A few people have asked for more details about out network on-board. Instead of trying to describe it, and because I should have one anyways, I decided to create a Network Diagram.
So far, the network has been working great. On occasion, the 2.4 GHZ radio in the MNC-1250 stops responding, however I am working with their tech support to get to the bottom of it. We have that device mounted upside down to the "ceiling" of what I call the network area in the owners cabin. I have a suspicion that it maty be overheating as it it not sitting in the orientation it was designed to be in.
As it turns out, I have a spare 12v computer-type fan that I am going to wire into the 12V fuse block in there and mount it to the router and see if that makes a difference. I also went into the configuration settings and turned down the output power of both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios, since the signals do not have to go very far to cover the boat. This should also reduce the amount of heat generated.
Have a look at the diagram and let me know if you have any questions!
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| SV Mira Network Diagram |
Very nice! Question: Since the B&G, Victron, PW Data Hub .. are all connected via NMEA, why are they also connected with Eternet? Since PW Data Hub has LAN connection, would connecting the Data Hub only to the WiFi router be enoogh to pass the data fm all NMEA equipment to the WiFi netwotk?
ReplyDeleteOnly limited data flows across NMEA, therefore, a network connection is needed if you need to bridge that gap. We try to hardwire as much as possible to a) make it more reliable and b) leave more bandwidth/reduce latency on the wireless.
DeleteI would highly recommend the iPad app AquaMarine. It can connect to the NMEA of LAN feed that the DataHub creates, so that app shows real-time boat and wind data (somewhat limited, but it's still very handy)
Hi Mike - we are doing some planning and research ahead of our delivery next year, so thanks for this and all the other great info you have on the site! Curious if you have made any substantial updates to the network layout? I was considering a using a peplink device to manage the multiple-WAN situation via PoE, and then let the inside router handle wifi and the local network. This would (I think) save on any signal losses running down and into the equipment closet, but curious how everything is working for you and what you might change a few years down the road!
ReplyDeleteHi Chris, Glad the information has been helpful. I'm not sure what you mean exactly in your question. Peplink has a great product; a lot of similar features to the Wave MNC1250 that we use. I guess I'm not sure what you mean by "inside router". I'm assuming the Peplink you are talking about would be a multi-WAN router, so you would already have a router and there would be no good reason to have two routers. (I will note that we hardly ever use anything but Starlink as our WAN, but sometimes move the cable from the "Startlink" WAN Port to the "Priortiy Starlink" Wan Port when we are on ocean mode. We only have certain devices on the boat that are allowed to access the internet from that port, so that we can easily prevent laptops, etc from driving a lot of data without having to reconfigure a whole bunch of devices.)
DeleteAre you maybe referring to an Wireless Access Point (AP)? And what signal losses are you talking about, over WiFi? You can get me on WhatsApp for us to discuss if you want. The number is +1 nine one nine four one two seven zero five eight.