Article 95532, easyTRX2 with WIFI
It may be premature to write a review after just a few days of testing but before the final installation, but other interested parties may be looking for information about this device and details are not available at this time. I can add an assessment of reliability and practical operation in the fall.
So now to "easyTRX2-WIFI". First of all I had to wait a month for delivery and my device should be one of the first easyTRXs with WiFi to be delivered.
I chose the easyTRX to expand our AIS operation after a long time to include the transmit function (we have had a Eurnav AIS receiver since 2003), and to experiment with WiFi connected devices such as iPad, iPhone and laptop as a future instrumentation type.
In the absence of any useful documentation, I could only assume that the device would also function as an NMEA multiplexer, which not only outputs the received AIS telegrams via WiFi, but also GPS data and fed NMEA instrument data.
At the manufacturer WeatherDock I only found old manuals that refer to the easyTRX without WiFi and without SD card slot. So it was left to guesswork.
The manual that is now included has not brought any clarification either, it is even older, from 03/09/2010. However, two small leaflets came with it.
A note tells you to look for the WiFi station with the name !EasyTRX2_XXXXX and you can find the password on the sticker on the bottom of the device. So don't install it first and then try to find the password! Furthermore, one learns that one can call up AIS data on IP address 192.168.10.1 port 5101.
Then it says: "Establish a wireless connection with the device before you start the program "AIS WIFI". start. Only, this program does not exist, neither in the AppStore nor on the enclosed CD.
After systematic experimentation, the device has now made quite a good impression. Here are the most important findings:
Works like a normal access point from a WiFi point of view, but without an Internet gateway. Has DHCP service and I connected four devices at the same time and they were able to communicate with each other normally. I can't yet say how many DHCP clients are supported at most.
The address (192.168.10.1) is fixed, as is the port for the NMEA-over-TCP-IP data stream (5101). (Presumably there is a maintenance program with which you could configure it differently, but nothing like that was included.) Unfortunately, it also doesn't work to log the device as a client to another access point. That would be interesting if, like me, you run your own hub that also enables Internet access via different channels. So I have to change the network on the iPad and iPhone if I want to quickly access the Internet instead of displaying ship and AIS data.
Apart from the said NMEA stream on port 5101, I didn't quickly find any other functions on the WiFi connection (e.g. browser access to port 80).
There is a wired multiplexer input (RS422) that can be switched to 4.8kb/s or 38.4kb/s. The data entered here is then output on WiFi, two RS422 posts and via USB on a virtual port. It is not clear from the manual which NMEA sentences are now forwarded externally and I have to try it out in detail first.
The USB port not only brings the said virtual COM port, but also provides the connection to the configuration program, with which the AIS and the ports are configured. Also for this program the description in the manual is old and looks completely different.
However, the program itself is quite useful. It has tabs for the function groups:
Static Data, Diagnostics, Sent Data, Received Data, SD Card, CPA Alarm and Anchor Alarm. Everything is actually self-explanatory. For commissioning you have to use this program at least once to enter the ship data. Diagnostic indicators and messages work well.
Another program supplied on the CD is used to analyze the tracks recorded on the SD card. It seems to be able to extract Google-Earth KML files, but I haven't been able to try it yet. There is absolutely nothing in the manual about it, except that the maximum size of the SD card can be 2GB.
For Windows there is also a virtual serial port emulator that is already configured and starts on the specified WIFI TCP port and creates a serial COMM port. A special USB driver does the same on the USB side. The data are thus available at two COMM ports on the PC.
On the PC, all AIS-capable navigation programs such as MaxSea can accept both the AIS and any NMEA data that may be passed on as usual.
The manufacturer WeatherDock does not seem to have an app for the advertised iPad. However, there are other apps that can wonderfully handle the data sent over TCP-IP.
For example, Watcheye AIS is available for iPad as a radar-style AIS plotter. It can be set to any IP address and TCP port and, in addition to the radar image, can also display various NMEA data. However, Watcheye AIS is not available for the iPhone.
NMEAremote, on the other hand, runs on both (iPad and iPhone) but has no AIS plotter but very nice displays for various NMEA data, for wind and close-hauled (wind magnifier) very good analogue displays.
Unfortunately, the DigitalYacht app does not work, it is permanently configured to the address of your own product.
iNavX is a chart plotter app that can also process the data from the easyTRX2-WiFi and combines AIS plotter with chart plotter. However, it only works with specially purchased cards and is therefore not that interesting as an additional device.
Back to the easyTRX2:
Positive:
Good AIS transceiver with good configuration utility
Integrated NMEA multiplexer
Many output options
Anchor alarm, CPA alarm, PAN-PAN button
Track recording on SD card
Large supply voltage range 9.6V -32.1V, with very constant power consumption
Negative:
Extremely bad documentation
Fixed WiFi function as an access point with a fixed address
actual power consumption 4.6W instead of 3.6W as in the data sheet