Utilising the Actisense A2K-4WD is a great way of reducing drop cable lengths and managing network installations where space is limited, or when multiple devices are in close proximity to one another.
The 4 M12 connections make it easy to connect multiple NMEA 2000 devices easily to one point, whilst only using a singular drop cable from the backbone. In theory, this does exactly the same job as having 4 individual T-pieces on the backbone with drops for each device, but these T-pieces will take up double the amount of space. You are essentially using the same space as a 4 way Tee, but in a more flexible installation method as your connection point can be moved further down or up, away from the backbone.
The most important thing to highlight here is that using a 4WD is compliant with all NMEA 2000 / 0400 standards, and does not change the topology of the network, meaning that these can be used in any correct installation. However, you cannot extend the network off of a 4WD, i.e. you can’t connect a 4WD off of a 4WD, as this would change the topology.
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