The Marine Electronics Hub
Robert Sherer (aka Bob423) has been helping fellow East Coast cruisers for many years — especially with specific advice about transiting the ICW and getting the most out of the nav app Aqua Map — and Panbo is pleased to publish his technique for using a large second display with an iPad….
You may not have heard of Watt Cycle before, but if you are in the market for a value oriented lithium iron phosphate battery, you should probably take note. Watt Cycle offers numerous batteries in multiple voltages at attractive price points. We have certainly seen batteries with low price tags and performance to match. So, the question is, how will Watt Cycle’s batteries perform? I have tested a pair of batteries extensively and have some pretty positive results to share.
It has been two and a half years since my family and I travelled by water. Since losing Have Another Day to Hurricane Ian, we have lacked a boat for that sort of cruising....
I have owned Panboat 2.0 for a little over 3 months. Unfortunately, I haven’t made as much testing headway as I hoped courtesy of a very busy fall with boat shows, speaking engagements, and dodging hurricanes. I leave for Amsterdam to attend METS shortly, but once home, I don’t have another show until Miami in mid-February. So, it’s high time I get to work outfitting the new Edgewater 280CX with the goodies needed for testing and begin rolling in some new technology.
In a first for IBEX, this year’s show featured a startup pavilion for early-stage companies to display at IBEX in a cost effective manner. I spent some time checking out the exhibitors in the pavilion and was very pleased to come across Solid State Marine’s booth. I was quite excited to see Solid State Marine present with their solid state lithium batteries. Solid State Marine is, to my knowledge, the first company offering solid state lithium batteries to the marine electrical market.
When Siren’s Founder, Dan Harper, introduced the Siren 3 Pro, it was supposed to be the first of three models of the Siren 3 series. That was more than four years ago and before Dan’s untimely death in early 2021. Since then, Siren has been acquired by Yamaha and a mid-priced Siren 3 Plus has been introduced. But, the low cost member of that series hasn’t materialized, until now. So, I was pleased to see an announcement at the beginning of IBEX that Siren will begin shipping the Siren 3 in April of 2025.
It has been quite a few years in the making, but Maretron’s MConnect is out! MConnect is Maretron’s succesor to N2KView. With a modern user interface, delivery via HTML5, and attractive price point, MConnect...
Egis Mobile Electric is a relatively new company with extensive marine industry experience and some creative ideas. Egis’ submissions to innovation awards over the last few years have highlighted their creativity. This year, they’re back with a new version of the their XD Series battery switches, but now with NMEA 2000 digital switching support.
IBEX 2024 was a show to remember for me. Starting with Hurricane Helene’s development and potential threat, it was unclear if the show would proceed. Fortunately, although there was some impact, the show was able to proceed. My show began Sunday morning, two days before the official open, with two days of judging the IBEX Innovation Awards. Every year, the awards afford me the opportunity to get an early jump on the new and exciting products displayed at the show. This year, the crop of entries was exceptionally strong. I’m going to write a series of entries covering the products that caught my eye. I. believe it’s a testament to the strength of this year’s entries that quite a few of the products I will highlight were not selected for innovation awards. First up in my list are Revateks’ Altion and Altion Max alternator regulators.
At first glance, the SFK 275EX looks like many other 275-300 amp hour internal BMS lithium iron phosphate batteries. With Bluetooth communications, heating, long cycle life, and a good warranty it seems to compete well with other batteries. But, closer inspection reveals a battery with features above and beyond anything I’ve seen in similar form-factor and priced batteries. Not only that, it comes with a thorough and readable manual.
