Airmar PB200 WeatherStation

[Extemporaneous]

Okay. thanks for that. I'll go back and get the cable ordered (NMEA 2000) and do more reading.
And thanks for your links.

Regards,
Extemp.

Originally Posted by Patrick_DeepPlaya

You're going to run three seperate cables:

Airmar
NMEA 2000 + a Terminator. If that means nothing to you, you're about to spend aroudn $1000 you didn't plan on spending to hook that Airmar up to an NMEA backbone and a display to show it on. Check out Maretron : Marine Electronic Instruments for more info on the basic of setting up an NMEA 2000 network. You might also enjoy my NMEA 2000 network installation posts: S/V Deep Playa – Pearson 424 - NMEA 2000
Also see the Airmar installation manual (especially page 16) http://www.airmartechnology.com/uplo.../17-461-01.pdf

VHF -
This one is easy, RG213U COAX

WIFI - depends on what you using. I have a Ubiquiti bullet which is attached to a Digtial Antenna WiFi antenna. The Bullet does connect to the boat's access point over POE. Here's a write up on my wifi setup: S/V Deep Playa – Pearson 424 - DIY Wi-Fi System


Best of luck and feel free to ask more questions!

[Patrick_DeepPlaya]

Curious, to what are you planning to connect the Airmar PB200?
Do you have an existing set of instruments?
-p

[AnsleyS]

Extemp,

I have the pb200 but have it hooked up with NMEA0183. I have programmed it to decrease the data coming out of it to just the weather data. I found that it sends so much data that it conflicts with other data sources that I have on the boat. I can see the data on the laptop but I do not use it to often. I send the data to a Furuno multifunctin display and to the autopilot for the wind direction. It is so cool to watch the autopilot steer close hauled or a close reach with the weather station. They do it better than I do because their minds don't wander away like mine does.

I would be happy to answer any questions.

Cheers

Ansley Sawyer

[Extemporaneous]

Originally Posted by AnsleyS

Extemp,

I have the pb200 but have it hooked up with NMEA0183. I have programmed it to decrease the data coming out of it to just the weather data. I found that it sends so much data that it conflicts with other data sources that I have on the boat. I can see the data on the laptop but I do not use it to often. I send the data to a Furuno multifunctin display and to the autopilot for the wind direction. It is so cool to watch the autopilot steer close hauled or a close reach with the weather station. They do it better than I do because their minds don't wander away like mine does.

I would be happy to answer any questions.

Cheers

Ansley Sawyer

Thanks.

I think?? that I've heard/read somewhere that NMEA 0183 doesn't have the capacity to handle all the data the PB200 can pump out. I've ordered mine with the NMEA 2000 cable. (will be the first of my NMEA 2000 network).
We'll see how that works.... but not until later this summer.

Cheers,
Extemp.

[AnsleyS]

Extemp,

You are right. The amount of data that the pb200 puts out is more than anyone could possibly want. For example:

for NMEA 0183:

Sentence Description Enabled by Default Maximum Length (chars)

$GPDTM Datum Reference No 47
$GPGGA GPS Fix Data
82
$GPGLL Geographic Position – Latitude/Longitude No 48
$GPGSA GNSS DOP and Active Satellites No 66
$GPGSV GNSS Satellites in View No 70
$HCHDG Heading, Deviation and Variation No 33
$HCHDT Heading relative to True North No 19
$WIMDA Meteorological Composite.
Barometric pressure, air temperature,
relative humidity, dew point, wind direction,
wind speed
81
$WIMWD Wind Direction and Speed, with respect to
north
41
$WIMWV (relative)
Wind Speed and Angle, in relation to the
vessel’s bow/centerline (relative)
28
$WIMWV (theoretical)
Wind Speed and Angle, in relation to the
vessel’s bow/centerline (theoretical)
28
$GPRMC Recommended Minimum Specific GNSS
Data No 74
$TIROT Rate of Turn
22
$GPVTG Course Over Ground and Ground Speed
42
$WIVWR Relative Wind Speed and Angle No 41
$WIVWT True Wind Speed and Angle
41
$YXXDR (type A)
Transducer Measurements: wind chill, heat
index, and station pressure
No 74
$YXXDR (type B)
Transducer Measurements: vessel attitude
(pitch and roll) No 43

$GPZDA Time and Date
38

As you can see some of this data is also coming from your GPS unit or your compass so I have turned off a bunch of data.

Cheers

Ansley

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by AnsleyS

As you can see some of this data is also coming from your GPS unit or your compass so I have turned off a bunch of data.

Hi Ansley,

Sounds like you would have been better off with the Maretron WSO100 because it doesn't have the compass or GPS inside. Oh..I don't know if it can do NMEA0183 though...

cheers,
Nick.

[AnsleyS]

Nick,

I like having a spare GPS that I can turn on and off. I have run my system with the Airmar GPS data and turned off the Furuno GPS plotter GPS data. Redundancy is good.

Ansley

[Sergy]

Hi Everyone
I am interested if anyone knows of any problem hooking up a Maretron WSO 100 Weather station to Raymarine ST-70 display. 4 years ago I decided to go Pure NEMA 2000 so I bought Airmar dept ,temp ,and speed transducer NEMA 2000 model .I hooked up the backbone etc and all was fine on the ST-70, good so far, the only issue is the ST-70 brags NEMA 2000 it does not recognise the transducer so I am not able to calibrate the dept offset, but it sees the dept, temp, & speed properly.
I like the compact ST-70 and have lived with the above results, Last year I had the mast off to change the standing rigging and I decided to install the necessary backbone to the top of the mast with the intention of installing the Maretron WSO 100 Weather station. I am at that crossroad and I am wondering if any one out there had experienced any foreseeable problems hooking up the Marton Weather station to the Raymarine ST-70 both claiming to be NEMA 2000?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Sergy

I am interested if anyone knows of any problem hooking up a Maretron WSO 100 Weather station to Raymarine ST-70 display.

You won't be able to do any configuration of the WSO100 but if you install it correctly you might not need to do any configuration so should be good.

You can buy a Maretron display or their USB gateway and use either to configure & upgrade all the Maretron sensors incl. the depth transducer.

cheers,
Nick.

[Sergy]

thanks Jedi

[CarlF]

Extemp, the cable you want is the Airmar combined cable that brings both NMEA 2000 and 0183 down the mast to their breakout box. You can use both at the same time. Here's some information from Panbo

Panbo: The Marine Electronics Weblog: Airmar PB200 hands-on #1, & into the delivery box!

Also, figure out a bracket that will mount the PB200 12" or so forward and above the mast top. It needs very clean airflow (as is shown in the install manual). This will also put it farther from your VHF antenna. Some people (but not me) have seen interference on their VHF when the antennas are within inches of each other.

The software that you can download from Airmar let's you tune the number of times a second each type of data is being put on the wire. This can take a lot of load off the network.

Finally, Wifi is getting less and less useful. Free wifi is rare. Paid for wifi is usually slow (overloaded) and dangerously unsecure. I'm not sure it's worth the effort to mount on the masthead. You'll get great performance just by mounting an antenna on a rail. I used to have a Ubiquiti Bullett but have switched to their NanoStation M. This has a built in, very fancy directional antenna. It's small, under $100 and very good. You obviously can't mount it on the masthead since it has to be aimed but I find the aiming is good for almost 90 degrees of swing so it works fine on the hook.

90% of my internet access (even when marina wifi is available) is 3G with a Verizon Mifi card and an hotspot android phone. So I would use that precious masthead space for the best dual band cell antenna you can find and use LMR-400 or similar very low loss cable down to some sort of cell amplifier. Digital Antenna has a bunch of kits.

Carl

[arisatx]

Originally Posted by CarlF

...

Also, figure out a bracket that will mount the PB200 12" or so forward and above the mast top. It needs very clean airflow (as is shown in the install manual).
...
Carl

Extemp:

as Carl said, we also were mounting a masthead Lopolight. My builder came up with this neat setup

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by arisatx

Extemp:

as Carl said, we also were mounting a masthead Lopolight. My builder came up with this neat setup

wtf took me 5 minutes to realize the picture was rotated 90 degrees haha.

looks good; a racer wants it more forward to clear wind flow from the jib but they would use B&G anyway. The question is distance to VHF antenna...

ciao!
Nick.

[Patrick_DeepPlaya]

Here's a writeup and pic of my Maretron WSO100 mount, but you could use the same parts to mount an Airmar PB200 Mounting the Maretron WSO100 Weather Station | S/V Deep Playa - Pearson 424

[Extemporaneous]

Good Job!!
Looks like a great Idea. Have the verticals where the lights change color.
Thanks,
Extemp.

Originally Posted by arisatx

Extemp:

as Carl said, we also were mounting a masthead Lopolight. My builder came up with this neat setup