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My first impressions...
#1
I'm a bit delayed as I went on vacation, but my device got to me fast since it was shipped from Kirkland, Wa, and I only live a 45 minute drive away. So, it came faster than I expected.

Out of the box, the parts are all nice and neat and fairly easy to figure out how to put it all together. I had the same issues as other posters with the gpio pin extension and the board touching usb, etc, so I won't rehash that, but so far haven't seen any other issues than that. My setup is going to be fairly simple, and I say going to be as I only recently purchase my s2 7.9 and am currently working to rehab the keel, and update\fix\replace the broken electronics due to their 1980s vintageness.

Obviously, I have a Raspberry Pi 4 connected to the Hat, but I am not using a micro SD. I am booting off of an external 2.5" SSD attached via the USB port. 

Additional HW for my setup consists of the following:

Depth\Speed\Temp -  DST810 Smart™ Multisensor with Gen2 Paddlewheel | AIRMAR
GPS -  Amazon.com: USB GPS Receiver Antenna Gmouse for Laptop PC Car Marine Navigation/Stratux/Raspberry Pi : Electronics
Cabin LCD -  Raspberry Pi 5" HDMI sunlight readable touchscreen (makerplane.org)
Cockpit Instrument -  Garmin GMI™ 20 Marine Instrument | Sailing
Wind meter -  Ultrasonic Portable Mini wind meter | Calypso Instruments

I currently have all of this hooked up in my office so it's close and easy to debug and play around with. 

The Depth\Speed sensor as well as the GMI20 are obviously connected via NMEA2000, and I did cut an extra cable to attach to and power the Pi\Macarthur from the NMEA network. Kinda hurt to do that to a new cable, but it is what it is. 

The USB GPS is fairly obvious how that works, as well the makerplane touchscreen. The resolution is only 800x480 so it's not ideal, but I sail in Puget sound and mostly race, so OpenCPN isn't likely to be my primary navigation aid. I currently have a full 19" monitor and wireless keyboard to play around with it and have better input control.

Since I also race a San Juan 21, I use the Calypso Wind Meter on that boat with a Garmin watch to watch wind, speed, shifts, etc... So I've been using it for testing this setup as I might upgrade to the solar version for my 7.9 as someone created a handy little BT LE driver that works on the raspberry pi.  GitHub - maritime-labs/calypso-anemometer: Python driver for the Calypso Instruments Ultrasonic Portable Solar wind meter (UP10) With this driver, I can connect to the Ultrasonic over BT, and then start up a Signal K stream, that can also then be output from Signal K to the NMEA 2k network.

That translation worked fantastic, and I ultimately had Wind data coming from the Ultrasonic, to the Raspberry Pi, then being output to the NMEA2K network from the Macarthur hat, and the Garmin GMI 20 picked it up with ease. The Calypso Instruments company does sell a BT bridge, but it's about 300$... Not needed with this setup. I don't know how stable it is long term, or with the height of my mast (~30') yet, but if I have issues, I'll try out a USB BT adapter with an external antenna.

So far... the device works great for me. 

Feel free to ask any questions.

Later
C
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#2
I've got a similar setup with a Calypso wired BLE transducer. I've never been able to get a reliable BLE connection to my PI. It's not a huge issue in my case, as I have a (not no longer produced) wired version.

I've also got SeaTalk 1 in the mix, just to make it interesting. Next haul out the boat is getting an Airmar 810.
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#3
(2023-04-28, 11:38 PM)abarrow Wrote: I've got a similar setup with a Calypso wired BLE transducer. I've never been able to get a reliable BLE connection to my PI. It's not a huge issue in my case, as I have a (not no longer produced) wired version.

I've also got SeaTalk 1 in the mix, just to make it interesting. Next haul out the boat is getting an Airmar 810.

Yeah, I suspect I'd have the same problem, but I think it's really an issue with the fact the Pi doesn't have any external antennas. 

With the ultrasonic portable on my SJ21 I have no problem staying connected with a cell phone, but I don't have the same luck with my Garmin watch. With the Pi's having no external antennas and no way to attach one, I wager it has to be a worse situation connection wise and staying connected.

I was debating whether a USB BT adapter connected to something like a PI 3 Model A+ for the SFF would suffice. USB BT would allow a larger antenna, and then run the driver+signalKon the Pi host, with a can bus adapter to spit the data out over the NMEA2K drop.

Later
C
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#4
Been continuing to play around with mine but have no real issues to report, it just works...

later
C
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#5
No news good news Smile Thanks a lot for your report!
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#6
(2023-05-24, 12:40 AM)Tarkin Wrote: Been continuing to play around with mine but have no real issues to report, it just works...

later
C

(2023-05-24, 10:07 AM)Sailoog Wrote: No news good news Smile Thanks a lot for your report run 3!

I debated whether a USB BT adapter would work well enough for the SFF when connected to something like a PI 3 Model A+. A bigger antenna might be used with USB BT, and the driver+signalKon
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#7
(2023-12-14, 08:56 AM)Ykisoa Wrote: I debated whether a USB BT adapter would work well enough for the SFF when connected to something like a PI 3 Model A+. A bigger antenna might be used with USB BT, and the driver+signalKon

Yeah... I like the cm4 modules since they allow you to plug in an external antenna. 

Later
Tarkin
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