July 31, 2024 Improved generator support
Engine Gateway YDEG-04 is now a full-fledged gateway for J1939 and SmartCraft generators and is compatible with the latest chart plotter updates.
Figure 1. Raymarine generators panel
Support for J1939 generators was added to the Engine Gateway five years ago. Support for Onan generators with SmartCraft interface was later added. At that time, support for generators on MFDs was rather poor and the data was mostly displayed as engine data. To enable the processing of messages from generators, it is necessary to add the following to the configuration file:
GENSET=ON
This year Raymarine added a panel for controlling generators in the latest updates of LightHouse 4. But they did it in such a confusing way that we had to do some investigating.
First of all, they did not add support for NMEA 2000 PGN 127507 "Charger Status", which has "deprecated" status in the latest NMEA 2000 Standard, and only works with PGN 127514 "AGS Status" and PGN 127747 "AC Voltage / Frequency-Phase A". Simrad chart plotters (which are built on the same software platform as other Navico brand plotters, so the following should also apply to B&G and Lowrance) only support PGN 127507. So now Engine Gateway is sending all these PGNs to be useful for everyone.
Figure 2. Simrad generators page
Secondly, for the Raymarine, the exhaust temperature messages must come from the same CAN address as the rest of the data. If we are using data from the J1939 network, this is not a problem. To have the exhaust data sent to NMEA 2000, simply enable these messages by setting:
EXHAUST_TEMP=ON
But often sensors in the exhaust system are installed by the users themselves (e.g. our Exhaust Gas Sensor) and are located in the NMEA 2000 network. To support such sensors we have added a setting:
EXHAUST_FORWARD=id1|OFF,id2|OFF
Here we have tried to make things as confusing as possible. The setting specifies the NMEA 2000 instance (the second field in PGN 130316 "Temperature, Extended Range", not the CAN address) of the temperature sensor with data type 14 (Exhaust Gas). A setting before the comma connects the sensor to the first active genset, after the comma to the second. So, only two sensors are supported. The Engine Gateway will forward data from connected sensors from its own address.
Let's say you have a combined exhaust system and you have installed a temperature sensor with instance 0, and the two generators are connected to a separate YDEG-04 and use addresses 2 and 3 in NMEA 2000 (to not conflict with the engines which usually uses addresses 0 and 1):
ENGINE_0=OFF
ENGINE_1=OFF
ENGINE_2=158
ENGINE_3=234
EXHAUST_TEMP=ON
GENSET=ON
EXHAUST_FORWARD=0,0
As you can see, ENGINE_0 and ENGINE_1 are not active, so the setting will be applied to engines (generators) ENGINE_2 and ENGINE_3, and will connect the same sensor. If you have one generator, the setting will take the form of:
EXHAUST_FORWARD=0,OFF
However, will not work with latest Raymarine LightHouse 4 "Generators" dashboard panel. All other data will be displayed, but the temperature of the exhaust gases - not! For some reason it only works if you change the NMEA 2000 device type from "Engine Gateway" to "Genset Gateway". We have added a special setting for this:
GENSET_N2K_CLASS=ON
Note that you will need to power-cycle the YDEG-04 unit (from the NEMA 2000 side) in order for this setting to come into effect!
Perhaps that's all you need to know. Please send us screenshots of your char plotters and tell us how Engine Gateway works for you. And remember, it can also record data from the CAN bus, and we can use that data to unravel the most confusing protocol and add it to our product.
Firmware update for Engine Gateway (v1.43) is available at Downloads section.
July 24, 2024 Anchor alarm function added to YDAB-01
New Alarm Button firmware adds anchor alarm mode, allows to monitor temperatures from external sources and improves AIS MOB handling.
With the invaluable help of our dear distributors and customers we have managed to add new functionality to our Alarm Button and fix some minor issues.
It is well known that most modern MFD/chartplotters and even marine smartphone apps support Anchor Alarms, but MFD/chartplotter is usually either not installed in the crew quarters or its sound is too puny to wake up the tired crew members. Smartphones are on the other hand, not so reliable, — their battery can be discharged over night or they can easily lose GNSS position signal deep inside the vessel or lose Wi-Fi connection to NMEA 2000 network (via Wi-Fi gateway or plotter).
Mr. Matthias Busse have proposed to make an Anchor Alarm out of our YDAB-01 button as a more reliable solution: first, YDAB-01 has a direct access to a wired GNSS data sources via NMEA 2000 network and second it can play really loud and noticeable sounds (you can even use your own custom sound).
In Anchor Alarm mode, device can be armed to monitor vessel GNSS position (received via PGNs 129029 and 129025, with 129029 data used with higher priority). If the position is detected to be outside of the set radius or if GNSS data are lost for a set timeout interval, a corresponding alarm event will be activated.
To arm the device, just press and release the button. If you got valid GNSS position data in NMEA 2000, device will be armed and its LED will shine constantly. If vessel position is detected to be outside of the set radius, event 1 will be triggered: linked sound will play and linked LED indication sequence will be shown.
If NMEA 2000 GNSS position data will be lost or becomes invalid for more than set interval, event 2 will be triggered: linked sound will play and linked LED indication sequence will be shown.
To disarm or cancel an active alarm event press and release the button.
You can put YDAB-01 into Anchor Alarm mode either via external button or with the command:
YD:MODE ANCHOR
You can configure the radius, time interval and GNSS timeout interval with the command:
YD:ANCHOR [1..1000 [0..600 [1..60]]]
where the first parameter sets the radius from current position in meters, default 50 meters. Second parameter sets for how many seconds the vessel position should be out of the radius before an alarm event 1 is triggered (default 3 seconds). Third parameter sets for how many seconds the GNSS position can be lost before an alarm event 2 will triggered.
Persistent arming mechanism also was implemented, you can enable YDAB-01 to save current position and into NVRAM when armed, if enabled with command:
YD:PERSISTENT ON
the device will re-enter armed state even when NMEA 2000 power is cycled ON/OFF. This increases Anchor Alarm reliability even more, as power issues may be induced by service jobs performed when on anchor.
The Alarm Button can signal when it receives an error or warning flag from the engine, or it can be programmed to the operating range of the engine indicators and monitor the indicators and signal when values go out of range. We have added an option to monitor "Engine Room" and "Exhaust Gas" temperatures via PGNs 130312 "Temperature" or PGN 130316 "Temperature, Extended Range".
If your engine does not report Exhaust Gas alarm (via PGN 127489 engine alarm data field, flag "EGR System") you can use an external NMEA 2000 temperature sensor, for example, our Exhaust Gas Sensor YDGS-01 and set up Alarm Button to trigger an engine alarm when temperature is over the set threshold for set amount of time. Our Digital Thermometer YDTC-13 sensor can be used as well for monitoring the "Engine Room" temperature.
Note that those sensors should have the same NMEA 2000 temperature instance as YDAB-01 target engine instance.
Several users were puzzled when AIS MOB alarm is activated on YDAB-01 but there is no MOB marker shown on MFD/chartplotters. The reason is that YDAB-01 is too sensitive and by default reacts to "MOB TEST" messages received from AIS, while most MFD/chartplotters will ignore them. Now you can disable YDAB-01 reaction to such messages with setting:
YD:MOB_TEST OFF
Reaction to Raymarine SeaTalk Alarm messages (PGN 65288) sent by Raymarine equipment is now supported in all modes. By default, processing of SeaTalk Alarms is disabled, except alarm ID 38 "MOB" in MOB mode. You can enable and arbitrarily map SeaTalk alarm IDs to Events using command:
YD:ALARM
Again, we are very grateful for all users who helped us to improve our Alarm Button and were brave enough to invest a lot of time and effort to debug concrete issues and painstakingly following all our instructions precisely.
Firmware update for Alarm Button (v1.11) and updated User Manual are available at Downloads section.
May 8, 2024 Update for Tank and Rudder Adapters
New modes to work in parallel with modern smart gauges, including popular KUS/WEMA devices.
The main distinguishing feature of our devices is that we can not only receive data from different types of sensors, but also work in parallel with the gauges connected to the sensors without distorting their readings.
When connecting, we have to consider how the connected gauge affects the circuit we are measuring. Some modern gauges with arrow indication are actually fully digital, and the arrow of the instrument is moved by a servo motor. Some gauges are combination instruments, with the option of selecting the measurement input via a mechanical or electronic switch. For all such gauges, consideration must be given to the state when they are switched off or disconnected from the circuit being measured, and when they are switched on.
Today's update was created back on April 11 and sent to some of our users, to test the operation with their gauges. We are publishing it with almost a month's delay as soon as we managed to gather positive feedback from all our testers, for which we thank them very much.
The update adds a new 1COIL_REF mode, for connecting smart gauges with high-impedance input. Also improved support for smart gauges with low-impedance and extra internal resistive load, which include the new KUS/WEMA digital gauges. All details on settings and wiring diagrams are published in application note YDTA-YDRA-AN-001. To make the setup easier, we have prepared for you a Microsoft Excel file that will help you to perform the necessary measurements, calculate the required parameters and prepare a configuration file or a list of commands for our devices.
The update also adds a new HYBRID mode for instruments with a DC source in the measuring circuit. When the gauge is switched off, our devices switch to RESISITIVE mode, and when there is voltage on the measured circuit, they switch to VOLTAGE mode.
Firmware updates for the Tank Adapter YDTA-01 (1.08), Tank Adapter YDTA-04 (1.05) and Rudder Adapter YDRA-01 (1.05), are available on the Downloads page.
Next articles:
- AIS Weather Data / April 19, 2024
- B&G Fastnet Protocol / April 15, 2024
- Engine Gateway YDEG-04 Update / April 8, 2024