Configuring the NGT-1

The Application that is being used with the NGT-1 is responsible for configuring the NGT-1 for each session when it opens up the COM port to the NGT-1. For example, NMEA Reader by default will set the NGT-1 to ‘Receive:All’. This means that the NGT-1 will receive every PGN available on the NMEA2000 network and it will be displayed in NMEA Reader.

If you manually change the Rx / Tx PGN Enable List for the NGT-1 (using NMEA Reader) those changes may well be overwritten when you start up your software and it configures the NGT-1 to what the software is predetermined to need.

For example, selecting 10 extra PGNs on the Rx / Tx Enable List for the NGT-1 via NMEA Reader and applying those changes to the device will make the device operate in that way on the NMEA2000 network. However, if the software being used with the NGT-1 has a predefined PGN Rx / Tx enable list, the software will configure the device again, to whatever it requires. This also means that if you enabled a certain PGN in the Rx/Tx lists, and this PGN was present on the bus but the end software wasn’t set up to use / look for this PGN then you wouldn’t see this NMEA2000 PGN on the software.

The baud rate of your NGT-1 is also configured via NMEA Reader. For 99% of use cases, keeping the default baud rate of 115200 is perfectly fine. However, on the odd occasion where extremely busy networks are pushing the NMEA 2000 load above 70%, the NGT-1 can be upped to 230400 baud to cope with the extra load.

For more information on NMEA 2000 and how it works, please download our free guide to NMEA 2000 networking here: https://actisense.com/complete-guide-to-building-an-nmea-2000-network/