Connecting a CerboGX, WS500 and REC BMS to nmea2000

• M

  Matthew

  2/16/23, 12:49 PM
  Hi there, I have the above 3 units wired REC -> Cerbo -> WS500 with a terminator at each end. To connect to my NMEA2000 network, would I be right in thinking I would take out the terminator from the WS500, take out the terminator from one end of the NMEA2000 and then lead one to the other? Or can I simply take the terminator out of the WS500 and lead that to a nmea2000 drop cable? Or do the same with the BMS-CAN ports? Follow up questions:

  • If the former, if I switch my nmea2000 network off (as I do to save battery fairly often) would that disrupt the communication between the cerb/rec/ws500? Or would it still work as the terminator would still be in place.
  • Still with the former, would having two sources of power (the powered nmea2000 network and the CANBUS power) damage anything?

  Thanks for any insight or help!
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• R

  Richard OGM Support Staff

  2/24/23, 9:21 PM
  Hi Matthew, As long as you have a 120 ohm terminator on each of the longest ends, with only short branch stubs you should be fine.  Your best bet is to try and have one continuous cable so removing the terminator in the WS500 and taking it to a NMEA M12 would be best but if that\'s a pain, you can always try to run a short tee branch to your NMEA network.  If your network goes down or becomes unreliable only then revert back to a continuous run. Your NMEA network carries power on it to smaller devices and larger devices will have their own power, so there is not a problem connecting them or loosing power.  Your WS500 to NMEA only requires as a minimum the CAN Hi and CAN low wires, with a shield only terminated at one end (To avoid a current loop) Dont forget to enable NMEA in your WS500s. And here is a link to the WS500 communications manual that may be of assistance as well:    https://www.wakespeed.com/wp-content/uploads/Wakespeed-Communications-and-Configuration-Guide-v2.5.0-09.26.2022.pdf Also, another user just went through something similar and was kind enough to share his success.  Here is a link to that post that may help. https://www.offgridsoftwaresolutions.com/ws500-user-forum/topic/firmware-update-and-nmea-data/?part=1#postid-1302
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• M

  Matthew

  3/13/23, 9:04 AM
  Following up on this in case someone else has the same question. I was able to get this to work by getting an ethernet cable, cutting off the end and attaching a nmea2000 field connector. Wiring was just two wires - white orange to the 4 pin on the n2k connector and orange to 5. I disconnected the terminator from the WS500 and  the nmea network and then connected the two using this wire. Out of curiosity I also tried with the nmea2000 terminator still in and the WS500 connected to a branch T - it also worked. Even so, I decided to connect the two networks together with the first method as it seemed the most \'correct\' method.
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