Predictwind DATAHUB WiFi Router User Guide
- June 6, 2024
- Predictwind
Table of Contents
DATAHUB WiFi Router
User Guide
Welcome to the PredictWind DataHub, your gateway to sharing your voyage with friends and family using the PredictWind tracking and blogging service. DataHub is a small appliance that once installed samples GPS position reports either via its built-in GPS or the vessel’s NMEA2000 network and sends them to PredictWind using an existing Internet connection. Internet connections supported are USB-connected Android or iOS devices, WiFi bridge to an internet-connected hotspot such as a Netgear Aircard or Verizon JetPack, or an Ethernet connection to an internet-connected satellite terminal or vessel router.
Tracking and Blogging
PredictWind provides a tracking and blogging service that allows friends and
family to experience, participate, and interact with you during your travels.
The service post tracks for your vessel and hosts textual descriptions with
pictures (blogs) of your travels. The tracking and service is included with
your “Standard” PredictWind service. The tracking and blogging service
requires a “Standard” service subscription, a DataHub or a satellite device
compatible with the service, and one-time setup and registration. Contact
[email protected] for information regarding
the registration of your vessel for service.
The picture below shows screenshots of our tracking site at
http://tracking.predictwind.com/MV_Bliss as showing off some of the features
available publicly at no charge to our followers. The tracks were acquired and
posted to the site using the PredictWind DataHub described in this document.
PredictWind Tracking site showing our current location, current weather conditions, our latest tracks, and a listing of our blog posts
A sample blog post showing text and pictures at one of the locations we visited in the Bahamas this last winter.
Powering the DataHub
DataHub can be powered with either the supplied AC/DC power supply or directly
from the vessel’s house battery bank. The unit requires 9-60 VDC and is
reverse polarity protected. The center pin of the power connector is positive.
To wire the DataHub directly to the vessel’s house battery, start by cutting
the power lead off of the supplied AC/DC adapter. Connect a 1 amp fuse to the
positive power lead and wire to the vessel’s switch panel. Before powering the
DataHub use a voltmeter to ascertain that the center pin in the connector has
a positive current. Reversing the polarity on the connector will not damage
the DataHub but it will prevent it from powering on.
You will notice a blue status LED on the top of the unit illuminates when the
unit is correctly powered on.
Accessing the Web User Interface
Once powered on the DataHub needs to be configured to select the GPS data
source, establish an Internet connection, enable and set the tracking
interval, and password secures its WiFi.
Before you can start the configuration process you must first establish a
connection either via Ethernet or WiFi to log in to its web administrative
interface.
The DataHub web interface is mobile-friendly and supports all popular web
browsers.
Access via WiFi
The DataHub advertises itself via WiFi with an SSID “PW-Hub-XXXX” where XXXX
is an alphanumeric sequence specific to the device. By default, the DataHub
WiFi is unprotected. As part of the configuration process, you may change the
SSID of the unit and encrypt and password protect the unit. Procedures for
assigning a password are discussed later on in the “Securing DataHub” section
of this document.
To WiFi connect to the DataHub scan for available access point SSIDs and
select the one that corresponds to your unit. The following image depicts the
process for Mac OS X. Other OS’s use a similar process.
Access via Ethernet
To access the unit via a wired connection run an Ethernet cable between the
RJ45 port on your laptop computer and the LAN port on the DataHub. The LAN
port is the RJ45 port closest to the power connector.
Accessing the Web UI
To login to the DataHub’s administrative web page open a web browser and
browse to http://10.10.10.1
You should see a login page pop up in your browser. Log in with the fault
username: admin and password: admin. Then push the “Login” button to access
the administration pages.
Configuring the DataHub
A GPS feed, an Internet connection, and tracking at minimum need to be
configured to allow the tracking of your vessel on your personal tracking and
blogging page at PredictWind.
Configuring the GPS feed
Once logged into DataHub’s administrative website browse to Services->NMEA to
configure the GPS feed. On a mobile device, you do this by clicking on the
“Hamburger” icon on the top left of the page and under services selecting
NMEA. On a laptop with a larger display area, you will see the “Services” menu
on the left.
Using the built-in GPS
Use the “Source” pull-down menu to select the GPS source. If using the built-
in GPS make sure that the DataHub is installed with the supplied GPS antenna
and with good access to the GPS signal.
Using NMEA2000 for GPS
If using your vessel’s NMEA2000 network then connect the optional device cable
from the M12 connector on the back of the DataHub to a tee on your NMEA2000
backbone. NMEA200 device cables and tees can be purchased directly from
PredictWind with your DataHub order.
Once connected to the NME2000 network select “NMEA2000 on CAN0” as the GPS
source.
Verifying your GPS data feed
Selecting the “Status” tab in the NMEA section will display live GPS data as
it streams into the device.
ACTIVE under “Status” means that you have valid GPS data. A “Status” of VOID
indicates that NO or invalid GPS data is being received.
Please confirm that you are indeed getting valid GPS data before proceeding.
NMEA2000 to NMEA183 Repeater via WiFi
One of the nice features of the DataHub is that it will broadcast NMEA0183
data via WiFi regardless of the GPS input source. This WiFi broadcast allows
external navigation applications such as Aquamap, GPS Nav X, Navionics Boating
App, etc to use your vessel’s GPS for navigation. This results in much more
accurate GPS data with the addition of other NMEA2000 data such as wind speed
and direction, depth, etc.
NMEA0183 data is broadcast by default via UDP on port 11101 and TCP on port
11102. The ports are user selectable and can be changed under “Settings” in
the NMEA configuration section.
To configure your charting application to use DataHub generated data please refer to the software documentation for the software. You will need to configure the following Host: 10.10.10.1
- Protocol: UDP or TCP
- Port number: 11101 (for UDP) or 11102 (for TCP)
- WiFi connection between mobile or laptop and DataHub.
Following are the configuration settings for the iOS version for Navionics Boating and Acquamap apps. Note that Acqua Map has a predefined configuration for the PredictWind Datahub.