Hanshin Electronics NMEA HBU-208 Buffer

The Hanshin Electronics NMEA HBU-208 Buffer is a crucial piece of equipment in a ship’s navigation and communication system. It’s essentially a high-reliability serial data distributor or “splitter” for NMEA-0183 data.

Modern marine vessels rely heavily on NMEA-0183, a standard protocol, to transmit data between various navigation instruments like GPS receivers, gyrocompasses, depth sounders, and autopilots. Often, one instrument (a “talker”) needs to send its data to multiple other instruments ( “listeners”). However, a single NMEA output port usually has limited driving capability.

Technical Specification

General:

Model: HBU-208 (or HBU-208B, referring to the same model with minor revisions)
Function: NMEA-0183 Serial Data Distributor / Splitter / Buffer
Compliance: NMEA-0183, ISO/IEC61162-1, ITU-X.27/V.11 standards.

Data Input:

Number of Inputs: 2 NMEA ports
Input Selection: Automatic or manual selection between the two inputs. If auto-selected input fails, it automatically switches to the other.
Signal Type Support:
- RS-422 (NMEA-0183 standard)
- RS-232
- 5V TTL signal
Baud Rate Support: Up to 115,200 bps
Protection:
- Over-voltage protection: up to 50V (for 1 minute)
- Protection from careless wiring, transient voltage, surge noise.
- Full DC isolation between input signals, output signals, and input power supply.

Data Output:

Number of Outputs: 8 independent NMEA output ports.
Output Signal Type:
- All 8 ports support NMEA (RS-422).
- Ports 7 & 8 are configurable: Can be individually set to output either RS-422 or RS-232 via DIP switches.
Protection:
- Short circuit protection for output ports.
- Transient voltage suppression.

Power Supply:

Input Voltage: DC 24V (operating range 18V ~ 32V)
Current Consumption: Max 5W
Fuse: Uses an electronic fuse (0.3A), which means no physical fuse replacement is required.
Protection: Reverse voltage protection.

Indicators (Left Panel):