2. Hardware Information
The iKonvert Gateway is available in two versions; a USB version or ISO (NMEA0183) version. The only difference between the two versions are the cable and the position of two "jumpers" on the PCB.
The enclosure can be mounted using its two slotted 4mm wide fixing holes (see dimensions below). Use suitable screws/bolts (not supplied) to fix the converter to a flat surface or cable tie it to a cable loom or other solid object. Note - the unit may be installed in any orientation.
Customisation/re-branding is very easy, just a simple silver product label which we can provide the artwork of in Illustrator or EPS format. If you wish to have your own brand on the product label, we simply ask you to pay for a batch of product labels which you then free-issue to us for inclusion on your units.
To access the PCB, simply unscrew the two cross-head self-tapping screws on the rear of the enclosure.
The small PCB has been designed for easy integration in to other products with two 2.5mm fixing holes. It features a 5 way terminal block for connection to an NMEA2000 cable and an Hirose DF11 connector for IO and USB.
Our standard NMEA2000 drop cable (Male), USB cable or ISO Data cable can be supplied or for customers that wish to use their own cable, the DF11 connector (DF11-12DP-2DSA) pin out is shown.
There is a 4 way DIP switch in the center of the PCB that will be used in the future for mode selection. For now the gateway has just one mode, which we refer to as the "RAW Data" mode, the protocol of which is covered in this document. In "RAW Data" mode the gateway's baud rate is 230400.
The gateway has one Analogue Sensor Input (Red Wire) and one "Open Collector" digital output (Black Wire). These are currently not utilized and only accessible using the ISO Data cable, but will be enabled in the future.
A 5-way terminal block is used for connecting the NMEA2000 drop cable. This means that longer drop cables can easily be fitted or even a proprietary NMEA2000 cable like a SeaTalkNG cable from Raymarine – simply cut one end off and fit the bare wires.
The NMEA2000 interface is fully isolated (power and data) and the board takes its power from the NMEA2000 network (LEN=1).
The USB interface is powered from the USB connection and will register as a virtual COM port on the computer it is connected to, even if the gateway is not powered up from the NMEA2000 network.
The gateway has four indicator LEDs that show the status of the gateway.
When the unit powers up the Power LED will illuminate. If the gateway is initialised and on the NMEA2000 network, then the N2K LED will flash as N2K data is received and the USB LED will flash as application data is received from the USB device.
The Error LED will flash whenever error conditions occur such as; the application sends wrong commands to the gateway or if frame errors occur on the NMEA2000 networks.