This week on Sundays With Sully we are talking about NMEA2000 and some best practices and trouble shooting tips. Check it out and let us know how we can help you.
This is really helpful. Thank you. I'm about to install one of these for the first time. Googling for two weeks mostly I just found information that wasn't basic enough. This is exactly what a newbie needs. (My next big question is I have a sailboat with a 63' mast. That means the 'drop' NMEA from the wind instruments is 3x greater than the maximum 6m/ 20'. I'm guessing there must be some way to run the backbone 45' up the mast (and back down again) with some kind of minimal T connector. Or something else?? (And good news. If I'm pulling out my hair to learn and do this then according to the way Murphy's Law works for me... all this will be wireless in 6 months.)
If these instruments need data and power I would use separate cables for them. Make the connection up there as good as you can if possible by using soldering and shrink tubing for insulation. You don't want to go up there every week for fixing them. Provide strain relief for the cables. You dont want 60 feet of cable pulling on the connections. Don't use single strand solid cable. Below deck preferebly in a watertight box you can add a cut NMEA cable long enough to go to straight to your display or NMEA backbone. Wireless instruments exist. They aren't cheap.
