Data from OpenCPN to serial.

[rszemeti]

So I have a Raymarine S3G autohelm, I am trying to get track data to it from OpenCPN.

I have coming out of OpenCPN as UDP and being picked up by SignalK the following:


Oct 27 23:18:57 2024-10-27T23:18:57.967Z signalk-server:events:connection:OPENCPN:opencpnroute $IIGLL,5144.250765,N,00611.631883,W,233244,A*29
Oct 27 23:18:57 2024-10-27T23:18:57.975Z signalk-server:events:connection:OPENCPN:opencpnroute $IIVTG,146.000000,T,,M,5.000000N,,,A*55
Oct 27 23:18:57 2024-10-27T23:18:57.987Z signalk-server:events:connection:OPENCPN:opencpnroute $IIVHW,146.000000,T,,,5.000000,N*55

Oct 27 23:18:58 2024-10-27T23:18:58.050Z signalk-server:events:connection:OPENCPN:opencpnroute $ECAPB,A,A,0.000,R,N,V,V,185.167,T,,94.915,T,155.167,T*20

First thing I noted was that the APB sentence has a null value for field 10, Destination Waypoint ID ... I would have expected to see 002 (as that is my second waypoint ID) in there.

the S3G does not appear to pick up the heading data, I am unsure why, but I suspect it is because the S3G is expecting magnetic headings ... it has no clue what the local magnetic variation is as far as I know, so it would be unable to convert True to Magnetic ...  I did try ticking the "Send magnetic headings in ECAPB sentence" checkbox in OpenCPN ... but, it still sends true .. even after a restart, again, I have no idea why.

I am unsure how I would get the Distance to waypoint data to the S3G, not that it really needs it if it has a heading to steer, but it would be nice to have ... I would have thought the only way SignalK could know the distance to run, eta etc would be if it came out of OpenCPN on its UDP port?

[rszemeti]

After A bit of digging I found NMEAMagnetic=1 in the config file sends magnetic heading data ... this flag is NOT connected to the apprpriate checkbox in the GUI ...

[PaddyB]

Seems to be different here, copying from the opencpn debug window..

Route active
$ECAPB,A,A,0.000,R,N,V,V,185.167,T,,94.915,T,155.167,T*20

Use magnetic values in APB ticked & waypoint name changed to hello world, it seems to truncate the name.
$ECAPB,A,A,0.00,R,N,V,V,287.53,M,HELLO ,287.53,M,287.53,M*6D

[rszemeti]

It seems I had the "AutopilotRoute" plugin installed, it seems that picks up whether to send T or M bearings from NMEAMagnetic ithe conf which is linked to a checkbox in the plugin, and the setting in the connections tab is linked to UseMagAPB in the conf which is not used by the plugin. I'm not sure why the plugin didn't just use the existing conf item/checkbox

I've disabled the plugin and am trying again ...

[rszemeti]

This is still confusing me ... I was using fake GPS from the "ShipDriver" plugin ... and I noticed the RMC messages had the "invalid" flag set for nav status, which is fair enough for fake data.

So I went and got my Maiana from the boat which provides real GPS data ... and tried again.  I can see good APB, RMB, RMC coming out of OpenCPN into signalK:

Code:

Oct 31 15:11:26 2024-10-31T15:11:26.919Z signalk-server:events:connection:OPENCPN:opencpnroute $ECRMB,A,0.013,L,,001,5223.718,N,00215.971,W,1.468,73.997,-0.544,V,A*4A
Oct 31 15:11:26 2024-10-31T15:11:26.923Z signalk-server:events:connection:OPENCPN:opencpnroute $ECRMC,151126,A,5223.313,N,00218.283,W,1.825,326.650,311024,0.149,E,A*1E
Oct 31 15:11:26 2024-10-31T15:11:26.929Z signalk-server:events:connection:OPENCPN:opencpnroute $ECAPB,A,A,0.013,L,N,V,V,74.362,M,001,73.848,M,73.848,M*1D

This is received and parsed correctly, populating the signalK db as expected and I have RMB, RMC and APB set up in the SignalK to 0183 plugin to send these out on the nmea0183out event .. but ... I see XTE and RMC data, not RMB or APB data being sent back out on 0183 ...

Code:

Oct 31 14:22:33 2024-10-31T14:22:33.357Z signalk-server:events:nmea0183out $IIXTE,A,A,-0.001,R,N*7B
Oct 31 14:22:33 2024-10-31T14:22:33.360Z signalk-server:events:nmea0183out $GPGGA,142232,5223.3310,N,00218.2650,W,0,0,0.0,0.0,M,0.0,M,,*58
Oct 31 14:22:33 2024-10-31T14:22:33.361Z signalk-server:events:nmea0183out $GPGLL,5223.3310,N,00218.2650,W,142232.020,A*2D
Oct 31 14:22:33 2024-10-31T14:22:33.363Z signalk-server:events:nmea0183out $IIVTG,68.61,T,0.00,M,1.92,N,3.56,K,A*07
Oct 31 14:22:33 2024-10-31T14:22:33.525Z signalk-server:events:nmea0183out $IIVTG,68.61,T,0.00,M,1.92,N,3.56,K,A*07
Oct 31 14:22:33 2024-10-31T14:22:33.871Z signalk-server:events:nmea0183out $GPGGA,142233,5223.3310,N,00218.2643,W,0,0,0.0,0.0,M,0.0,M,,*5B
Oct 31 14:22:33 2024-10-31T14:22:33.872Z signalk-server:events:nmea0183out $GPGLL,5223.3310,N,00218.2643,W,142233.020,A*2E
Oct 31 14:22:33 2024-10-31T14:22:33.989Z signalk-server:events:nmea0183out $GPRMC,142233,A,5223.3310,N,00218.2643,W,1.7,45.5,311024,0.1,E*58

I have the signalk to nmea0183 plugin set up to debug log, noting bad showing ...

Code:

Oct 31 14:26:06 [object Object]
Oct 31 14:26:31 POST /skServer/debug 200 5.790 ms - -
Oct 31 14:26:32 2024-10-31T14:26:32.030Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $IIXTE,A,A,0.032,L,N*48
Oct 31 14:26:32 2024-10-31T14:26:32.035Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPGGA,142631,5223.2910,N,00218.2930,W,0,0,0.0,0.0,M,0.0,M,,*5D
Oct 31 14:26:32 2024-10-31T14:26:32.038Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPGLL,5223.2910,N,00218.2930,W,142631.020,A*28
Oct 31 14:26:32 2024-10-31T14:26:32.048Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $IIVTG,213.26,T,0.00,M,1.60,N,2.96,K,A*3A
Oct 31 14:26:32 2024-10-31T14:26:32.426Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPGGA,142632,5223.2912,N,00218.2934,W,0,0,0.0,0.0,M,0.0,M,,*58
Oct 31 14:26:32 2024-10-31T14:26:32.428Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPGLL,5223.2912,N,00218.2934,W,142632.020,A*2D
Oct 31 14:26:32 2024-10-31T14:26:32.774Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPRMC,142632,A,5223.2912,N,00218.2934,W,1.6,213.3,311024,0.1,E*6D
Oct 31 14:26:32 2024-10-31T14:26:32.806Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $IIVTG,213.26,T,0.00,M,1.60,N,2.96,K,A*3A
Oct 31 14:26:33 2024-10-31T14:26:33.035Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $IIXTE,A,A,0.032,L,N*48
Oct 31 14:26:33 2024-10-31T14:26:33.038Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPGGA,142632,5223.2910,N,00218.2930,W,0,0,0.0,0.0,M,0.0,M,,*5E
Oct 31 14:26:33 2024-10-31T14:26:33.039Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPGLL,5223.2910,N,00218.2930,W,142632.020,A*2B
Oct 31 14:26:33 2024-10-31T14:26:33.044Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $IIVTG,172.67,T,0.00,M,1.51,N,2.80,K,A*3E
Oct 31 14:26:33 2024-10-31T14:26:33.774Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPRMC,142632,A,5223.2910,N,00218.2930,W,1.5,172.7,311024,0.1,E*68
Oct 31 14:26:33 2024-10-31T14:26:33.899Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPGGA,142633,5223.2911,N,00218.2932,W,0,0,0.0,0.0,M,0.0,M,,*5C
Oct 31 14:26:33 2024-10-31T14:26:33.901Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPGLL,5223.2911,N,00218.2932,W,142633.020,A*29
Oct 31 14:26:33 2024-10-31T14:26:33.905Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $IIVTG,172.67,T,0.00,M,1.51,N,2.80,K,A*3E
Oct 31 14:26:34 2024-10-31T14:26:34.044Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $IIXTE,A,A,0.033,L,N*49
Oct 31 14:26:34 2024-10-31T14:26:34.047Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPGGA,142633,5223.2910,N,00218.2930,W,0,0,0.0,0.0,M,0.0,M,,*5F
Oct 31 14:26:34 2024-10-31T14:26:34.049Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $GPGLL,5223.2910,N,00218.2930,W,142633.020,A*2A
Oct 31 14:26:34 2024-10-31T14:26:34.050Z @signalk/signalk-to-nmea0183 $IIVTG,296.47,T,0.00,M,1.53,N,2.84,K,A*33
Oct 31 14:26:34 POST /skServer/debug 200 5.219 ms -

So no clue why RMB and APB messages are not beig generated

[PaddyB]

What about sending the nmea sentences back out again with the Forward and filter NMEA0183 input to NMEA0183 out plugin?

[rszemeti]

What about sending the nmea sentences back out again with the Forward and filter NMEA0183 input to NMEA0183 out plugin?

I didn't know about the "forward filter" .. I'll go and look for it, thanks!

It makes no sense to me that it doesnt send RMB and APB out as it obviously has all the required info!    Anyway, thanks for that, I'll go and look!

---

Hmmm ... I looked through the app store / plugin list and can't find any app called "forward filter" ...

[PaddyB]

What about sending the nmea sentences back out again with the Forward and filter NMEA0183 input to NMEA0183 out plugin?

I didn't know about the "forward filter" .. I'll go and look for it, thanks!

It makes no sense to me that it doesnt send RMB and APB out as it obviously has all the required info!    Anyway, thanks for that, I'll go and look!

---

Hmmm ... I looked through the app store / plugin list and can't find any app called "forward filter" ...

Might in in there already? Can't remember installing it but there it is..

[rszemeti]

Ahh, I found it in the appstore ... its called "nmea0183-to-nmea0183" ... I shall experiment!

I upgraded the the latest SignalK too, maybe that helps ...

---

So ... no success with that plugin so far, but I did try just connecting OpenCPN directly to a signal port as a sender ... that works and send track, waypoints etc to the autopilot ... but of course not apparent wind direction ...

I really wanted SignalK to be my central store of ALL data and to pocess it and distribute it as needed to the stuff that needs it .. but it seems it still has issues. Maybe I will try a little more ... for me, the ideal is SignalK data to serial NMEA0183 ... so I know what I am seeing in the data browser is what is going towards the devices, which gives me the opportunity to monitor and filter as I need ... but, if it is not possible, I guess I have a partially working solution, apart from wind angle ...

[rszemeti]

AH ha!! ... I found a solution: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13...ost3226091