Good am all, I'm finally about to replace my old broken Navico wheel pilot with a similar one I found used cheap.
I would like to network it with my B&G Zeus2 charplotter to allow the "Steer to wind" feature. - The Wheel pilot needs the old NMEA 0183 network connection and fortunately the Zeus2 has a built-in feature to output NMEA 0183 in addition to the new NMEA 2000 standard. Question is: Do I Really need to put an opto isolator between the two? I've heard scary stories about ground loops destroying equipment. NMEA 0183 has a + and - side / the wrong return current could go into the networked device and ruin it. The instruments and auto pilot are on separate circuits but on the same common ground bus behind the switch panel. I'm worried that the 25 year old power wire going to the autopilot could somehow be a bit more resistive / something goes wrong with the replacement auto pilot and ruin my expensive chartplotter. Anyone has experience with that? - Francois Rivard 1990 34+ "Take Five" Lake Lanier, GA
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