Yacht Devices YDNG-03 User manual

User Manual
NMEA 0183 Gateway YDNG-03
also covers models
YDNG-03R, YDNG-03N
Software version
1.03
2018

© 2018 Yacht Devices Ltd. Document YDNG03-002. August 7, 2018. Web: http://www.yachtd.com/
Yacht Devices NMEA 0183 Gateway YDNG-03 is certied by the National
Marine Electronics Association.
NMEA 2000® is a registered trademark of the National Marine Electronics
Association. SeaTalk NG is a registered trademark of Raymarine UK Limited.
Garmin® is a registered trademark of Garmin Ltd.

Contents
Introduction 4
Warranty and Technical Support 5
I. Product Specication 6
II. NMEA Basics 8
III. MicroSD Slot and Card’s Compatibility 12
IV. Installation and Connection of Device 13
V. LED Signals 15
VI. Device Settings 17
VII. Recording of Diagnostics Data 24
VIII. Firmware Updates 27
IX. Autopilot Control and Settings 29
Appendix A. Troubleshooting 32
Appendix B. Device Connectors 33
Appendix C. NMEA 2000 Messages Supported by Device 35
Appendix D. Conversions Between NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183 37
Appendix E. Example of Conguration File 44
Package Contents
Device 1 pc.
This Manual 1 pc.
Stickers for MicroSD slot sealing 6 pc.

— 4 —
Introduction
The NMEA 0183 Gateway (hereinafter Gateway or Device) allows you to connect NMEA 0183 equipment
to a NMEA 2000 network and vice versa. It has a bi-directional converter with wide support of message
types including AIS (see Appendix D) and autopilot control.
The Gateway has one NMEA 2000 connection and one NMEA 0183 port with transmit and receive
data lines. The congurable baud rate from 300 to 115200 baud of NMEA 0183 port allows connecting
AIS transceivers (38400 baud), fast NMEA 0183 multiplexers and PC adaptors, as well as standard
NMEA 0183 equipment. Both “single ended” and “differential” NMEA 0183 connections are supported
(see Section II.1).
The Device is equipped with a Micro SD card slot used for conguration, rmware updates and diagnostic
data logging. No special software is required to update or congure the Gateway. You only need a device
(laptop or smartphone) with a MicroSD card reader and simple text editor.
A exible system of lters allows blocking of NMEA 0183 messages by sentence (see Section VI.2)
and NMEA 2000 messages by PGN, sender address, or 29-bit message identier. Filters also allow blocking
of all messages in a specied direction (see example in Section VI.4).
The separate lter denes what NMEA 0183 sentences should be forwarded from the NMEA 0183 input
to the NMEA 0183 output. This turns the Device into a multiplexer of NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183 data,
and allows using it as a repeater or extender of the physical NMEA 0183 uplink. Multiple “listeners” can be
connected to the NMEA 0183 output (TX) lines of the Gateway.
The Gateway is powered from the NMEA 2000 and provides high voltage galvanic isolation between
NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183 ports.
Thank you for purchasing our product and happy voyages!

— 5 —
Warranty and Technical Support
1. The Device warranty is valid for two years from the date of purchase. If a Device was purchased
in a retail store, the sales receipt may be requested when applying for a warranty claim.
2. The Device warranty is terminated in case of violation of the instructions in this Manual, case
integrity breach, or repair or modication of the Device without the manufacturer’s written
permission.
3. If a warranty request is accepted, the defective Device must be sent to the manufacturer.
4. The warranty liabilities include repair and/or replacement of the goods and do not include the cost
of equipment installation and conguration, or shipping of the defective Device to the manufacturer.
5. Responsibility of the manufacturer in case of any damage as a consequence of the Device’s operation
or installation is limited to the Device cost.
6. The manufacturer is not responsible for any errors and inaccuracies in guides and instructions
of other companies.
7. The Device requires no maintenance. The Device’s case is non-dismountable.
8. In the event of a failure, please refer to Appendix A before contacting technical support.
9. The manufacturer accepts applications under warranty and provides technical support only
via e-mail or from authorized dealers.
10. The contact details of the manufacturer and a list of the authorized dealers are published
on the website: http://www.yachtd.com/

— 6 —
I. Product Specification
Figure 1. Drawing of YDNG-03N (left) and YDNG-03R (right) models of Gateway
Our devices are supplied with different types of NMEA 2000 connectors. Models containing R in the sufx
of model name are equipped with NMEA 2000 connectors and are compatible with Raymarine SeaTalk NG.
Models containing N in the sufx are equipped with NMEA 2000 Micro Male connectors. See connector
drawings in Appendix B.

— 7 —
Device parameter Value Unit
Current consumption from NMEA 2000 network 30 mA
Supply voltage from NMEA 2000 network 7..16 V
Load equivalency number 1 LEN
NMEA 2000 Connections 1 —
Galvanic isolation between NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183 2500 V
RMS
NMEA 0183 Cable length 400 mm
NMEA 0183 Ports (input / output) 1 / 1 —
Device case length 54 mm
Weight 37 gr
Operating temperature range - 20..55 °С
Note: the Gateway is powered from the NMEA 2000 network.
Yacht Devices Ltd declares that this product is compliant with the essential requirements
of EMC directive 2004/108/EC.
Dispose of this product in accordance with the WEEE Directive. Do not mix electronic disposal with
domestic or industrial refuse.

— 8 —
II. NMEA Basics
This section describes the basics of NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 networks. We are recommend getting
familiar with this section before connecting the Device.
These networks are very different at the electrical and software levels. NMEA 0183 also has traveled
a long evolutionary path, but thanks to its simplicity and cheapness, it is still very popular and widely used.
1. NMEA 0183
The default speed of a NMEA 0183 interface is 4800 baud. A high-speed interface is 38400 baud
and was designed especially for AIS, but usually chart plotters and instrument displays allow any data
(not only AIS) on a high-speed port. On a chart plotter, port speed can be congured in settings.
NMEA 0183 uses different wires for talking (transmitting, TX) and listening (receiving, RX) data. One
talker can be connected to multiple listeners, but a listener can have only one talker connected. Special
devices called “multiplexers” are used to join the output of multiple talkers to a single stream.
Figure 1. (a) RS-232 and (b) RS-422

— 9 —
NMEA 0183, until version 2.0 (1992), used a “single ended” RS-232 interface with one TX line
and one RX signal line (grey at Figure 1.a) and ground line (dotted at Figure 1.a) used as reference for TX
and RX signals. Therefore, old devices have only three wires.
Since version 2.0, NMEA 0183 has been based on a “differential” RS-422 interface, which has two RX lines
RX+ (can also be marked as “A”) and RX- (or “B”), two TX lines TX+ (or “A”, grey at Figure 1.b) and TX-
(or “B”, dotted at Figure 1) and ground (not shown at Figure 1.b). Modern devices use ve wires.
Devices of different versions can be connected, but with one caution. TX- (“B”) is not equal to a ground line.
Voltage on the TX- line (dotted on Figure 1.b) changes from 0 to 5V, and connecting this line to ground line
can cause a short circuit.
The right connection schemes are shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Connection of NMEA 0183 devices

— 10 —
2. NMEA 2000
NMEA 2000 network runs at 250 kbps and allows up to 60 physical devices to be connected. Unlike NMEA
0183, there are no “talkers” and “listeners”. All devices can “talk” and all devices receive all messages. Many
electronic manufacturers presented “branded” versions of NMEA 2000. Raymarine SeaTalk NG, Simrad
SimNet, FurunoCAN differ only in the type of connectors used. However, in recent years manufacturers
have been moving to NMEA 2000 connectors.
Figure 3. Basic NMEA 2000 network (1- backbone, 2 – terminators, 3 – dedicated power,
4 – drop cable)

— 11 —
The network backbone (between 2 and 2 at Figure 3) has two data lines (called CAN HIGH and CAN LOW)
and two power lines. Power lines should be connected to a 12-Volt power supply (see 3 at Figure 3).
Low-powered devices, like our Gateway, take power directly from the network backbone.
Data lines are “terminated” at both ends with a 120-Ohm resistor (see 2 at Figure 3). Therefore, resistance
between CAN lines is between 60 and 120 Ohms. Devices can be connected to any place of backbone
(between terminators). The cable from network backbone to the Device is called a drop cable (see 4
at Figure 1). Our devices can be connected directly to a backbone.
All the above does mean that you can not simple connect the Gateway to a NMEA 2000 port of your chart
plotter to connect a NMEA 0183 sensor to it. You should establish a simple NMEA 2000 network rst.
Many manufacturers offer a “Starter Kit” which contains all that is necessary to establish a basic network
and connect two devices:
• for Raymarine SeaTalk NG, see Raymarine part number T70134;
• for NMEA 2000, see Garmin part number 010-11442-00.

— 12 —
III. MicroSD Slot and Card’s Compatibility
The Device has a slot for a MicroSD card that allows you to congure the Device (see Section VI), update
the rmware (see Section VIII) and record diagnostics data (see Section VII).
Since the MicroSD slot is usually not in use when the Device is working, we recommend sealing it with
the sticker that is included with the Device or with a piece of tape to prevent water from entering the Device
through the slot.
The Device slot has a ‘push-push’ mechanism that works on a spring and ensures proper card
xation. Improper loading or unloading (withdrawing your nger to quickly or not waiting
for the click) can result in the card being propelled out of the Device up to 5 meters. To avoid
possible eye injury, loss of or damage to the card, and other hazards, insert and remove
the card with caution.
The Device supports MicroSD memory cards of all sizes and classes. The MicroSD card must be formatted
on a personal computer before use in the Device. The Device supports the following le systems:
FAT (FAT12, FAT16, MS-DOS) and FAT32. It does not support exFAT, NTFS, or any other le systems.
Be careful when inserting the MicroSD card into the Device. The card is inserted with the label side toward
the LED and with the pin side toward the NMEA 0183 cable.
Figure 1. Device with MicroSD card (pin side visible at left, label side at right)

— 13 —
IV. Installation and Connection of Device
The Device requires no maintenance. When deciding where to install the Device, choose a dry mounting
location. Avoid places where the Device can be ooded with water, as this can damage it.
1. Connection to NMEA 2000
The Device is directly connected to the NMEA 2000 network backbone without a drop cable. Before
connecting the Device, turn off the bus power supply. Refer to the manufacturer’s documentation
if you have any questions regarding the use of connectors:
• SeaTalk NG Reference Manual (81300-1) for Raymarine networks
• Technical Reference for Garmin NMEA 2000 Products (190-00891-00) for Garmin networks
After connecting the Device, close the lock on the connection to ensure its water resistance and reliability.
The Device is powered from the NMEA 2000 network and has an LED which ashes red or green. After
turning the power in the NMEA 2000 network on, the Device’s LED will give a one green ash indicating
that it is turned on and then series of 6 ashes 5 seconds apart. If this does not happen, see Appendix A.
You can also check the NMEA 2000 connection and rmware version from a chart plotter. Please
see Section VIII for details.
2. Initial conguration
The Gateway is supplied with a NMEA 0183 port congured for 4800 baud. If your NMEA 0183
equipment has a different speed, it is recommended to congure the Gateway port speed before connecting
to NMEA 0183 equipment (see Section VI.1). If your NMEA 0183 equipment supports port speed
conguration, it is recommended initially to set the highest available speed at the Gateway and equipment.
Note that the Gateway has a bi-directional converter between NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000. This can cause
ooding of the NMEA 2000 network by unwanted data from NMEA 0183 and vice versa. You may congure
the Gateway to work in one direction only if required (see Section VI.4).

— 14 —
3. Connection to NMEA 0183
The connection to the NMEA 0183 network varies depending on the version of the connecting
equipment. Please, refer to Section II.1 for connection schemas. The wrong wiring can damage
the equipment!
Note that many NMEA 0183 devices, including the Gateway, have different wire colors than specied
in the Standard. Please check the label on cable and/or documentation before connecting.
Table 1. NMEA 0183 Wire Colors
Signal NMEA 0183 Standart Gateway YDNG-03
Talker TX+ (A) White Red
Talker TX- (B) Brown Black
Listener RX+ (A) Yellow Yellow
Listener RX- (B) Green Blue
Ground Black Clear
All connections should be made when the power is off. This will protect against accidental short circuits
during installation.
The wires are recommended to be connected by crimping in sleeves or twisting rather than soldering.
Soldered connections can quickly break down in the marine environment and require isolation from air
with paint or lacquer.
4. Checking the connection
Check the connection state and quality by the LED signals (see the next Section). In the event of a failure,
please refer to Appendix A.

— 15 —
V. LED Signals
The Device is equipped with a bi-color LED that indicate the Device’s state. The Device produces a short
single green ash after powering on, indicating that the Device is functioning.
1. Signals during normal operation
During normal operation, Device produces a series of six ashes every ve seconds. The Flashes indicate
the state of Device interfaces over the last ve seconds and have the following meaning:
• Flash #1. GREEN if data is received from the NMEA 2000 interface, otherwise RED. Note that
lters and other Device settings do not effect this signal. RED usually indicates problems at the level
of the physical connection.
• Flash #2. GREEN if data transmitted to NMEA 2000. This signal may be RED if nothing was received
from NMEA 0183, or conversion was prohibited by the lter settings (see Section VI).
• Flash #3. GREEN if data was received from NMEA 0183 interface. A RED signal may indicate
the incorrect speed of the NMEA 0183 port or problems with the physical connection.
• Flash #4. Checksum signal. GREEN if no checksum error found in incoming NMEA 0183 messages
(only messages not blocked by lters are veried). RED if errors were found or nothing was received
(Flash #3 is RED).
• Flash #5. GREEN if data was transmitted to NMEA 0183. As there is no conrmation of reception,
this signal does not mean that data was received by any listener. RED means that Gateway has nothing
to send, because nothing was received from NMEA 2000 or everything was prohibited by lters
(see Section VI).
• Flash #6. Overow signal. GREEN if no overow occurs (see VII for details) in the outgoing
NMEA 0183 queue. RED if overow is detected or nothing was transmitted (Flash #5 is RED).
The 4th signal is very important for checking the connection wiring and quality. For example, connecting
of TX+ and TX- wires from different ports or even from different devices can remain undetected
for a long time. However, when both ports (devices) are transmitting at the same time, the message
is corrupted, and a checksum error signal indicates the problem. Electromagnetic noise from power

— 16 —
equipment (fridges, generators, etc.) may also cause a checksum error.
The last (sixth) signal indicates that port speed is too slow for outgoing NMEA 0183 stream. To understand
the scale of the problem, you can record and check diagnostics data. See the description of overow
diagnostic messages at Section VII.
2. Signals after inserting MicroSD card
After inserting the MicroSD card into the Device you will see a sequence of three ashes:
• Three green ashes: the YDNG.TXT conguration le has been read and changes have been made
to the current Device settings and saved to non-volatile memory. The YDNGSAVE.TXT le
on the card has been saved with the updated conguration.
• Green, red, red: the YDNG.TXT le has been read from the card, but the current conguration
of the Device has not been changed (either the conguration le does not differ from the current
settings, contains errors or there are no settings in the le). The YDNGSAVE.TXT le on the card
has been saved with the current conguration.
• Three red ashes: the YDNG.TXT was not found on the MicroSD card or the le system
is not supported (see section III).
You can safely remove the MicroSD card when the ash sequence is nished.
3. Other signals
LED signals during diagnostics recording and during rmware updates are described in Sections VII
and VIII.

— 17 —
VI. Device Settings
To congure the Device, a text le with the conguration should be created and named YDNG.TXT
in the root folder of the MicroSD card. A sample of the conguration le is in Appendix E.
The le contents must conform to these rules:
• parameters and their values must be entered in UPPER CASE;
• each parameter must be on its own line;
• commentary lines must start with the # symbol.
Insert the card with a conguration le into the Device and in a few seconds you will see three LED signals
(see Section V) indicating that the conguration le has been processed. A le named YDNGSAVE.TXT
will be created on the memory card with the current conguration of the Device. After the three
LED signals, you can remove the card and check the new YDNGSAVE.TXT le to be sure that
the conguration le has been properly interpreted.
You also can load an empty conguration le (zero length) into the Device to get the YDNGSAVE.TXT le
with the full conguration of the Device and then use it as a template to congure the Device.
1. 0183_SPEED=x
Where x – any speed from 300 to 115200 baud with increments of 300.
Factory conguration: 4800
The default speed of a NMEA 0183 port is 4800 baud, but speeds of 9600 (Navtex) and 38400 (AIS)
are also widely used. Some equipment has no speed selector, but you can switch the port type between
“NMEA”, “Navtex” and “AIS” (or something similar). Even though a port is labeled “AIS” type, usually
that only means that it works at 38400 baud and processes not only AIS, but all other NMEA 0183
messages too.
The general rule is that a slower connection is more robust. However, 4800 baud allows transferring
of about 480 symbols per second. If equipment send a lot of data (for example, depth, wind, speed,
and GPS data) it is possible that the data block will be above 1000 bytes, and that data will be updated

— 18 —
once per two seconds. In the case of 38400 speed, the update rate will be 2 times per second.
Our recommendation is to set the highest possible speed. If you are sure that your equipment
does not require high speed, or you see checksum error signals from the LED (see Section V), you can
decrease the speed.
A speed above 38400 (57600, 115200) can be used for connection with PC adaptors or NMEA 0183
multiplexers with congurable port speed.
2. 0183_TX_TYPE=x, 0183_RX_TYPE=x, N2K_TX_TYPE=x and N2K_RX_TYPE=x
Where x – WHITE or BLACK
Factory conguration: BLACK
Denes the type of lter for messages transmitted to connected NMEA 0183 equipment (0183_TX_TYPE),
received from connected NMEA 0183 equipment (0183_RX_TYPE), transmitted to NMEA 2000 network
(N2K_TX_TYPE) and received from NMEA 2000 network (N2K_RX_TYPE).
See the next two parameters for details.
3. 0183_TX_FILTER=x and 0183_RX_FILTER=y
Where x and y – empty string or the list of 3-char NMEA 0183 sentence formatters separated by a comma.
Factory setting: x — DBT,DBS,XDR,DTM,DIN,PGN; y — empty string.
These settings dene records of lter lists, used to process messages sent (0183_TX_FILTER) and received
(0183_RX_FILTER) from connected NMEA 0183 equipment.
According to the standard, a NMEA 0183 sentence starts with a $ or ! symbol, followed by a two-character
talker ID and a 3-char sentence formatter. These elements are followed by data elds (after the comma).
The sentence is nished by a check sum after the * (asterisk) symbol.
Gateway with factory settings using “YD” talker ID, it can be changed with TALKER_ID setting (see VI.10).

— 19 —
The Device uses 3-char sentence formatters only for ltering. The following sentences matches to GLL
and VDM records (sentence formatters):
$GPGLL,4146.5894,N,07029.6952,W,173412.02,A*15
!AIVDM,1,1,,B,ENk`smq71h@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@=MeR6<7rpP00003vf400,4*5F
For example, to block processing of only GLL and VDM messages from connected equipment, use
the following conguration:
0183_RX_TYPE=BLACK
0183_RX_FILTER=GLL,VDM
If the lter is of BLACK type, the Device ignores messages whose sentence formatter matches with one
of the lter list records. A WHITE lter passes only matched messages.
To prohibit transmission of any messages to connected NMEA 0183 equipment, set the lter type
to WHITE and the list to empty (the same effect as disconnect TX wires):
0183_TX_TYPE=WHITE
0183_TX_FILTER=
Messages from connected NMEA 0183 equipment pass the 0183_RX lter rst. Passed messages are
converted to NMEA 2000 (see Appendix D) and the resulting NMEA 2000 messages are processed with
N2K_TX lter (see the next parameter). Likewise for the reverse direction.
4. N2K_TX_FILTER=x and N2K_RX_FILTER=x
Where x – empty string or lter records separated by comma.
Factory setting: empty string.
You should be familiar with the NMEA 2000 Standard (which can be purchased from National Marine
Electronics Association, www.nmea.org) to operate with NMEA 2000 lters.
These lters actually contain pairs of 29-bit message identiers and a mask. The identier is compared

— 20 —
by processing the NMEA 2000 message identier, and the second value (mask) denes the comparison
concerning which bits are signicant.
The identier contains a PGN (Parameter Group Number, described in NMEA 2000 Standard)
and a source device address. You can use decimal and hexadecimal numbers (which start with a 0x prex).
To simplify dening lters, it is also allowed to set lters using PGN only. The lter string contains records
separated by comma. Records contain an identier and mask separated by space, or a PGN number.
Example of correct lter:
N2K_RX_FILTER=0x1FD0700 0x1FFFFFF, 130310, 1 255, 130311
This lter matches with messages with PGN 130311 (0x1FD07) sent by the device with address 0,
PGN 130310 (sent by any device), messages sent by a device with address 1 (“1 255” is another form
of the record “0x0000001 0x00000FF”), and PGN 130311 (sent by any device).
To prohibit sending of any messages from NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 and allow the opposite direction,
use the following settings:
0183_TX_TYPE=BLACK
0183_RX_TYPE=WHITE
N2K_TX_TYPE=WHITE
N2K_RX_TYPE=BLACK
0183_TX_FILTER=
0183_RX_FILTER=
N2K_TX_FILTER=
N2K_RX_FILTER=
The example above has “doubled” settings. Because all messages received from NMEA 0183 are blocked
by the 0183 lter, and transmission of any message to NMEA 2000 is blocked by the N2K lter.