Rudder position and remote via NMEA 2000

[LostPearl]

Hello all,
I am a noob to this whole Pypilot OpenPlotter world and am excited by the possibilities. I am building my setup using a Pi 4-8gb with a MacArthur HAT (with onboard IMU and power module) and for a motor controller an Arduino Nano commanding a Cytron MD30c motor driver. The boat is a 45' with hydraulic steering. I won't be down to the boat for another month, but trying to test things as best I can on a bench in the basement. 

I'm wondering about using the existing rudder position sensor and hard button autopilot remote (B&G) over NMEA 2000. Is this a reasonable thing to do without excessive coding? Also, what modifications to motor.ino will I need to make given that the Nano will be connected to the Pi via USB and no other sensors attached (like a rudder position sensor)? 

Thank you very much in advance.

Onno
Home is where the anchor drops.

[seandepagnier]

You can supply rudder feedback via nmea0183 or signalk.

If this is n2k you might have to convert it. Having rudder feedback this way might give some lag, so it is possible it will overshoot the rudder stops somewhat but it should still work.

There is not great support for remote over n2k, but there are some recent developments to signalk to make a pypilot plugin to support remote controls so you might find something there. Alternately pypilot does work with low-cost 433mhz remote controls.

[LostPearl]

You can supply rudder feedback via nmea0183 or signalk. 

If this is n2k you might have to convert it.    Having rudder feedback this way might give some lag, so it is possible it will overshoot the rudder stops somewhat but it should still work.

There is not great support for remote over n2k, but there are some recent developments to signalk to make a pypilot plugin to support remote controls so you might find something there.    Alternately pypilot does work with low-cost 433mhz remote controls.

Thank you sir, I appreciate it. 
I guess I could set the software limits 5° or 10° before the rudder stops to help prevent going too far. Is there additional hardware required for the 433remotes? With the MacArthur HAT I was hoping to have easier access to n2kdata from the existing remote. Is it possible to build a panel with waterproof buttons wired directly to the pi? 

On another note, is there anything in particular to look for when connecting the Arduino Nano to PyPilot via USB? PyPilot is showing no motor controller but it may simply be that it doesn’t know where to look. 

Thank you 
Onno

[LostPearl]

You can supply rudder feedback via nmea0183 or signalk. 

If this is n2k you might have to convert it.    Having rudder feedback this way might give some lag, so it is possible it will overshoot the rudder stops somewhat but it should still work.

There is not great support for remote over n2k, but there are some recent developments to signalk to make a pypilot plugin to support remote controls so you might find something there.    Alternately pypilot does work with low-cost 433mhz remote controls.

Thank you sir, I appreciate it. 
I guess I could set the software limits 5° or 10° before the rudder stops to help prevent going too far. Is there additional hardware required for the 433remotes? With the MacArthur HAT I was hoping to have easier access to n2kdata from the existing remote. Is it possible to build a panel with waterproof buttons wired directly to the pi? 

On another note, is there anything in particular to look for when connecting the Arduino Nano to PyPilot via USB? PyPilot is showing no motor controller but it may simply be that it doesn’t know where to look. 

Thank you 
Onno

[seandepagnier]

Check the log output from pypilot.. if it is a service you can get it from journalctl -u pypilot

Otherwise you could stop the service "systemctl stop pypilot" and run pypilot_servo for debugging the servo.

If it does not find it, you might not have the right sketch loaded on the arduino, or need to specify the serial port in ~/.pypilot/serial_ports

It is possible to ahve a panel with waterproof buttons directly wired to gpio pins on the pi. Otherwise, for 433 remotes you need a 433 receiver wired to an arduino which is connected to the pi.

[LostPearl]

Check the log output from pypilot..  if it is a service you can get it from journalctl -u pypilot

Otherwise you could stop the service "systemctl stop pypilot" and run pypilot_servo for debugging the servo.

If it does not find it, you might not have the right sketch loaded on the arduino, or need to specify the serial port in ~/.pypilot/serial_ports

It is possible to ahve a panel with waterproof buttons directly wired to gpio pins on the pi.  Otherwise, for 433 remotes you need a 433 receiver wired to an arduino which is connected to the pi.

Thank you so much sir!

Onno