Aquascan magnetometer project

[Commdiver23]

Hello guys,
I am a retired commercial diver. I have a project I am getting into and I am looking for some insight.
I have an older aquascan wreckfinder Mc4 magnetometer unused. I want to connect this unit to my laptop. I know I can just buy a newer mag and do this but this seems like it's going to be fun.
I have tested the mag it works just fine.
I only have the towfish and power cable no data cables.
Here is what I am thinking. I am on my yacht right now and I think this may work. I have a raymarine network on my yacht. I have a 0183 to nmea 2000 converter on board connecting older instruments to my new MFD, I also have one of those yacht devices nmea 2000 to usb converters connecting the network to my pc. Everything works 1000%. I even run AIS decoder to decode and package nmea sentences to output udp packages via starlink to Marine traffics website (i am a mobile ais station).
So back to the mag. The mag control box has a printer/chart recorder output plug on the back. I do not have the cable. I would like to test the plug's output to see what is what, from what I read online that plug requires a 9 volt power supply.
I am thinking I can wire up a cable and connect the mag control box to my existing network on my boat, then I would see depth, speed, direction, GPS everything would be there but now I will be adding the data from the mag. I could then perhaps run one of several free mag survey software programs on my pc and see this data on a map.
I have already emailed aquascan many times and I get the impression they don't even know what a magnetometer is let alone recall producing the Mc4, they want absolutely nothing to do with the Mc4 whatsoever. They did tell me that the Mc4 has No data out and No gps ports period none on the box. THIS ONE DOES. I took the box apart and all the plugs are wired to the motherboard so someone somewhere made this model with gps in and data out. If you search online the mc5 manual is actually the box I have. Perhaps my unit is the last creation of the Mc4 and is very closely related to the mc5. I just looked at a picture in the mc5 manual and it is exactly my box.
So how do I test and power the data out port? What pin is what? Does it matter? I need to make a cable to connect this to my 0183 to 2000 converter.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[vpnavy]

...older aquascan wreckfinder Mc4 magnetometer unused...how do I test and power the data out port? What pin is what...

I moved ya from HELP! over to METAL DETECTORS > BRANDS for more exposure.

NOTE: Forum HELP! contains guides tutorials on how to use the new TreasureNet.com software.

 

[Commdiver23]

Hello guys,
I am a retired commercial diver. I have a project I am getting into and I am looking for some insight.
I have an older aquascan wreckfinder Mc4 magnetometer unused. I want to connect this unit to my laptop. I know I can just buy a newer mag and do this but this seems like it's going to be fun.
I have tested the mag it works just fine.
I only have the towfish and power cable no data cables.
Here is what I am thinking. I am on my yacht right now and I think this may work. I have a raymarine network on my yacht. I have a 0183 to nmea 2000 converter on board connecting older instruments to my new MFD, I also have one of those yacht devices nmea 2000 to usb converters connecting the network to my pc. Everything works 1000%. I even run AIS decoder to decode and package nmea sentences to output udp packages via starlink to Marine traffics website (i am a mobile ais station).
So back to the mag. The mag control box has a printer/chart recorder output plug on the back. I do not have the cable. I would like to test the plug's output to see what is what, from what I read online that plug requires a 9 volt power supply.
I am thinking I can wire up a cable and connect the mag control box to my existing network on my boat, then I would see depth, speed, direction, GPS everything would be there but now I will be adding the data from the mag. I could then perhaps run one of several free mag survey software programs on my pc and see this data on a map.
I have already emailed aquascan many times and I get the impression they don't even know what a magnetometer is let alone recall producing the Mc4, they want absolutely nothing to do with the Mc4 whatsoever. They did tell me that the Mc4 has No data out and No gps ports period none on the box. THIS ONE DOES. I took the box apart and all the plugs are wired to the motherboard so someone somewhere made this model with gps in and data out. If you search online the mc5 manual is actually the box I have. Perhaps my unit is the last creation of the Mc4 and is very closely related to the mc5. I just looked at a picture in the mc5 manual and it is exactly my box.
So how do I test and power the data out port? What pin is what? Does it matter? I need to make a cable to connect this to my 0183 to 2000 converter.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Update. The output port has 6 pins. I opened the box up again just incase the wire colors mean anything. Facing the port the top pin is grey wire. Going clockwise the upper right pin is purple wire the lower right pin is blue wire the lower pin is green wire the bottom left pin is yellow wire and the top left pin is white wire.
I hooked the towfish up and powered up the unit. The readings I am about to share with you do not mean anything I just had the towfish laying in the cockpit. I just wanted to see which one of the pins were producing voltage when the needle would move.
The top upper pin with the Grey wire would jump from 4-5.27 volts as the unit would pulse. All the other pins would jump from about 0.15v - 0.32volts when the unit would pulse.
That is all I have at this time. I am going to download a few different mag survey programs and check the out maybe they have info about what kind of signal needs to be received.

 

[barbudan]

Hello guys,
I am a retired commercial diver. I have a project I am getting into and I am looking for some insight.
I have an older aquascan wreckfinder Mc4 magnetometer unused. I want to connect this unit to my laptop. I know I can just buy a newer mag and do this but this seems like it's going to be fun.
I have tested the mag it works just fine.
I only have the towfish and power cable no data cables.
Here is what I am thinking. I am on my yacht right now and I think this may work. I have a raymarine network on my yacht. I have a 0183 to nmea 2000 converter on board connecting older instruments to my new MFD, I also have one of those yacht devices nmea 2000 to usb converters connecting the network to my pc. Everything works 1000%. I even run AIS decoder to decode and package nmea sentences to output udp packages via starlink to Marine traffics website (i am a mobile ais station).
So back to the mag. The mag control box has a printer/chart recorder output plug on the back. I do not have the cable. I would like to test the plug's output to see what is what, from what I read online that plug requires a 9 volt power supply.
I am thinking I can wire up a cable and connect the mag control box to my existing network on my boat, then I would see depth, speed, direction, GPS everything would be there but now I will be adding the data from the mag. I could then perhaps run one of several free mag survey software programs on my pc and see this data on a map.
I have already emailed aquascan many times and I get the impression they don't even know what a magnetometer is let alone recall producing the Mc4, they want absolutely nothing to do with the Mc4 whatsoever. They did tell me that the Mc4 has No data out and No gps ports period none on the box. THIS ONE DOES. I took the box apart and all the plugs are wired to the motherboard so someone somewhere made this model with gps in and data out. If you search online the mc5 manual is actually the box I have. Perhaps my unit is the last creation of the Mc4 and is very closely related to the mc5. I just looked at a picture in the mc5 manual and it is exactly my box.
So how do I test and power the data out port? What pin is what? Does it matter? I need to make a cable to connect this to my 0183 to 2000 converter.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[barbudan]

Update. The output port has 6 pins. I opened the box up again just incase the wire colors mean anything. Facing the port the top pin is grey wire. Going clockwise the upper right pin is purple wire the lower right pin is blue wire the lower pin is green wire the bottom left pin is yellow wire and the top left pin is white wire.
I hooked the towfish up and powered up the unit. The readings I am about to share with you do not mean anything I just had the towfish laying in the cockpit. I just wanted to see which one of the pins were producing voltage when the needle would move.
The top upper pin with the Grey wire would jump from 4-5.27 volts as the unit would pulse. All the other pins would jump from about 0.15v - 0.32volts when the unit would pulse.
That is all I have at this time. I am going to download a few different mag survey programs and check the out maybe they have info about what kind of signal needs to be received.

Update. The output port has 6 pins. I opened the box up again just incase the wire colors mean anything. Facing the port the top pin is grey wire. Going clockwise the upper right pin is purple wire the lower right pin is blue wire the lower pin is green wire the bottom left pin is yellow wire and the top left pin is white wire.
I hooked the towfish up and powered up the unit. The readings I am about to share with you do not mean anything I just had the towfish laying in the cockpit. I just wanted to see which one of the pins were producing voltage when the needle would move.
The top upper pin with the Grey wire would jump from 4-5.27 volts as the unit would pulse. All the other pins would jump from about 0.15v - 0.32volts when the unit would pulse.
That is all I have at this time. I am going to download a few different mag survey programs and check the out maybe they have info about what kind of signal needs to be received.

 

[3RDLIFE]

Just a note but no help.
I tracked vessels AIS to see where there's wrecks or natural bottom to spearfish, fossil or lobster. I have at least one friend who has developed software to track bulk amounts of vessels while simultaneously extracting any bathymetric data that suggests any bottom irregularities.
If I was searching for treasure I would leave the AIS off personally----
Retired commercial spearfisherman but I've met a few commercial divers or had them want to work part time between trips or jobs.

 

[geowizard]

Commdiver23,​

You probably went to https://www.aquascan.com/

They sell fish counters.

With reference to your project, several important points that I might share are:

Avoid confusion and a train wreck by getting to "the horses mouth".

Aquascan International Ltd

_your description goes here_

www.aquascan.co.uk

They make magnetometers!

My free advice...

Never go poking around on unknown inputs and outputs. One wrong poke and off you go to the "unknown" zone where something that may have worked, never will.

That only compounds the problem.

I suggest contacting the "real Aquascan" and getting the cables needed for your magnetometer.

Rarely (almost never) are unrelated systems designed to be cross-compatible.

You will create a train wreck and create more projects with more unknowns for yourself.

Software has a reputation for being designed for one application excluding all others!

Skill set for your project must include skills using an oscilloscope and testing data inputs and outputs preferably in a shop environment and not on a floating platform.

A deep dive would include (in your case) making/fabricating dedicated I/O cables with individual breakout boxes and test jacks for pins labelled and pin connectors for test leads. Yep, it takes time and costs money but it's better in the long term. If it breaks, you have your own test cables.

- Geowizard

 

[geowizard]

Why breakout cables?

Because $hit happens! Everything works until it doesn't! Then we need to investigate aka troubleshoot the source of the problem.

The Aquascan manuals provide in some cases, block diagrams of the system with cables attached. Learning about which cables are used for what purpose provides a gateway to learning where to begin troubleshooting.

- Geowizard

 

[geowizard]

The signals;

Signals use cables between "things" and depending on the "things", the signals cover a range of possibilities from very small proton magnetometer sensor signals to typical 5 volt applied voltages and signal voltages on up to RS-232 standard voltages using +12 volts and -12 volts.

Note to readers: Please don't chime in with all of the exceptions. Yes, there are exceptions. We are working in the realm of a specific Aquascan magnetometer and its peripherals.

There are many serial communication test devices on the market. Many off-the-shelf communication testers. These are most commonly plug and play with visual data levels using light emitting diodes.

- Geowizard

 

[geowizard]

Software communication protocol?

Smart devices use software and communication software uses a "protocol". It's "how" the software communicates. Too many possibilities! That's "why" we cannot simply assume "things" will talk to each other in any combination that we may decide to try!

It's a challenge beyond the average end user. Because system hackers are on a mission to hack systems by learning "how" to communicate, the system designers make the protocol complex.

It's another book for another day!

- Geowizard

 

[geowizard]

Front door or backdoor?

Companies today, as many are aware have protected their "game" with a password. It's routine practice to login with a password. If we designed a marine magnetometer, we may want to preclude hackers from unplugging a peripheral and plugging in their own "custom peripheral".

When a user powers-up our magnetometer without our "xyz" smart sensor, the magnetometer doesn't play. It may display an error code. It may display a message to "connect xyz sensor". It may lock up and do nothing.

- Geowizard

 

[geowizard]

Commdiver23 said,

"I just looked at a picture in the mc5 manual and it is exactly my box.
So how do I test and power the data out port? What pin is what? Does it matter? I need to make a cable to connect this to my 0183 to 2000 converter."

Let's fix this!

- Geowizard

 

[geowizard]

Challenges have solutions;

Most surprising, if one of us thinks we have a challenge, a few thousand others have already solved it!

What's AIS:

MIBS2020: Digital Yacht AIS transceiver for phones and tablets

Digital Yacht's iAISTX is a lower cost AIS unit specifically designed for those boaters who navigate primarily with their mobile devices. The $650 list price -- Digital Yacht says they expect a $500 street price -- unit comes without a NMEA 2000 interface but with WiFi built in

panbo.com

The project:

I didn't know this,

"An NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 (N2K) converter or gateway translates legacy marine serial data (NMEA 0183) into the modern controller area network (CAN bus) protocol used by contemporary chart plotters, GPS units, and instruments—and vice versa.

NGW-1-USB NMEA 2000 Gateway

NGW-1-USB NMEA 2000 Gateway

www.lambdamarine.com

USB-C Solution

Simrad Nmea0183 - Nmea2000 Converter 6' Micro-c To Bare Wire - Florida Marine Tracks

The NMEA0183 interface provides a bi-directional gateway between a NMEA2000 network or devices and a NMEA0183 network or devices.

floridamarinetracks.com

How It Works

• NMEA 0183 Side: Uses an older serial 1-to-1 RS422/RS232 connection (typically operating at 4800 baud by default, or 38400 baud for AIS) with distinct Talker (transmit) and Listener (receive) wire pairs.
• NMEA 2000 Side: Uses a standardized Micro-C or SeaTalkng backbone connector that daisy-chains multiple devices together on a shared network.

• Bi-directional Translation: The gateway converts sentence strings (like $IIDBT for depth or $IIMWV for wind) into binary NMEA 2000 PGNs and back, allowing older VHF radios, speed logs, or GPS receivers to share data with modern displays."

- Geowizard