2020-08-08, 10:48 AM
(This post was last modified: 2020-08-08, 10:49 AM by jamos.tan@gmail.com.)
Hmm, I had some issues like this as well.
If you can test on land (rather than sailing out every time) I suggest that you test with a GPS simulator (Francon GPSgate). It's a windows programm, in there is a little program you can put a list of coordinates, and a speed, and an outgoing (TCP / UDP) connection. Maybe a bit of a hassle to set it up, but if you have it, it will save a lot of time. If you let OpenCPN listen to this, it will then visualize your course and speed with incoming GPS sentences. This made it really easy to troubleshoot my problems.
I think I have solved this by looking at the OpenCPN connections mostly:
- Reverse the OpenCPN connection priorities, if you had Pypilot primary, put it secondary. And put Signalk primary, or the other way around, then test the autopilot route (I would suggest with and without the route plugin, to test if the plugin itself causes it)
- Make sure the Pypilot connection is both incoming and outgoing, no incoming filters, only outgoing (in here, test if it works with only APB sentence, or with combination of EC@@@@ sentences also) and then again test both routes with and without plugin.
- Check Signalk if you have NMEA converter active for some of the mentioned sentences, in my case it made a major difference when I just disabled the NMEA converter plugin.
- If you are using a magnetic compass (I know GPS route has nothing to do with it) make sure it is calibrated. Even though a GPS route is used for heading, the ship icon in OpenCPN might be pointing in the wrong direction.
Also, what I noticed, about your problem with 180 degrees away, (i guess you mean the green line Pypilot GUI overlay) I seem to remember that this only happened with the APR plugin, and only when being far away from the route. And, this only happened when not having speed, or testing without GPS simulator. In a real situation it did work, and it seemed to make a difference when configuring the APR plugin for waypoint bearing directly, with small error margins.
I still need to test the APR route plugin in open water, but I have a newborn baby so some of my developments take a little bit more time now.
But, it is very very hot today, so I think we need to be on the water anyway. It is unbearable inside!
If you can test on land (rather than sailing out every time) I suggest that you test with a GPS simulator (Francon GPSgate). It's a windows programm, in there is a little program you can put a list of coordinates, and a speed, and an outgoing (TCP / UDP) connection. Maybe a bit of a hassle to set it up, but if you have it, it will save a lot of time. If you let OpenCPN listen to this, it will then visualize your course and speed with incoming GPS sentences. This made it really easy to troubleshoot my problems.
I think I have solved this by looking at the OpenCPN connections mostly:
- Reverse the OpenCPN connection priorities, if you had Pypilot primary, put it secondary. And put Signalk primary, or the other way around, then test the autopilot route (I would suggest with and without the route plugin, to test if the plugin itself causes it)
- Make sure the Pypilot connection is both incoming and outgoing, no incoming filters, only outgoing (in here, test if it works with only APB sentence, or with combination of EC@@@@ sentences also) and then again test both routes with and without plugin.
- Check Signalk if you have NMEA converter active for some of the mentioned sentences, in my case it made a major difference when I just disabled the NMEA converter plugin.
- If you are using a magnetic compass (I know GPS route has nothing to do with it) make sure it is calibrated. Even though a GPS route is used for heading, the ship icon in OpenCPN might be pointing in the wrong direction.
Also, what I noticed, about your problem with 180 degrees away, (i guess you mean the green line Pypilot GUI overlay) I seem to remember that this only happened with the APR plugin, and only when being far away from the route. And, this only happened when not having speed, or testing without GPS simulator. In a real situation it did work, and it seemed to make a difference when configuring the APR plugin for waypoint bearing directly, with small error margins.
I still need to test the APR route plugin in open water, but I have a newborn baby so some of my developments take a little bit more time now.
But, it is very very hot today, so I think we need to be on the water anyway. It is unbearable inside!