We strongly recommend for any installation, bench testing the components first, connecting cables and configuring the connection before running cables or drilling holes. This will allow you to more easily confirm operation, field of view etc. at the start of the project.
At the time of writing (Oct 2025) and with Nightwave Digital Firmware 2.1.6, Onvif scanning (which automatically detects and connects to IP cameras) does not work on the Simrad NSX 3012. Therefore the following instructions describe how to manually connect to this new camera.
There are a couple of important settings buried in the NSX menu that need to be enabled (turned ON) first.
We believe these can be found in:
Settings > System > Advanced… > Features > Video
- Show Video icon or "Video"
- Allow IP Cameras
Before starting, please review our other articles on Nightwave Digital installation, plus the Installation Guide and User GuideThe technical articles include information on PoE Injector wiring. Please run the supplied network cable directly from the PoE Injector "Data In" port to the rear of your MFD (do not go through a switch or port expander) With the "PoE Out" port connected to the camera, power on the PoE Injector with 12V, you will see the Nightwave start to boot up with a purple status LED on the front.
This will turn to blinking red after about a minute - to indicate it's waiting for a network address
You are eventually looking for solid red (network address acquired) status LED, then you will need to manually add in an IP Camera source.
[When the camera is streaming the live view the LED light will be blue.]
Once you have a solid red LED on the Nightwave, On the main screen of your MFD you should now see a SIONYX Tool panel icon, plus a Camera (video) icon. You may need to swipe left or right to see the SIONYX icon. We are calling this icon our "SIONYX Tool-panel". This is where you see some settings and information, but not where you see the live view. Once added as a camera source, you will see the live view by selecting the source in the Video/Camera icon of the SIMRAD.
Manually entering stream address
Click on the SIONYX Tool panel icon
Click "i" or "Camera Info" or "Info"- where you should see reported the IP address of the camera
(something like this: 169.254.8.224) please write this down.
To add the camera, go into
Settings > Boat Network > Devices > Add Device > IP Camera (To add in the name and URL of the camera. This will populate the IP Cam icon on the homepage of the NSX.)
If you see a self-populated "NIGHTWAVE DIGITAL" camera source show up here, this is the ONVIF scan that currently isn't fully working in the latest SIMRAD firmware. Please delete this if you can so it doesn't confuse the SIMRAD. You will need to add a new one manually.
Add IP Camera"/ Add in URL" field
Type in this formula:
rtsp://IP address:554/lowres
Please check the syntax exactly and use lower case letters
The full, completed address should look like this, using the example IP address from above:
rtsp://169.254.8.224:554/lowres
but your IP Address will be the numbers you previously recorded from the SIONYX Tool panel.
Add in a camera name of your choice
Hit "Connect" first and then "Add"
Please then power cycle both MFD and Nightwave Digital. This will take a couple of minutes. If possible, power up the SIMRADs first, then the Nightwave.
Go to the Video Sources on the SIMRAD to see the camera source listed. If you click this and is says "Searching for SIONYX Camera", please give it 30-40 seconds. It might take it awhile to find the camera source.
If you don't see a live image or it can't find the SIONYX Camera source, the resolution might be the wrong aspect ratio for the SIMRAD. Please use instructions below to change the resolution size to 640 x 512.
Resolution settings
With a solid red status LED on the Nightwave, return to the SIONYX Tool panel
On the wrench page, select the lowest resolution setting available (e.g. 640 x 512)
then Apply, then Reboot using the buttons on the same page.
This will reboot the camera again.
When you go back to the Video icon, find the camera name you just created
and click on that to select the Nightwave Digital as the video source.
You may see "searching for Sionyx camera" for a while, but wait 45 seconds before you see
live video from the camera.
Please then test the Nightwave Digital at night. If you wish you can then experiment with incrementally increasing the resolution settings from the SIONYX Tool panel
(being sure to Apply, then Reboot using those buttons each time you make a change)
and observe video performance.
