Expedition Navigation Software / Actisense W2K-1

**Posted by 9203R** 1/16/2019 7:15 am

Hello,

Has anyone had their hands on one of these yet (W2K-1)? It purports to network NMEA2K / SeaTalkNG over Wifi. My boat has a lot of legacy Raymarine gear on a STNG backbone so this might be a nice alternative to a USB / serial connection. Can Exp output to the STNG network through Wifi (i.e. Exp calculated TWA, start line and mark info)?

Many thanks,
Nick

**Posted by Nick** 1/16/2019 2:27 pm

I haven't seen one, but the documentation suggests it converts NMEA 2000 data to NMEA 0183 for the Wifi connection, which is something of a compromise

SeatalkNG is essentially just NMEA 2000 with different cables.

I suspect the Yacht Devices N2k wifi gateway (http://www.yachtd.com) may be a better option as it sends and receives NMEA 2000 data.

That said, not all data can be sent over N2k. You an calculate and send TW, mark information etc, but there isn't anything in the standard for most race functions such as start line. It this case, the Garmin displays are a good option as you can send the custom data. In a SeatalkNG network, you would just need a Seatalk-NMEA 2000 adaptor cable.

**Posted by 9203R** 1/16/2019 4:10 pm

Nick, thanks for the reply - I hadn’t spotted that there was a conversion to NMEA 0183 first, as you say not ideal

**Posted by benhowett** 2/12/2019 2:19 pm

Nick is correct that the current firmware is only streaming data in 0183 format - however it is on their roadmap to stream native data in the same format as their NGT-1 n2k>usb adapter so all hope is not lost. Unfortunately, I don't have any timeline on when this might happen...

**Posted by jrjohnson** 2/28/2019 8:27 am

I have another one...

I've been using Expedition for a bit and still consider myself newbie since I haven't connected it to onboard instruments. The boat I have for a trial has a Raymarine Smart Pilot X-30 instrument with Smart Talk. It also has wind instruments/boatspeed sensors connected to it. I believe it has NMEA 0183. What Actisense adapter do I need? I suspect it's an NGW-1 USB with a cable adapter for SmartTalk but I'd like a smart guy to double check me. I'm sure you guys have plenty of experience so best to ask the pros before I make a dumb mistake. I also suspect that if I want to connect to a more modern instrument system in the future, I'll need a NGT-1 USB adapter.

Is it best to connect to the 4 wire NMEA connection on the board or to adapt my cable and talk to SeaTalk directly?

**Posted by Nick** 2/28/2019 12:32 pm

Does it have a Seatalk NG network? If so, this is essentially just NMEA 2000. In which case, the Actisense NGT-1 is the best solution. I believe they sell one with a Seatalk connector.

**Posted by jrjohnson** 2/28/2019 3:31 pm

The documentation I can find says it's NMEA 0183 with SeaTalk NG. I don't know if I have a spare SeaTalk connection available, so I'm wondering if I can alternatively connect to the 4 wire NMEA connection on the board.

PS-I've seen some screenshots on these forums. I tried to paste a screenshot here but I couldn't manage it. How is that done? Only way I see is to somehow make a web page out of it and put in the URL.

**Posted by Dixi** 8/14/2024 10:24 pm

Hi - I am switching to Actisense W2K-1 (away from Digital Yacht) - just curious which "Instruments" I should use from the dropdown list?
I only see "Actisense ASCII" - the name is not that intuitive...

**Posted by Nick** 8/15/2024 1:18 am

Yes - see the NMEA 2000 topic in the help.

**Posted by ed209** 7/30/2025 7:14 pm

This is 10 years later, but anybody stumbling across this might want to read my related thread here:
https://expedition.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=2679