Many marine instruments, although compliant with the NMEA 0183 specification, do not provide sufficient drive capability for multiple listeners. To overcome this, the SX14 has an optically isolated input and four independent outputs, which can drive multiple listeners, both RS-422 and/or RS-232, as needed. All outputs are isolated from each other, so that shorting one will not affect the others. A green data LED and a yellow fault LED indicate the unit is operating properly.

The outputs are separately driven so that shorting one output does not affect the others. The output drivers employ a standby state whereby they are disabled until an input signal appears, causing immediate enabling of the outputs. This results in very low power consumption and high immunity to shorted outputs. Each output is also individually lightning and surge protected.

The SX14 uses a very efficient DC power converter allowing it to operate from 10-30 Vdc with less current draw in standby state than an indicator LED uses. For that reason a power LED indicator is left off the design.