Most gateways are found for you (see Connect your instruments). When yours is not, or you want a second connection to the same device, add it yourself. You need two things from the gateway's own setup page or manual: its address on the boat network and the port it serves data on.
Add the connection
- Open Connections. Under Boat, press Connections.
- Pick the kind. Press Add connection and choose one:
- NMEA 0183 over TCP: a multiplexer or Wi-Fi gateway that serves NMEA sentences.
- NMEA 0183 over UDP: a gateway that sends NMEA sentences to the phone.
- NMEA 2000 gateway (YD RAW): a Yacht Devices gateway passing the NMEA 2000 bus through.
- Signal K server: a Signal K server on the boat, such as one running on a Raspberry Pi.
- Address. Type the gateway's address in Host and its port in Port. The form starts
at
192.168.4.1and the usual port for the kind you picked, which is right for many gateways out of the box. - Name. Change Name to something the crew will recognize, such as "Nav station mux".
- Save. Press Save. The connection appears in the list and starts at once.
Choose the protocol
The Protocol picker in the form says how to read what comes off the connection. Offwind reads:
- NMEA 0183, including NMEA 2000 data wrapped in 0183 sentences, which some gateways send;
- Yacht Devices RAW, from Yacht Devices Wi-Fi, Ethernet and USB gateways;
- Actisense RAW ASCII, Actisense N2K ASCII and Actisense NGT binary, the formats an Actisense W2K-1 can serve;
- Signal K.
For an Actisense W2K-1, add NMEA 0183 over TCP, point it at the W2K-1's data server port, then set Protocol to the format that data server is set to send.
NMEA 0183 settings
- Accept sentences without checksums. Off to start with. Turn it on only for an older device that leaves the checksum off. With it off, those sentences are counted as unreadable.
- Receive (UDP only). Leave it on Sent to this device and set the gateway to send to the phone's address. Broadcast cannot be received in this version.
Signal K access
A Signal K server can let anyone read its data, or ask each app to be approved first.
- Add the server. Choose Signal K server, type its address in Host, leave Port at
3000unless you changed it, and press Save. - Ask for access. If the connection reports that the server needs approval, open it and press Request access under Signal K access. The line under it reads Waiting for approval.
- Approve it on the server. In the Signal K admin page, open Security, then Access Requests. The request is named Offwind with the phone's name. Approve it.
- Done. The connection reads Access granted and data starts. Offwind keeps the approval, so you only do this once per phone.
Turn on Use the server's timestamps if the server's clock is trustworthy and you want values timed as the server saw them rather than as they arrived.
Check that it works
Open the connection. Under Status, Values should climb steadily. A rising Checksum failures count usually means a wiring or baud-rate problem upstream of the gateway. A rising Not decoded count means the gateway sends sentences Offwind does not read; the values you need may still be arriving. Retry now reconnects at once instead of waiting for the next attempt.
Limits
- Offwind reads the connection only until you turn on output for it. See Send data to your displays.
- UDP broadcast and multicast cannot be received in this version. Switch the gateway to TCP, or to UDP sent directly to the phone.
- A gateway's address can change if the boat's router hands out a new one. If a connection that worked stops with Waiting to retry, check the address on the gateway.