NMEA Conversion Gateway - NGW-1
NGW-1 Prioritisation of NMEA 2000 Talkers
When there is more than one device of the same type (like a GPS) on the NMEA 2000 network, the
NGW-1 will use the data from the highest priority (lowest source address) device on the bus. If the device
that you wish to use as the primary data source for the NGW-1 claims a lower source address than the
device(s) you do not wish use, everything will be fine, the NGW-1 will convert the data from your preferred
device. If a device you’d rather use as a secondary Talker for the NGW-1 claims a lower source address
then unfortunately there is no easy way to change this. The first step would be to try changing the device
instance of the secondary Talker to ‘instance 1’ (leaving the primary at ‘instance 0’).
To change an NMEA 2000 device instance, first of all the device manufacturer must have enabled this
feature in the device firmware. Once you know the device instance can be changed, you will need an
Actisense NGT-1 (We recommend the USB variant for simple PC connections) as well as our freely
available NMEA Reader software.
The NGT-1 is compatible with a wide range of software. To view a list of software that can be used with the
NGT-1, please visit our NGT-1 compatibility page.
If using the ‘ISO’ variant of the NGT-1, please contact the software developer to ensure that they support
this option.
Difference between NGW-1 and NGT-1
1. NGT-1: NMEA 2000 PC Interface – allows NMEA 2000/SeaTalkNG messages to be read by
an application and also allows that application to send NMEA 2000 messages back to the network.
The NGT-1 does not understand NMEA 0183.
The most common variant sold is the NGT-1-USB as that is the easiest method of getting NMEA 2000 data
to a PC. We also sell the NGT-1-ISO for customers who do not want USB (and its drivers) in their system.
An NGT-1 working with NMEA Reader is a very powerful NMEA 2000 network diagnostic tool.
2. NGW-1: NMEA 2000 to NMEA 0183 Gateway – converts between the old and the new NMEA
protocols bi-directionally. It cannot be used to transfer NMEA 2000 messages to the PC; the serial port only
understands NMEA 0183.
The most common variant sold is the NGW-1-ISO for direct connection to an NMEA 0183 Talker/Listener
device. We also sell the NGW-1-USB for customers who want an easy method of getting NMEA 0183 data
to their PC.
An NGW-1 makes it possible for new and old NMEA devices to share data.
Sadly it is not possible to change an NGW-1 to an NGT-1 or vice versa.
