Furuno Can BUS/NMEA 2000 setup

[winbasic]

Hi,
I have a Furuno 1870gf plotter and a Nav 711 autopilot and from what I can tell, the existing cable layout looks something like this below. E.g. I know I have a junction box and a processor unit.

Now I'm new to this so please excuse the mixup in terminology. From what I understand, the above isn't a full CAN BUS system which is what I need if I want to add additional NMEA2000 devices. What I want to do is add a NMEA 2000 Engine Gateway from yachtd (eventually I'll need 1 for each engine). Is it possible to expand my plotter/autopilot 'network' to a CAN BUS type arrangement?

Thanks in advance for your assistance - I still well and truly have my training wheels on with this CAN BUS and NMEA setup so any assistance (and patience!) is greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards,

David.

 

[dingbat]

I love a quality and functionality of Furuno products but their use of proprietary, or semi-proprietary communications steered me away from them.

Can Bus and NMEA 2000 use the same method of transfer but speak different languages.

Digging thru Furuno’s network literature and the plotter it’s self, I see no mention of NMEA 2000 sentence compliance nor a list of NMEA 2000 supported sentences with the chart plotter.

I supect you”ll no problem connecting additional devices as long as they have a Furuno label on the device.

 

[winbasic]

Thanks again Dingbat - that makes sense to me and sounds like Plan B is in order and for me to create my own 'secondary' wireless NMEA network. The plotter is about 6 years old now and the autopilot isn't much use for my neck of the woods so they will more than likely end up on the replacement list once I get out of the engine bay in this rejuvenation project. Would you have a recommendation for a replacement plotter/sounder? I'd previously used a Garmin GPSMAP device which seemed to do everything required of it.

 

[dingbat]

I’m running an old GPSMAP 4208 for navigation. Can’t kill the thing.

Added a 94SV EchoMap CHIRP last year for side scanning sonar and nav backup for the 4208.

Both units and external senors, paddle speed, gps antenna, fuel management and VHF are NMEA 2000 networked.

 

[winbasic]

Just posting a followup to this as result now achieved with thanks to contributors here ...

I ended up creating an NMEA network based on Yacht Devices WiFi Gateway (YDWG02) and Engine Gateway (YDEG04) units using cables/connectors from Garmin. This has allowed me to connect tablet/phone/laptop via WiFi and get real time RPM, Fuel Flow, Engine Hours and Temperature for each engine. Having it as a secondary system is preferable as I only really only want to check consumption and temperature at this stage.

P.s. Not a sponsored post but have named the manufacturers in case anyone else wants to travel down this path ...