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NMEA 2000 is a great interfacing standard, BUT it does require a basic network to be in place, you cannot just plug the iKonvert in to the plotter. This simple guide that we created gives the key “things to know” about NMEA 2000…. https://support.digitalyacht.co.uk/how-to-create-an-nmea-2000-network/ Our NMEA 2000 Starter Kit gives you everything you need to connect the iKonvert and plotter together and even has a spare connection if you decide to add another NMEA 2000 device in the future.Read More →

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Our iKonverts are pretty “bulletproof” but of course it could be a component failure. A simple test of the NMEA 2000 supply voltage at the iKonvert PCB would be the best way to ascertain if it is a network issue of a faulty iKonvert. Using a multimeter set to measure DC Voltage, please measure for the presence of a voltage between the two terminals in the below image. The voltage should be a nominal 12v, but it can be between 9v and 16v and the network should still operate correctly. If there is no voltage at the iKonvert, then you have a network wiring issue,Read More →

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If you have an old or spare NMEA 2000 cable kicking around in your “come in handy” box, then put it to good use and create your own NMEA 2000 Test Lead. Assuming your cable is a Male to Female cable, you can actually create two test leads from the same cable, by simply cutting it in half, stripping back the outer insulation and fitting the five wires inside (Red/White/Blue/Black/Shield) to a piece of terminal “chocolate” block – as shown below. The Male Test Lead will actually be the most useful, as the majority of “back bone” connections are female, so you will be ableRead More →

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Yes, our iKonvert uses the popular FTDI serial to USB chip and the LINUX and MAC OSX drivers for this chip are included in the relevant operating system’s kernel. It should appear in the operating system as a serial device named “ttyUSB0” (or similar) when plugged in to a LINUX or MAC machine.Read More →

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Our iKonvert can output converted NMEA 0183 sentences or the RAW NMEA 2000 data depending upon which mode it is set to (see user manual for more details). You can either set the mode by changing the four DIP switches inside the iKonvert or you can do this programmatically by sending a serial command to the iKonvert and the unit will stay in this mode even after a power cycle.Read More →

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Our iKonvert/NAVLink2 gateways make implementing NMEA 2000 much easier, with no old, proprietary libraries, just a simple serial protocol that is published online at…   https://github.com/digitalyacht/iKonvert/wiki/4.-Serial-Protocol   The gateways take care of all of the complicated address claiming, network discovery and NMEA 2000 network management, simplifying and speeding up your software implementation. Here is a link to our iKonvert Developers Guide on GitHub…   https://github.com/digitalyacht/iKonvert   You will need a copy of the NMEA 2000 Appendix B in order to decode the NMEA 2000 PGN data, which is available from the NMEA organization.   If you have not already developed software to read and writeRead More →

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Since Q1/2020, iKonvert has had a number of updates and if you would like to update the firmware, this FAQ will explain the procedure. Please download a Tech Note detailing how to update the iKonvert and you have the USB version so connection to the PC is easy. Please note the additional step for iKonvert users and the Command Reference Application that they mention can be downloaded from our GitHub developers site….   https://github.com/digitalyacht/iKonvert   You can also get the V2.62 firmware from this GitHub site as well – remember to unzip it.Read More →