I have been wanting to integrate my navigation system with wireless devices while not having to do wholesale replacement of existing devices and I have limited space. I currently have a dual Raymarine E120 system but without a Seatalk[SUP]ng[/SUP] switch that would have opened up NMEA 2000 possibilities so I was limited to NMEA 0183. I considered several of the wireless multiplexers but those all seem to be only capable of ad-hoc connections directly between the multiplexer and only one wireless device at a time and that device loses internet connectivity when attached to the multiplexer. After looking around I found the Shipmodul MiniPlex2e:
http://www.shipmodul.com/en/miniplex-2e.html.
The Miniplex is a multiplexer with up to 4 NMEA inputs and one of those can be Seatalk. It has pretty flexible configuration options as well as some priority buffering. It also has an Ethernet port which is the capability I wanted for my network. I tried to buy this from Jim at BOE but distribution seems to be limited to only 1 on-line purveyor in the US (http://www.navstore.com/). I wired NMEA in from both the autopilot course computer and the existing Raymarine junction/multiplexer that feeds my Smartcraft. I wired NMEA out to the autopilot course computer and tapped power at the autopilot switch since the autopilot needs to be on for the multiplexer to get all its data.
Ethernet from the MiniPlex is connected to an Amped Wireless router that has Wireless as WAN capability to provide internet to the network; that works well at the home marina but requires manual reconfiguration to a card/hotspot when underway. An automatic failover router such as a Cradlepoint would be much better and I will be moving to that. Once I got the right network parameters inserted the MiniPlex configuration utility was able to communicate with the MiniPlex.
Once the MiniPlex was up and running on the network, connection to iNavX (http://www.inavx.com/) went very smoothly. iNavX seems to be the leading IOS app that will send and receive NMEA data. It uses free NOAA raster charts but Navionics vector charts can also be purchased separately. It also has weather and AIS broadcast display capabilities through subscription services and can display AIS directly if a receiver is on the network. I need to figure out how the iNavX waypoint and route data is exchanged with Raymarine and vice versa and perhaps play with the inputs and outputs; ultimately I should be able to control the autopilot from the iPad.
I installed NMEAremote (http://www.zapfware.de/en/nmearemote/) on the iPhone and it was also easily configured. NMEAremote just displays a number of instrument displays without any charting capability.
All in, the cost so far has been less than $600 including new software purchased so it was pretty cheap although I was prepared to spend more. I will likely add AIS; that can easily be connected to the multiplexer.
http://www.shipmodul.com/en/miniplex-2e.html.
The Miniplex is a multiplexer with up to 4 NMEA inputs and one of those can be Seatalk. It has pretty flexible configuration options as well as some priority buffering. It also has an Ethernet port which is the capability I wanted for my network. I tried to buy this from Jim at BOE but distribution seems to be limited to only 1 on-line purveyor in the US (http://www.navstore.com/). I wired NMEA in from both the autopilot course computer and the existing Raymarine junction/multiplexer that feeds my Smartcraft. I wired NMEA out to the autopilot course computer and tapped power at the autopilot switch since the autopilot needs to be on for the multiplexer to get all its data.
Ethernet from the MiniPlex is connected to an Amped Wireless router that has Wireless as WAN capability to provide internet to the network; that works well at the home marina but requires manual reconfiguration to a card/hotspot when underway. An automatic failover router such as a Cradlepoint would be much better and I will be moving to that. Once I got the right network parameters inserted the MiniPlex configuration utility was able to communicate with the MiniPlex.
Once the MiniPlex was up and running on the network, connection to iNavX (http://www.inavx.com/) went very smoothly. iNavX seems to be the leading IOS app that will send and receive NMEA data. It uses free NOAA raster charts but Navionics vector charts can also be purchased separately. It also has weather and AIS broadcast display capabilities through subscription services and can display AIS directly if a receiver is on the network. I need to figure out how the iNavX waypoint and route data is exchanged with Raymarine and vice versa and perhaps play with the inputs and outputs; ultimately I should be able to control the autopilot from the iPad.
I installed NMEAremote (http://www.zapfware.de/en/nmearemote/) on the iPhone and it was also easily configured. NMEAremote just displays a number of instrument displays without any charting capability.
All in, the cost so far has been less than $600 including new software purchased so it was pretty cheap although I was prepared to spend more. I will likely add AIS; that can easily be connected to the multiplexer.
