April 16, 2019  Meet the NMEA 0183 Multiplexer

Smart multiplexer with 5 x NMEA 0183 and SeaTalk ports for only USD $149. Read the article to find out what NMEA multiplexing and Eric Berne have in common.

We always had problems recommending the right NMEA 0183 multiplexer to our customers or friends. First, there are not too many products that cost less than $300 USD. And even the products over $300 can have serious limitations, like fixed port speed or lack of other settings.

Expensive products offer USB or Ethernet interfaces and PC software for configuration, but the price seems too high for many. In a typical scenario, the customer wants to install a multiplexer and forget about it for years. An extra interface for an additional $200, required only during installation, is still a reasonably high "setup fee".

We decided to offer a simple multiplexer with a reasonable price, and invented a way to replace the $100 USB or $200 Ethernet with a 1-penny paperclip.

The Multiplexer has five NMEA 0183 inputs and three outputs (or three TX/RX and two RX-only ports), and one SeaTalk port with a bi-directional converter between SeaTalk and NMEA 0183. One of the NMEA 0183 TX/RX ports is galvanically isolated and can be used to safely connect the serial port of a PC powered from the invertor.

NMEA ports can be configured for speed in the range from 300 to 115200 bps or even to automatically detect the speed of connected equipment. Individual data filters can be set for each port, and any routing rules or tunneling mode between ports can be set. Data received from an NMEA 0183 port can be routed to itself, so the Multiplexer can combine data from up to 5 different NMEA 0183 talkers and SeaTalk (this interface allows connection of multiple devices) and send data to multiple listeners.

So the Multiplexer has a lot of settings and features; how we can configure it with a paperclip?

Human life is much more complicated than NMEA 0183 multiplexing, but the famous psychiatrist Eric Berne found six patterns in our life scripts, and through the prism of these patterns, our lives and problems are not at all unique.

We also found six typical scenarios in NMEA 0183 multiplexing, and you can easily switch configuration presets by pressing the hidden button with a paperclip. If your situation is unique, you may need to connect the Multiplexer with a PC to change the settings of the selected preset with a command.

The Multiplexer is already in stock and costs only $149 USD. Visit the product page or see the Manual to check whether are we really are geniuses or just playing psychological games with you (to be honest, we are engineers and do not like psychology too much).

 

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