) version was available when I ordered the 770. Because of all the remotes I have I never touch the actual head unit at all.

 

[ttmott]

Nope, you are correct Al, the GMR24 does have a separate power connection. I haven't looked at that for years and just looked that up. The original owner made a single cable out of the two by putting some sort of sheathing around the cable, sorry for confusing that.

That doesn't change the POE aspect. I am just not sure of the pinout being used for the POE. It should be 4,5 and 7,8 that supply the power. I will confirm the voltage, I am assuming 12v, and pinout later and post back.

EDIT: Did not follow your link until after I posted this. So it seems that is the case on the power as well. So it is just a cross over cable with POE. Garmin's cables are just a little better grade of cable and waterproof.

This is an interesting comment from that article: "Even though you can use a Standard Ethernet cable on the GPSMAP 4000 series and newer we only recommend using Garmin Marine Network cables."

Hey Orlando
Just following up on this old one - I confirmed there is no "POE" on the Garmin network but, rather, it is a control signal to turn and off external Garmin devices. POE is generically used to power external IP devices like cameras and the like which Garmin does not do. This is why the Garmin cameras have separate power modules for example.
Also earlier in this conversation regarding integrating the Fusion stereo and XM into the Garmin network - If doing this integration and not installing a POE blocker the internal POE on the Fusion head must be deactivated. My concern is one of my brainiac friends will be monkeying around with the Fusion head and inadvertently turn on the POE and possibly fry my MFD and who knows what else.....
Just some thoughts.
Tom

 

[Skybolt]

Hey Orlando
Just following up on this old one - I confirmed there is no "POE" on the Garmin network but, rather, it is a control signal to turn and off external Garmin devices. POE is generically used to power external IP devices like cameras and the like which Garmin does not do. This is why the Garmin cameras have separate power modules for example.

Well that would makes sense since there is voltage that is passed through the GMS10, and to your point not enough to power anything but act as a turn on signal.

Also earlier in this conversation regarding integrating the Fusion stereo and XM into the Garmin network - If doing this integration and not installing a POE blocker the internal POE on the Fusion head must be deactivated. My concern is one of my brainiac friends will be monkeying around with the Fusion head and inadvertently turn on the POE and possibly fry my MFD and who knows what else.....
Just some thoughts.
Tom

Completely agree that a POE blocker should be used. The turn on signal could hurt something on the fusion network, like the ERX400 remote or in my case a netgear switch that I am using for the Fusion network connected to the GMN. I am using a POE injector not connected to any power which in turn acts as a blocker.

Question? I wonder if the the power is latched to stay on for the duration of the network being on or only for a startup period.

 

[liv2ryde100]

i just had a garmin 1243 xsv installed and a fusion ra770. i have album artwork on the fusion, but not on the garmin, however i have controls of music volume and other stuff. just no artwork displaying. from what i am reading, i just need to run a ethernet cable from the fusion to the garmin and that will fix the issue? do any settings need to be adjusted? thanks

 

[Skybolt]

i just had a garmin 1243 xsv installed and a fusion ra770. i have album artwork on the fusion, but not on the garmin, however i have controls of music volume and other stuff. just no artwork displaying. from what i am reading, i just need to run a ethernet cable from the fusion to the garmin and that will fix the issue? do any settings need to be adjusted? thanks

In short you need to run an RJ45 network cable with POE blocker to the Garmin Marine Network (GMN) from the RA770. The RA770 is also wifi compatible so you don't loose phone functionality. No settings need to be changed. You must use a POE blocker because all of the Garmin instruments are POE enabled.

Realize this is only for SiriusXM satellite art work.

 

[liv2ryde100]

In short you need to run an RJ45 network cable with POE blocker to the Garmin Marine Network (GMN) from the RA770. The RA770 is also wifi compatible so you don't loose phone functionality. No settings need to be changed. You must use a POE blocker because all of the Garmin instruments are POE enabled.

Realize this is only for SiriusXM satellite art work.

oh ok, i dont use sirius, i was hoping it would show spotify album artwork

 

[alnav]

oh ok, i dont use sirius, i was hoping it would show spotify album artwork

I believe it will show any artwork that displays on the Fusion. I don't use Spotify but my MFD (which has the ethernet connection) will show iPhone Music album art.

 

[Skybolt]

I believe it will show any artwork that displays on the Fusion. I don't use Spotify but my MFD (which has the ethernet connection) will show iPhone Music album art.

@liv2ryde100 Al is correct, what ever Album art is on the display will be displayed on the MFD.

I keep forgetting that because I use a Sono's connect for everything most of the time. Rarely do I direct connect vis BT.

 

[liv2ryde100]

@liv2ryde100 Al is correct, what ever Album art is on the display will be displayed on the MFD.

ok so in summary, i run an ethernet from fusion to mfd and i should be good to go without doing anything else. lol. im kind of computer illiterate so i really appreciate all of your knowledge. awhile back i was trying to follow another thread where u were talking about wifi. totally lost lol.

 

[Skybolt]

ok so in summary, i run an ethernet from fusion to mfd and i should be good to go without doing anything else. lol. im kind of computer illiterate so i really appreciate all of your knowledge. awhile back i was trying to follow another thread where u were talking about wifi. totally lost lol.

You MUST use a POE blocker as well, or you will damage the RA770. But yes pretty simple. It can get more complicated if you already have an existing network on board, but that is the short of it.

EDIT: From my previous post - https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/7820...155954e0a82b838&utm_source=CJ&utm_medium=Text