Integrating B&G Vulcan 7R?

[Fuga]

I have been trying to integrate OpenCPN with a B&G Vulcan 7R and have so far failed. I believe that it is a software issue with the Vulcan (current release), but would welcome any input if you know someone who has successfully displayed waypoint information on a Vulcan originating from OpenCPN.



It gets as far as the Vulcan on NMEA2000, and is showing correctly as data, but will not display on any of the screens.



Full details are here at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/et5jzmp5dz...issue.pdf?dl=0

[stevead]

Are you selecting a route or waypoint and pressing "Send to GPS", or activating a route or waypoint, and expecting that the waypoint will be persisted in the Vulcan chartplotter ?

If that is your expectation, then you don't understand the meaning of the Chartplotter option Network->NMEA2000->Receive Waypoint.

What that option means is that the chartplotter will receive waypoints over the NMEA 2000 network using Parameter Group Number (PGN) 130074. It does not create waypoints that may be present in other PGN's such as 129284 (Navigation Data). And I can personally confirm that it works as intended.

From a quick perusual of the Quark A304B manual, it does not convert NMEA 183 WPL sentences to NMEA 2000 PGN 130074, so perhaps if that feature is important, speak to the folks at Quark.

With respect to the Instrument Panel not displaying Bearing to Waypoint and Distance to Waypoint, even though the Quark A034B is selected as the data source and there appears to be data present, one really needs to decode the NMEA 2000 data being sent by the Quark to determine if it matches the correct fields.

BTW, Instead of taking photos of the Vulcan screen with a camera, you can take screenshots, and you can easily transfer the screen shots to a PC using ftp. For that matter, you can import/export waypoints and routes between the chartplotter and OpenCPN using the GPX format, again using ftp. Refer to this post

PS. If I was a Navico employee and received correspondence with the following "Therefore it is prima facie a software programming error on the Vulcan 7 that is rendering the equipment not fit for the purpose intended." I would probably hang up the phone or file your email in the garbage bin.

[Fuga]

Thanks for your input, but I don't care too much for your tone. Navico = the old IBM?


Perhaps you could take a closer look at the data present at the Vulcan, and the selection of data source. I am aware of the screenshot facility and the option to transfer GPX files.

[Fuga]

Originally Posted by Fuga

Thanks for your input, but I don't care too much for your tone. Navico = the old IBM?


Perhaps you could take a closer look at the data present at the Vulcan, and the selection of data source. I am aware of the screenshot facility and the option to transfer GPX files.

Perhaps reading your post again I have been unfair - apologies.



I am essentially wanting to do exactly the same as I have been able to do in the past with my Raymarine c90W via Seatalk/NMEA0183.



I am not interested in transferring routes via WPL's, but simply to control the process from the chart table with the PC, but to be able to display BTW, DTW and XTE on the MFD.



It seems that the Vulcan/Zeus do not support this. You know it, but it is difficult to infer from their marketing blurb, or the operators manual.



I did not know of the 'send to GPS' facility until you mentioned it and I went looking.



I set up a route, activate it, and control the navigation, where necessary moving, inserting and deleting waypoints as circumstances demand.



I don't need or want to fiddle about with routes with a fat finger on a 7" display in the cockpit!


I do need to know that I am not being swept onto rocks by a cross tide, and that my COG approximates to my BTW, and how long it will be until I get there.



Thanks for your input though, it gives us a clue.. but how do you move a mountain?


John

[Fuga]

Originally Posted by Fuga

Thanks for your input, but I don't care too much for your tone. Navico = the old IBM?


Perhaps you could take a closer look at the data present at the Vulcan, and the selection of data source. I am aware of the screenshot facility and the option to transfer GPX files.

Perhaps reading your post again I have been unfair - apologies.



I am essentially wanting to do exactly the same as I have been able to do in the past with my Raymarine c90W via Seatalk/NMEA0183.



I am not interested in transferring routes via WPL's, but simply to control the process from the chart table with the PC, but to be able to display BTW, DTW and XTE on the MFD.



It seems that the Vulcan/Zeus do not support this. You know it, but it is difficult to infer from their marketing blurb, or the operators manual. (PS. The installation manual does list both 129284 and 139974 as supported.)



I did not know of the 'send to GPS' facility until you mentioned it and I went looking.



I set up a route, activate it, and control the navigation, where necessary moving, inserting and deleting waypoints as circumstances demand.



I don't need or want to fiddle about with routes with a fat finger on a 7" display in the cockpit!


I do need to know that I am not being swept onto rocks by a cross tide, and that my COG approximates to my BTW, and how long it will be until I get there.



Thanks for your input though, it gives us a clue.. but how do you move a mountain?


John

[stevead]

With a little time to spend waiting in a marina to watch the Mathildas vs Les Bleues, plus needing to retest some code, I thought I'd close the loop on this.

A B&G chartplotter can display navigation data (XTE, Distance, Bearing and Time to Waypoint etc) that arise from external sources.

The problem is most likely user error, although without seeing exactly what data the Quark A304B is transmitting for PGN 129283 (Cross Track Error) and 129284 (Navigation Data), one cannot rule out a problem with that device or its conversion of the NMEA 183 APB, RMC and XTE sentences generated by OpenCPN.

I generated my own PGN 129283 & 129284 data, configured the B&G chartplotter correctly, and the data was displayed correctly.

Aside from selecting the data sources correctly, for each instrument panel field, you need to select the correct "active" device. This option is usually selected with a "long" press.

And as mentioned previously, the B&G chartplotter can import waypoints transmitted over the network using PGN 130074. Perhaps get Quark to add that feature to their device.

So other than the B&G chartplotter not persisting the choice of Great Circle or Rhumb Line preferences, it is capable of doing everything that you want it to do. And definitely not a problem with OpenCPN.

See the attached piccies.

Good luck.

[Fuga]

Dear Stevead and other cruisers.



Thank you for your interest in my woes with the Vulcan. However your timing was off! I have it advertised on eBay and have bought a Raymarine Axiom!



The Axiom was working with BTW, DTW displayed within half an hour of being unboxed yesterday. This proved that the OpenCPN and Quark A034B are doing the job, and forming the PGN's correctly.



Your post unsettled me to the point where I took the Vulcan back out and reconnected it. Once more it was set up as I indicated in my original piece of work. I wanted to ensure that I had done exactly as you had described and that it was not my 'operator error' as you put it. I can confirm that I did so (in this context the only reference to the 'long press' feature is in its initial description: there is nothing procedural written up on this).


My conclusion is that in this respect there must be a difference between the Zeus and Vulcan software. I do not believe that Navico support would have so firmly said that it was not supported, having I believe discussed this amongst colleagues.


I had written up my conclusions re the Vulcan Navigation support in another document .



I am going to stick with the Axiom, I have decided. The engineering looks a bit more robust, and provides for a more secure panel mount. Raymarine support confirmed that the Axiom would work with externally generated waypoints, and was most efficient, where Navico hid behind ignorance of OpenCPN and the 'not invented here' speech.


The B&G 'getting started' was virtually non-existent and documentation generally was relatively poor. Instead of taking a helicopter view of what people need to do, it seems to be a list of features, rather than taken from a user procedural point of view.


The Axiom software upgrade procedure worked faultlessly, and the set up was smooth. I have yet to sort the chart issue out, as I purchased £155 worth of UK charts from C-MAP.


There was a 10 day shutdown in the middle of all this when I could not access the B&G account and I had acquired a C-Map account that I was advised to shut down to avoid confusion. I imagine the charts are somehow encrypted to be device specific, and I will have to see what ensues. £30 of oeSENC charts for OpenCPN will do the same job. In addition there was the little bug re Navigation Method set up, and the green line on the Android phone app that I found and reported has apparently been outstanding for some time, making remote viewing at night almost impossible.



I hope this discussion helps somebody, and look forward to someone proving that the Vulcan does indeed do the job.



John (Fuga sadly sold, hence this project boat).