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Moitessier Hat.. standalone mode??
#1
I have a hat Moitessier of the first ones sold and I wanted to use it in standalone mode.

On rooco's website they mention that possibility of use but they don't give concrete details of how to do it, or at least I haven't found that information.

Do any of you know in detail how to use it in standalone mode or are you using it effectively like that?
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#2
I see that the use of the Hat Moitessier in standalone mode is not very well known or at least no one claims to have used it. Therefore, after giving a couple of turns to the idea I have mounted a system similar to standalone assembly. I call it the Black Box.

As I had an old Rpi2 in disuse I have mounted the Hat Moitessier and I have installed OP2 the version with driver for the Moitessier. I have updated Signal K to accept Seatalk data and I have mounted it so that it is fed from the same Seatalk bus. I have to solder three wires to the Hat to be able to put the Seatalk data. It took a little time but it works fine.

This way I have a headless system that collects GPS, AIS, compass, accelerometer, barometer and temperature data from the same Moitesier and the rest of the data from the Seatalk bus. Everything is forwarded by wifi in NMEA0183 to port 10110 TCP, NMEA0183 to port 2000 UDP -for navionics App- and by Signal K to port 3000.

This system uses the Hat moitessier and the Seatalk input as a black box that collects and distributes all the Navigation data through wifi. It turns on along with the rest of the ST60 equipment and only increases the consumption by about 0.25 amps.

Then, apart I have the Rpi4 that is fed by the data from this black box, as well as the phones and tablets. This is where runs OpenCpn, Xygrib, Qtvlm Etc. That is to say the tools that require cpu power.

I think this separate assembly has many advantages. One of them is to better distribute the processing power. For the black box is not required too much. Only what is necessary to collect, add, filter and distribute the data. However by doing all this on the slow Rpi we leave all the power available from the powerful Rpi4 for the heavy applications. In addition, very often I don't need the Rpi4 to sail but I can use my phone or tablet outside drinking from the wifi data. So I keep the Rpi4 turned off because I don't need it. Another plus is that the redundancy of the equipment allows me to get out of trouble in case one of the rpi fails, which is otherwise unlikely.

To configure the black box I use any of the available systems. For example, to configure the Signal K server I can do it from any computer on the network, Rpi, tablet or phone simply by entering the IP of the black box. It's impossible to do it more simply. If what I want is to manipulate the desktop of the black box I use VNC but most of the times I simply use the ssh system from the Rpi4. With the -X parameter you can start in the rpi4 graphic applications from the black box like the ones that manage openplotter and its features directly.

I need to add a serial port to have a NMEA 0183 data output to send data to the autopilot and the Raymarine external data display. Once finished I think I have a fairly balanced assembly ... or so I hope.
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#3
Ciao monos1, how about a nice step by step guide for old beginners like me? And maybe some explanatory photos of the various connections? Thanks in advance good wind, always!
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#4
(2020-08-27, 11:17 PM)Max1947 Wrote: Ciao monos1, how about a nice step by step guide for old beginners like me? And maybe some explanatory photos of the various connections? Thanks in advance good wind, always!

It is not too complicated. Just install the Hat Moitessier on the Rpi2 and install the SD card with openplotter version moitessier.

It is necessary to use that version because the moitessier driver can not be installed on Rpi2 and gives an error when trying. However, if we put the SD card with the driver already installed, it works great. We can not update the system but as it is a black box and we want maximum stability is not planned to do so. Just update the Signal K server from the same server as you need the most recent version for Seatalk connections.

I don't have any photos because I didn't plan to document anything. Also, there are no other connections to make than the one to Seatalk. For this I had to solder three wires at these points of the HAT:

[Image: mJUHDQk.png]

Then it is connected to the Seatalk network using an optocoupler as explained in the forum.

[Image: f3Q0bax.png]

The red Seatalk cable together with ground is also used to feed the 5 volt converter of the Rpi2 and so the black box starts together with the installed ST60 devices.


Regarding the control of the black box through the network I did it by connecting it only once to a screen and configuring the network to an ip 192.168.43.10. I used that range because Android phones give that range and I always use a phone to create the AP point.

I have two phones. One is the personal 4G Internet connection and the other is waterproof and shockproof, it is the one I use in navigation, without a SIM card. It is only used as navigation electronics.

When I sail at sea I activate the AP on the phone outside but when I sail near the coast and want Internet access is the personal phone that makes AP. In both cases I have defined the AP with the same name/password. So, no matter which one I activate, the black box connects to the AP I have activated at that moment.

The rest of devices, phones included are also configured to connect to the same AP name - password so whenever there is an active AP all elements are interconnected.

Then it's a matter of using the available tools to control the black box. VNC, as usual. Signal K is the simplest of all since any web browser of any of the devices can be managed. And from another Linux system like Rpi4 we can use ssh. For example, to configure the compass with pypilot just open ssh with:

ssh pi@192.168.43.10 -X

and from the remote console do:

openplotter-pypilot

And we will see how the application openplotter-pypilot opens in our screen to make the necessary adjustments on the calibration of the compass.

About the configuration of the Signal K server I have only added the plugin to set the time using the GPS, the one to convert all data to NMEA0183, the one to output by UDP to port 2000 to use the Navionics application for Android and the one for derived data to calculate the real wind and things like that.
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#5
(2020-08-27, 11:17 PM)Max1947 Wrote: Ciao monos1, how about a nice step by step guide for old beginners like me? And maybe some explanatory photos of the various connections? Thanks in advance good wind, always!

I guess this is a better thread
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#6
I have updated my black box type assembly by replacing the old Rpi2 with a smaller, more powerful Rpi3 A+ with wifi. Also its size is exactly the same as the HAT Moitessier so the mount is smaller, barely occupies my palm, and works better.
[Image: BEaf9PC.png]

The cover of the enclosure is still to be improved but those on minor issues.  Big Grin
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#7
If possible use pin 2@J701 instead of pin 1@J702. It does provide a larger trace width to the 3.3V supply plane of the board and an additional ferrit to reduce noise.
By the way, the fuse at pin 4@702 is not assembled on "standard" boards, so don't use this pin to power the HAT.

You get NMEA messages on DEBUG TX as well. Use baud rate 921600.

To update the HAT you either own a programmer to flash directly or install the HAT on a Pi and do the update.

Regards,
Thomas
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#8
(2020-09-27, 08:13 AM)Rooco Wrote: If possible use pin 2@J701 instead of pin 1@J702. It does provide a larger trace width to the 3.3V supply plane of the board and an additional ferrit to reduce noise.
By the way, the fuse at pin 4@702 is not assembled on "standard" boards, so don't use this pin to power the HAT.

You get NMEA messages on DEBUG TX as well. Use baud rate 921600.

To update the HAT you either own a programmer to flash directly or install the HAT on a Pi and do the update.

Regards,
Thomas

It's interesting what you say.

Unfortunately I cannot use J701 because during the shipping of the package the carrier crushed the HAT and destroyed the pins of J701. Unsoldering the connector seemed to me more dangerous for the printed board than soldering directly on the contacts of the other pins.

Finally the HAT is mounted on a Rpi 3 A+ and works perfectly. It is also updated, which I could not do on the Rpi2. It is interesting to know how to use the HAT in standalone mode, although the mounting on the Rpi3 A+ has more advantages than the standalone and finally it will stay like that.

Thank you very much for the information.
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#9
That low range AIS antenna is interesting, where did you get it from? approximate range?
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#10
(2020-09-27, 07:54 PM)Sailoog Wrote: That low range AIS antenna is interesting, where did you get it from? approximate range?

I own a Digital Yacht AIS receiver that I use connected to the TV antenna. With this device I receive AIS targets from a minimum of 20 miles up to hundreds of miles occasionally.

With the HAT connected to the TV antenna I receive more or less the same targets and with the HAT without any AIS antenna at all I receive AIS targets less than 100 meters away.

As I am not really interested in AIS targets that are more than 2 or 3 miles away I tried this antenna from an old wifi router. With it I seem to receive a signal from approximately one to two miles away. I have not been able to test it thoroughly yet but if I confirm that it is enough for me I can move from the connection to the TV or VHF antenna and I would achieve a more compact assembly.
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