Beginner's Question: Is Signal K Right for Me? If So, How Could I then Contribute?

[SeaEnthusiast]

I am planning to upgrade my wind mast, which includes a wind vane and anemometer, along with other weather sensors. Currently, everything runs on 230V and analog technology at my place on remote island, which is some 40 nautical miles from the mainland.

My goal is to replace my current setup with a single, compact commercial unit that includes ultrasound wind sensors and some other environmental sensors. The wind and environment values should be readable online on a local PC and remotely on the web and on mobile devices. These should be designed for marine/ nautical use.

In the bitter end, I must integrate several physical units from different brands to achieve this, while keeping the setup both technically feasible and cost-effective. (There are 1-2 brands where you get the whole package. That is a rather expense solution and still you miss some crucial features.)

I’ve been working on this plan for over three months, and there are 3-4 different digital signal protocols to choose from. The main challenge is deciding which protocol to use and then standardizing or harmonizing the data format (including sentence structure and code strings) to ensure compatibility between the input and output of the different physical units.

My questions are:

1. Is this Signal K the right place for me to get help building this signal chain?
2. If not - any tips on where to find help?
3. If so, how can I eventually contribute to the Signal K community?

Thank you and I'm grateful for all relevant comments

[tkurki]

You did not provide quite enough detail about the protocols your chosen devices use. If they are something that SK interfaces with, mainly NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000 or equipment supported by SK plugins like Victron's then SK provides a platform for you to access the data, build dashboards, store in databases and then draw graphs and analyze.

But if the protocols are not supported then something else might be more applicable. https://www.home-assistant.io/ comes to mind - it has a massive collection of integrations and might cover your protocols and use cases.

[SeaEnthusiast]

Thanx Teppo for your answer. I’ve done some modest research (much help from AI ) and found that converting and configurating NMEA 0183 protocol, so that equipment from different brands will be a trial and horror journey . In the end you cannot be absolutely sure you succeed. Thank you for the hint’s where to look for readymade solutions. Unfortunately none of them focus on marine solutions. Home power/ electricity automation is a field with a lot of innovative ideas. Kind regards Tom Roos Skickat från Outlook för iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>

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________________________________ Från: Teppo Kurki ***@***.***> Skickat: Thursday, September 19, 2024 9:37:59 PM Till: SignalK/signalk ***@***.***> Kopia: SeaEnthusiast ***@***.***>; Author ***@***.***> Ämne: Re: [SignalK/signalk] Beginner's Question: Is Signal K Right for Me? If So, How Could I then Contribute? (Discussion #135) You did not provide quite enough detail about the protocols your chosen devices use. If they are something that SK interfaces with, mainly NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000 or equipment supported by SK plugins like Victron's then SK provides a platform for you to access the data, build dashboards, store in databases and then draw graphs and analyze. But if the protocols are not supported then something else might be more applicable. https://www.home-assistant.io/ comes to mind - it has a massive collection of integrations and might cover your protocols and use cases. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#135 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BLKA5MFRBMGAM342UVMC2F3ZXMKYPAVCNFSM6AAAAABOIDPYKOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTANRZGY4DANI>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>