Installation manual

Wiring the NSO | 35

Integrating SimNet and other CAN networks

Increasingly there are vessels that will have NMEA2000 based networks provided by

different manufacturers. If networks from different manufacturers are required to share

data, it is important to plan how both networks are going to interface to each other.

All NMEA2000 networks such as SimNet or C-ZONE follow the same NMEA2000 rules:

• a continuous backbone with devices connecting by a drop cable no more than 6 m

(20 ft)

• two terminators, one at each end of the network

• a single 12 V DC power supply

Problems can occur if two networks are connected without consideration of the above

rules.

The example below shows an incorrect installation.

The issues are:

• the SimNet network connects to the C-Zone network via a drop cable

• there are four terminators

• 12 V DC is connected in two places without been isolated. This can be serious

especially if the power is coming from two separate sources such as the house bank

and from the start batteries.

12 V DC

MenuMenu

SimNet backbone

SimNet power

C-Zone NMEA2000 Network

Network terminators

SimNet drop cable

C-ZONE

SimNet