Optimum OCPN/OP connections ?

[SCarns]

Hi all
Can someone advise what is the best/optimum connections (in an OpenPlotter/SignalK configuration)
Ive been having some performance/crashing issues lately and I'm concerned that my configuration has suffered from too much tinkering under the hood.
FWIW here are my current settings:

OpenCPN Ver 5.6.2
Connections 
Network, Output, protocol=UDP, Address=localhost, port 10119, priority=1
Network, Intput, protocol=Signal K, Address=localhost, port=3000, priority=1

SignalK ver 1.43
Connections
gps - NMEA0183, serial, 4800, o/p event "" ,i/p event "gps"
ais - NMEA0183, serial,38400, o/p event "" ,i/p event "ais"
seatalk - NMEA0183,4800, o/p event "" ,i/p event "seatalk"
openCPNOut - NMEA0183, UDP, port 10119,i/p event "autopilot"

Active SK Plugins 
Forward and Filter NMEA
Node Red
Set System Time
Derived Data for True Wind


OpenPlotter Ver 2 on RPi Model 3b (16GB)

Thanks
Steve

It looks like you are creating new events for each piece of data. Wouldn't you then need to forward and filter those into the nmea stream to get that info into OpenCPN? I may be way off here, but I recall that info needing to be in the correct place. You may want to try just changing the i/p event and dumping everything into nmeaOutput, then use OCPN TCP/IP connection on port 10110 and see if that works.

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Just looked and that is nmea0183Out to get the data into 10110 and send to OCPN.

[affinite]

Thanks that's the sort of comment I'm looking for ... I suspect that I have overcomplicated my setup but in the absence of a specific set of starting connection notes, I think I'll probably have to start with a fresh install rather than risk making things worse by further "tinkering"

---

Hi all ....

Before changing anything might be worth trying  a 32Gb SD card, I had a Pi Zero 2 occasionally crashing with a 16GB card, 32GB & it's been very well behaved since.

PaddyB
Tried that - It does seem less slugish and you were right the RPi SD card copier did allow move to 32GB card without resizing the partition down to the source size of 16GB.
Thanks for the advice

[affinite]

Hi all
Can someone advise what is the best/optimum connections (in an OpenPlotter/SignalK configuration)
Ive been having some performance/crashing issues lately and I'm concerned that my configuration has suffered from too much tinkering under the hood.
FWIW here are my current settings:

OpenCPN Ver 5.6.2
Connections 
Network, Output, protocol=UDP, Address=localhost, port 10119, priority=1
Network, Intput, protocol=Signal K, Address=localhost, port=3000, priority=1

SignalK ver 1.43
Connections
gps - NMEA0183, serial, 4800, o/p event "" ,i/p event "gps"
ais - NMEA0183, serial,38400, o/p event "" ,i/p event "ais"
seatalk - NMEA0183,4800, o/p event "" ,i/p event "seatalk"
openCPNOut - NMEA0183, UDP, port 10119,i/p event "autopilot"

Active SK Plugins 
Forward and Filter NMEA
Node Red
Set System Time
Derived Data for True Wind


OpenPlotter Ver 2 on RPi Model 3b (16GB)

Thanks
Steve

It looks like you are creating new events for each piece of data. Wouldn't you then need to forward and filter those into the nmea stream to get that info into OpenCPN? I may be way off here, but I recall that info needing to be in the correct place. You may want to try just changing the i/p event and dumping everything into nmeaOutput, then use OCPN TCP/IP connection on port 10110 and see if that works.

---

Just looked and that is nmea0183Out to get the data into 10110 and send to OCPN.

Thanks - that really helped get me back on-track.
My setup is now quite simple and seems to be working OK but I have one more frustration.
How to I send the "nmea0183" data stream to a serial-attached VHFRadio ?
Is it just a case of putting "nmea0183" in the input event for the radio ? 
I tried it but I dont see the data when I look at the SK Log for that event, (next test is to connect a serial test device to see if there is actual data on the serial port (even if not on the SK log)

or do I need to route it using the "Forward and filter NMEA to NMEA" plugin ?

[PaddyB]

Is it just a case of putting "nmea0183" in the input event for the radio ? 
I tried it but I dont see the data when I look at the SK Log for that event, (next test is to connect a serial test device to see if there is actual data on the serial port (even if not on the SK log)

or do I need to route it using the "Forward and filter NMEA to NMEA" plugin ?

Here's how I do it >> On the gps connection set an input event called gps-nmea. 



Then I use a usb/serial which inputs wind data as an output for gps data which gets sent out on pin 3 of the wind serial/usb at 4800baud

[affinite]

Is it just a case of putting "nmea0183" in the input event for the radio ? 
I tried it but I dont see the data when I look at the SK Log for that event, (next test is to connect a serial test device to see if there is actual data on the serial port (even if not on the SK log)

or do I need to route it using the "Forward and filter NMEA to NMEA" plugin ?

Here's how I do it >> On the gps connection set an input event called gps-nmea. 



Then I use a usb/serial which inputs wind data as an output for gps data which gets sent out on pin 3 of the wind serial/usb at 4800baud

Thanks - I think the fog is slowly lifting but I still get mixed up with SK Input and Output events ...
Does your "wind" device also have a NMEA repeater / autopilot attached ?
I dont understand why you'd send gps data to your wind instruments ?

[holgerw]

input (rx) and output (tx) are only 2 pins, so if the wind sensor sends only - you can use your tx pin of the interface for another device (here: send gps data). otherwisew autoplotters normaly use both directions - so their interface is fully used, no spare pin.

holger

One problem with this double use is this: you have to use the SAME Baudrate (frequency) for BOTH devices !

[PaddyB]

Thanks - I think the fog is slowly lifting but I still get mixed up with SK Input and Output events ...
Does your "wind" device also have a NMEA repeater / autopilot attached ?
I dont understand why you'd send gps data to your wind instruments ?

Holger described it well. The word "event" might be a bit confusing, might be helpful to think of "events" as "channels" maybe? So the gps connection sends the data automatically to "event" or "channel" "nmea0183" (all nmea data gets sent to "nmea0183") It also gets sent to "channel" "gps_nmea". Then the output pin of the serial/usb is connected to the vhf radio gps nmea01283 input wire. 

 

[affinite]

Thanks both
Neat trick sharing one serial port between 2 devices - I can use that to reduce the number of USB ports used by sharing my gps connection (IN) connection with the vhfradio (OUT) but you illustrate 2 USB connections dont you (OP_usbgps and OP_wind) ?


I still dont understand why you send gps data to your wind connection but I assume that your wind connection also includes a NMEA display/repeater ?
OK, I understand events better now but still dont see "nmea0183" event data on my VHFradio connection - its probably a physical connection problem so I'll have another go at it tomorrow

Thanks again

[affinite]

Hi 
Ive been experimenting with my SK connections and arrived at what I think is a good working configuration for my setup.
(See doc attached)
Seems to work on the bench with an NMEA simulator (NavMon) sending in the NMEA sentences but I cant test it on the boat until September so I'd appreciate any comments wrt loops etc.

I'm also keen to understand if using SK as the protocol for in and out from OCP has any real advantage over NMEA0183
(I kept with NMEA because SK doesn't appear in the NMEA debug window on OCPN when testing)
Thanks
Steve