Running dual transducers on an NMEA 2000 system

[Oly1]

A little off from the last topic of setting up a dual Lowrance system in the boat. A question arose while talking about setting a dual Lowrance chart plotter/finder setup system in our boat. Using the NMEA 2000 backbone with a Lowrance Elite 7 Chirp up front and a Lowrance HDS5 Gen 1 in the rear of the boat. Can we run two transducers and would you gain anything by doing this (for example a piece of wood takes out one transducer on the way out fishing). The transducers in question are for the cabin unit - Elite 7 Chirp with 83-200 455/800 kHz 000-1097-001 and the rear station is the HDS5 with an Airmar P66. Would the NMEA 2000 system be able to decipher all the information and make sense of it or is this out of it’s range of abilities. Would a guy be better off running the two units separately. No motor input is available(older motor) however a Lowrance Point 1 external antenna will be run through to both units.

Thanks for your input

Oly

 

[Unreel]

I have 2 transducers but only use one and have the other wired to the main unit but left unplugged. Then if theres an issue with the main ducer u can unplug that one and plug in the other. Not sure if that answers your question.

 

[Oly1]

That was the backup plan if it was not possible to run both. But then which one should be the main transducer. Or should I look at another one instead for a main. Would be nice to have Chirp working. Haven’t seen it working yet on the Elite 7. Have never had the Chirp ducer hooked up yet.

 

[ericl]

To the best of my knowledge Xducers do not plug into NMEA 2k. They plug into a port on the sounder & transmit/receive analog data versus digital data with NMEA 2K. "Mirroring" the sounder data from the device the Xducer plugs into to another device is device dependent; meaning you need to ask Lowrance .
I have seen some youtube video of CHIRP & a P66 being run simultaneously; the CHIRP does fine rejecting the P66 stuff but the P66 screen was TOTAl garbage/interference. CHIRP is smart enough to know what freq it sent out & reject everything else but the old school non-CHIRP is too dumb to do this.

Do a proper install of the CHIRP Xducer & mirror to another display (if possible) or don't look at the P66 when the CHIRP is on.

 

[BCI]

NMEA2000 is for sending numerical data only. Sounder images generally share over the marine network. NMEA2000 will give you SOG, Depth, Heading, etc but will not give you graphical info.

 

[Oly1]

Thanks guys.

Ericl, I am hooking the transducers to the units themselves. It was my understanding that the NMEA 2K would then share the info between the two sounders. I can see where two transducers with similar frequencies could mess with quality of the readings on one or both of the units.

BCI you say that images usually share over the marine network, are you talking connecting the two units via Ethernet cable?

The reason that I was thinking of going the NMEA 2K way was to hook an external GPS antennae to both units. Having done some more looking last night, I have found some info that suggests that the Lowrance Point 1 can be connected to the first unit through the NMEA port. The two units could be further connected with a Lowrance Ethernet cable giving both units access to the GPS antennae and sharing info back and forth. Just a little confusing because I don’t have two HDS units as one is an Elite 7. Don’t want to hook something up wrong and damage any of the head units.

The picture above is where I first thought that this was the correct way. If Ethernet cable is better I will go that route.

Oly

 

[ericl]

Display mirroring is going to use vendor specific proprietary cables & protocols most likely using an ethernet cable. Example would be that most will mirror to an iPad, but you need to install the vendor's app on the iPad & communications is over wifi ethernet; as ethernet is both a set of communications protocols as well as standards for interconnection between devices (can be wifi or hardwired). The picture above is for a NMEA 2K physical network connection. As mentioned above, NMEA 2K only transmits text & numbers like you see on a computer keyboard; not graphics. If all you want to do is mirror 2 Lowrance head units, all you need is ethernet. NMEA 2K would be used let's say to send waypoints from your Lowrance GPS to an autopilot.

 

[easydoesit]

To the OP' s. Question about linking transducers into a single master system or two systems.

Redundancy , as in two different systems works for me. Waaaaay less complicated compared to interfacing to a single unit and provides a backup should one system fail either the multifunction unit itself or one of the sensors. Installing a redundant or backup system is common in a lot of areas of transportation; military, aviation, merchant marine.

The KISS principle, if you like.

 

[eriks]

I know you said you’re setting up a Lowrance system, but on my Garmin you specify the sounder input source on the MFD. Maybe it’s the same on Lowrance? I also have two (3 in fact) transducers, my older Airmar B164 and two new side-scans, and I have them both plugged directly into the back of my MFD.
The older B164 is an 8 pin plug, and the new CHIRP is a 12 pin plug, so I have them both connected

 

[wildthing]

running 4 transducers std p66, L-SS2 structure scan, SS-175 High and SS-175 low
and will be adding a High wide later this year... all selectable from the MFD's- evo-2 /2009