NMEA / Seatalk / WiFi multiplexors

[pgenovese]

I've been looking around for a multiplexor that link a Seatalk system (Raymarine ST60+. Instruments & c80 plotter) to nmeaa devices such as AIS as well as provide a wifi gateway.

I have narrowed down my choices to Brookhouse iMux http://brookhouseonline.com or shipmodul miniplex-2wi http://www.shipmodul.com.

Does anyone have any experience (preferably first hand) with these devices. Especially with respect to reliability of the devices and the support from the manufacturer ?

Rgds
Patrick

[Littlechay]

No experience of the Brookhouse unit, but I have installed a couple of the Shipmodul muxes, one with WiFi and one without, one with Raymarine gear. No complaints, no problems, does what it says on the tin.

Oh both on high latitude charter boats, both in constant use over a few years now.

Chris

[thuss]

I haven't used any of these units, on my old boat I built one myself, but having sold that boat and bought another the 2 units I'm currently considering are the shipmodul (that you reference) and the dmk 11a:

DMK Yacht Instruments: wireless access to your vessel's instruments

I too would love to hear about real world experience with any of these units. My nav programs of choice are Coastal Explorer and iNavX on the iPad but both units seem to work fine with those software packages.

[Opie91]

Originally Posted by pgenovese

I've been looking around for a multiplexor that link a Seatalk system (Raymarine ST60+. Instruments & c80 plotter) to nmeaa devices such as AIS as well as provide a wifi gateway.

I have narrowed down my choices to Brookhouse iMux Brookhouse NMEA multiplexers Home Page or shipmodul miniplex-2wi ShipModul Marine Electronics.

Does anyone have any experience (preferably first hand) with these devices. Especially with respect to reliability of the devices and the support from the manufacturer ?

Rgds
Patrick

I have used the standard Brookhouse mux (non wifi) with Seatalk. It works flawlessly. I believe the Brookhouse iMux is around $430 usd.

That being said, I am converting to NMEA200 and have a non wifi Seatalk unit for sale. PM me if interested.

[rcmpegasus]

I installed a brookhouse iMux with seatalk last spring. Very reliable and good support. Mine is primarily utilized for showing AIS on an iPad with iNavx.

[pgenovese]

Originally Posted by rcmpegasus

I installed a brookhouse iMux with seatalk last spring. Very reliable and good support. Mine is primarily utilized for showing AIS on an iPad with iNavx.

Have you had much luck communicating with brookhouse. I tried emailing them a few times with some questions and so far had no luck getting a reply from them.

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by pgenovese

Have you had much luck communicating with brookhouse. I tried emailing them a few times with some questions and so far had no luck getting a reply from them.

The reason that I didn't buy a Brookhouse unit was because of their response to my pre-purchase queries. I received a very fast initial response, which was more of a lecture, and then nothing to my subsequent follow ups. - lost customer.

Chris

[rcmpegasus]

I had great support via email. I had some initial issues as I had wired up the AIS wrong. They walked me through the problem and the fix.

[Opie91]

Originally Posted by rcmpegasus

I had great support via email. I had some initial issues as I had wired up the AIS wrong. They walked me through the problem and the fix.

I can not say the same. I had to practically beg them to sell me a mux. It took three emails before they would even respond.

My unit works great, but the support not the greatest from my experiences.

[overboard]

I recently bought the Brookhouse unit, the one that is advertised as "simple" and "easy right out of the box". It's not. The wout guy has indeed answer my emails, but he's not been helpful. When I told him we have a brand new Amec transponder, he said I would have to wire in a transistor to make that work. I told him I couldn't get the imux to work and wasn't comfortable with the transistor issues and Im in Panama where I cannot get technical expertise for the imux so I wanted to return it.

His reply? No. Just because I was in Panama and don't know anything was not a good reason. Run from Brookhouse folks. His documentation is awful and his communication is worse.

[Charliemciver]

I recently bought the ShipModul unit. Installed perfectly. Does exactly what it says it would. Very flexible and capable.

[kps0927]

Ordered my shipmodul 2wi recently for st60 wind, tridata and st6001 autopilot on seatalk as well as ais and GPS through Garmin plotter. Hoping to not only pass ais data but create link for all this data to my laptop as a second nav device. Will let you know early in 14 how I make out.