Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Yearly Archive: 2012

Costa Concordia: “Vada a bordo, cazzo!” 31

When things go wrong...

Costa Concordia: “Vada a bordo, cazzo!”

Thermal_view_of_Costa_Concordia_courtesy_BBC.jpg

The wrecking of the Costa Concordia is of course a dreadful and criminally unnecessary disaster. It’s hard to find anything positive about what happened, unless perhaps you’re another captain whose life became defined by a single major screw up, like, say, Joe Hazelwood. The Monitor did a good job delineating Capt. Francesco Schettino’s Top 4 ‘deceptions’ today and that was before Schettino made the claim that he abandoned ship because he tripped and fell into a lifeboat! I suspect that it will be a long time before anyone beats Schettino in the disgraced ship captain department…

High-bright marine LED lights, from Rigid Industries 11

Cabin & deck gear

High-bright marine LED lights, from Rigid Industries

Rigid_Industries_marine_LED_lights_cPanbo.jpg

Want more LED light at less cost to illuminate your deck or the water beyond? Rigid Industries may be new to the marine industry but the company claims patented optic systems that have already made it “the pioneer of forward projecting high intensity LED light bars” for uses like long-distance racing in souped-up dune buggies (on a course that may be booby-trapped). You can glimpse the unusual reflectors (for LED fixtures) in this photo from IBEX and I can tell you that even those small and inexpensive “four bulb” cubes closest to the camera are blindingly bright…

AC34, on board the committee boat 5

What's on board...

AC34, on board the committee boat

AC34_committee_boat_Regardless_cPanbo.jpg

Almost two months later and I’m still excited about what I saw of America’s Cup 34 in San Diego. If I had a megayacht I might well dispatch it to Naples or Venice for the spring World Series events, and I’ll certainly be tuning in to AC’s YouTube channel. But I’m convinced that understanding the incredible technology behind the scenes helps you appreciate how pure the racing is, and I’ve got several more entries to write on the subject, as well as an April Yachting feature in the works. Today we’re going to peek at what goes on aboard the AC 34 committee boat, a sturdy power cat named Regardless…

DMK box hand’s-on #1, developers needed! 21

Wireless & Apps / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

DMK box hand’s-on #1, developers needed!

DMK_instrument_app_w_N2K_data_cPanbo.jpg

Even if it only happened in my basement lab, it really is wonderful to see a boat’s sensor data arrive wirelessly into an iPad app, where it could be used and displayed in so many ways. The instrument screen shown above was developed by the same DMK Yacht Instruments folks who build the WiFi box that got the data there (first discussed here in December). The wind, depth, and speed numbers went into the DMK bridge in NMEA 2000 format, but they could been in NMEA 0183 or SeaTalk, or a mix of all three. In fact, I’ve tried all three source formats with some success so far, but I’m frustrated because the DMK app — meant mainly for configuring the box, I think — can only interpret the values shown, and no other app I know of yet takes full advantage of what the box can do. Lets hope some developers start paying attention to what’s possible here!

Compass Marine: Installing a battery monitor & much, much more 15

Electrical & Engines

Compass Marine: Installing a battery monitor & much, much more

Compass_Marine_installing_battery_monitor_illustration.jpg

I’ve long been meaning to give a hearty shout out to a slightly odd site called Compass Marine. What’s odd is that the author — RC Collins, an ABYC certified marine electrical technician and sailor — is using an online database designed for photographers to create excellent how-to articles on subjects like Installing a Battery Monitor. But once you get used to the captioned illustration format, I think you’ll be amazed. As suggested in the screen shot above, RC built a demo 12v power system so he could photo illustrate the Victron BMV-602S installation to near perfection, and he even annotates some of his photos to further make his points. This amount of work is not trivial. Collins could use a copy editor (me too!), but he really knows his stuff and he goes to extraordinary lengths to explain what he knows…

Most popular Panbo 2011 entries, themes for 2012? 12

Wireless & Apps

Most popular Panbo 2011 entries, themes for 2012?

Panbo_2011_most_popular_entries.jpg

Looking back at Panbo statistics for 2011, the iPad was undeniably a major topic. The February entry “iPad cases for the boat, & some interesting apps” was the most read of the year, by far, and the next up was the “The damn iPad: iNavX, X-Traverse, Navimatics & AC” entry written back in May, 2010 (when I was lusting for one). In addition, March’s “Accessory GPS for iPads…” came in at #5, and May’s “iPad GRIB viewers…” at 12. So should Panbo become iPanbo? Well, certainly a major goal here is to report on and discuss important trends in marine electronics, but understanding statistics like these involves a lot of nuance…