shoal cat

Have a ? about the nmea part of the unit. How many things can you run off one circuit? Like if i have radar, autopilot, and vhf. Can i send signal from one circuit to all three, like hook all the transmits together and all the receives together. Or do you only run one device on one circuit? Im having a hard time understanding this schematic in my head, none of the wires are the same color for the same function, i thought the purpose was for the wires to be universal. Wrong again. Thanks for any help.

arimaguy

Sounds like you ae talking about NMEA 0183. I went full NMEA 2000 went I installed all my Lowrance goodies. Plug and Play, gotta love it.

Jim at the "Marine Electronics Q&A with BOE Marine" forum on here has pretty good explanations of both NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000.

Alan

shoal cat

Plug and play how? I undestand the term but everything i have has single wires for each connection. Yeah its the 0183. So now it has gone universal. Guess my junk is behind times.

TheLucille

If you want multiple units to be able to "talk" to the HDS8, you'll need a NMEA multiplexer. This acts as a hub and buffers/combines the signals from all devices.

NMEA2k is much easier to work with, flexible and faster.

shoal cat

Thanks for the replies. Where do you get one of these hubs? I thought the hds talked to the other devices since it had the gps capability. Or does the gps send it then the device returns it. Im just not clear on how the whole system works. The guy who had the boat previously had ran a new horizon (just gps unit) to the radar and the icom vhf by splicing them altogether. Not individually, but paired the inputs and outputs on same circuit. Was that wrong?

rhartjr

What he did is fine. The GPS output can connect with three devices with no problem. No real reason to hook the VHF's output to the GPS as it doesn't have a clue what to do with what the radio outputs.

Ray

TheLucille

You're assuming they are all listening to the GPS, and do not need to communicate with it. This may be true.

And the HDS, of corse, can receive waypoints from a DSC VHF. Not as important as havin the position to transmit during an emergency, but a useful feature either way.

sandiegosteve

I know, RTFM, but is this turned on by default? I've got the 0183 out from the HDS to my VHF and Yamaha Fuel gauges and the in from the VHF. I've never seen inbound information from the VHF.

rhartjr

And you never will.

Ray

TheLucille

I use it occasionally to send waypoints via the VHF. Also, I like to be available for others in case of emergency - if they send a DSC distress call, it'll pop up on the HDS. If you're not concerned about not having these features, don't worry about hooking the VHF's output to your GPS. Adoption on DSC has really lagged - many people have the radios but haven't made the simple connection to interface the two.

Reel Draggin' Tackle

Why do you say that Ray? Between 5 offshore boats we all have it hooked up and send position data between boats every trip. Its a great way to pass your position without broadcasting it to the world.

rhartjr

Your Lowrance HDS is showing their positions on the screen?

Ray

Reel Draggin' Tackle

On the LCX19 yes; on the HDS10, not yet. I had a 183 issue and lost the connection last trip out. We were still able to POSITION SEND between radios, but I had to enter the posit into the HDS. Its fixed now and unless there is an issue I am un aware of, I expet it to work. Its the same functionality as the Track Your Buddy feature used in the lowrance radio.

If there is a problem with the HDS units, I would like to hear about it. I have not head of an HDS 183 in/out issue.

wstrickland1

does anyone know if you can interface an HDS 10 with a Mercury Optimax? I had heard thatg at one time you could not but then heard that you can. Does anyone know?

shoal cat

Ok guys so from what i have gathered it is ok to run the hds to 3 devices. I see there are two different connections. Two receive, two transmit. So would it be safe to say i could run one device on one in out, and run the other 2 devices on the other transmit, receive circuit. Or just run all three on one transmit, receive?

arimaguy

Each HDS transmit pair can be connected to several "receive" devices. Each HDS receive pair can be connected to only one "sending" device.

Alan

shoal cat

Thank you for the advice. But now im really confused, what do i need to transmit to and what do i need to receive from. I should be transmitting to the vhf right? But what about the radar and auto pilot? Transmitting as well? What would you need to receive from? I need to go to a nmea class and better understand the system.

arimaguy

Sooner or later you are going to have to get your hands on the manuals for your installed electronics. The manuals will tell you what each piece of your gear needs as far as inputs and what information it can output. Don't really want to confuse the issue any more, but you will also need to know what NMEA sentences each piece of gear needs so you can set the output sentences.

Alan

shoal cat

I have looked at the manuals and they are not detailed about what to hook where and for what reason. They do show the color wires and their function however (transmit/receive/ground shield). Still i need to google nmea and find out what and how it works.